East Central knocks down Henderson State 24-16

ARKADELPHIA Despite a career-high performance by quarterback Evan Lassiter, Henderson State’s second half rally fell short as East Central beat the Reddies 24-16, Saturday at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium/Ruggles Field.

East Central scored on its first four possessions taking advantage of a pair of Henderson State miscues.

The Tigers took the opening kickoff and 74 yards on 8 plays with Rayjon Austin-Ramsey connecting with Devyn Williams for a 34-yard score.

On Henderson’s first possession, the Reddies moved the ball into ECU territory before Fernando Van Hook fumbled the football with Dewayne Finney recovering on the Tiger 44.

ECU quickly capitalized as Austin-Ramsey hit Dilland Gardner on a 5 yard jump pass to make the score 14-0 with 3:13 remaining in the first quarter.

Again the Reddies drove deep into Tiger territory before RJ Williams intercepted an Lassiter pass in the red zone and returned it to Reddie 49.

Four plays later, Austin-Ramsey found Williams again in the corner of the end zone from 14 yards to increase the lead to 21-0.

The Reddies got on the board on their next possession as Julio Cervantes booted a 25-yard field goal to cap off a 12-play, 56-yard drive. Big plays during the drive included a 14-yard run by Blake Faulk and a Lassiter to John Murray pass for 14 yards.

The Tigers responded just before half with a Bobby Schmidt 26-yard field goal to make the score 24-3 at the break.

After a scoreless third quarter, the Reddies scored with 8:43 left in the game as Lassiter hit Ben Johnson for a 5-yard strike to complete a 15-play, 93-yard drive.

Lassiter completed 9-of-13 passes on the drive for 79 yards including a 31-yard toss to Johnson on 3rd-and-7 and a 6-yard pass to John Murray to convert a 4th-and-4 to keep the drive alive.

The Reddie defense forced a three-and-out on ECU’s next possession, with Henderson beginning the drive on its own 20.

On 4th-and-goal on the ECU 2, Jerry Rodriguez caught his first touchdown pass of the year to make the score 24-16.

Henderson would not get the ball back as ECU was able to pick up a pair of first downs to run out the clock.

After totaling just 142 yards of offense, the Reddies finished the game with 411 yards. ECU totaled 252 yards in the opening half, but Henderson’s defense limited the Tigers to 85 yards in the second-half.

Lassiter completed 41-of-60 passes for 322 yards completing passes to 12 different receivers with Black having seven catches for 66 yards.

Johnson added 59 yards on 5 receptions, while Fernando Van Hook had 45 yards on 6 grabs.

Trevor Pipkin led the Henderson defense with nine tackles while Sam Johnson had seven tackles including two for lost yardage.

Henderson State will play its final home game next Saturday when the Reddies play host to Southern Arkansas with kickoff slated for 2:05 p.m. at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium/ Ruggles Field. The game will be televised on ESPN3.

Montana Tech 93, Montana State-Northern 19

BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — Jed Fike rushed for 250 yards and four touchdowns on 12 carries in the first half alone, and NAIA's Montana Tech had 932 total yards in a 93-19 victory over Montana State-Northern on Saturday.

The total yards easily topped Montana Tech's record of 679, also against MSU-Northern on Oct. 22, 2016. The Orediggers' previous scoring high was 64 points against Rocky Mountain in 1981. Montana Tech's 13 touchdowns also set a school mark, previously at nine TDs in 2016.

The Orediggers jumped out to a 66-0 lead by halftime. Fike had scores of 7, 37, 52, and 68 yards.

Quinn McQueary was 16-of-25 passing for 295 yards and three touchdowns for Montana Tech (6-1). He connected with Tanner Osborne twice for scores. Dion Williams made eight catches for 141 yards and a score as 11 different players caught a pass for the Orediggers.

Sam Houston St. 63, Lamar 27

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Jeremi Briscoe threw four touchdown passes in the first half and Sam Houston State breezed to a 63-27 victory over Lamar on Saturday.

Briscoe finished with 371 yards on 17-of-36 passing for the Bearkats (6-1, 4-1 Southland Conference). Briscoe hooked up with Nathan Stewart for the first two scores, including a 52-yarder, and delivered a 57-yard scoring strike to Coree Compton and a 20-yarder to Tyler Scott.

Stewart had five catches for 147 yards. Remus Bulmer rushed for 103 yards and a score on eight carries and Corey Avery added 48 yards on 11 carries with two TDs for the Bearkats.

The two teams combined for 1,170 of total offense, including 643 yards for Sam Houston State. The two teams combined for 772 yards of offense in the first half. The Bearkats pulled away with a 31-point second quarter.

The Cardinals (1-6, 0-5) outrushed the Bearkats 286-253, led by Kirkland Banks' 73 yards on seven carries. Derrion Randle and Andrew Allen each had a pair of rushing touchdowns for Lamar. Allen added 228 yards on 17-of-33 passing, but threw two interceptions.

Stephen F. Austin 27, Houston Baptist 10

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (AP) — Kijana Amous rushed for two touchdowns and caught seven passes for 102 yards to help lead Stephen F. Austin to a 27-10 victory over Houston Baptist on Saturday.

After three-straight losses to Southland Conference foes, the Lumberjacks (3-5, 3-3) evened their league record.

Amous ran for 83 yards on 16 carries. Jake Blumrick passed for 221 yards.

Houston Baptist (1-6, 0-5) took the lead when Andrew Haidet scored from the 1 early in the first quarter. SFA scored 20 unanswered points to lead 20-7 in the third quarter.

Trailing 20-10, the Huskies drove to SFA's 28 before Aaron Foy picked off Baily Zappe's pass in the end zone, returning it to the 30. The Lumberjacks then engineered an eightplay, 70-yard drive to go ahead 27-10 with 9:32 left in the game when Amous punched it in from the 6.

The Lumberjacks rushed for 262 yards while limiting HBU to 22 yards rushing.

Idaho State 59, Portland State 30

POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) — Tanner Gueller threw for 327 yards and three touchdowns and Idaho State collected 697 total yards of offense to beat winless Portland State 59-30 Saturday in Big Sky Conference action.

Ty Flanagan ran 21 times for 108 yards and four touchdowns, James Madison had 23 for 160 and a score while Mitch Gueller had four receptions for 195 yards and a touchdown for Idaho State (4-4, 2-3).

Portland State (0-7, 0-4) posted its only lead of the game at 2-0 when the Vikings defense forced a safety after the Bengals fumbled and recovered the ball in its own end zone on Idaho State's first offensive play.

Flanagan ran for 4-yard score to put the Bengals up 10-2 before Jalani Eason threw a 31-yard score to Trent Riley to reduce the Vikings' deficit to 10-9. Flanagan recorded his second TD on a 2-yard run, and Andre Petties-Wilson kept Portland State in it with a 77-yard scoring run.

Idaho State's defense stiffened, and Gueller threw two quick scores to Hagen Graves and Mitch Gueller and built a 31-16 halftime lead that wasn't challenged.

Eason threw for 256 yards and two touchdowns.