Huskies fall to Cardinals in home finale for 1st set of seniors
Houston Baptist linebacker Garrett Dolan had mixed emotions as he walked off the field at Husky Stadium for the final time as a player. The dejection was from falling short to Lamar 23-16 on Saturday. But there was more to it than just another loss.
This isn’t just any group of seniors closing out the home portion of their season. This group of 27, including 13 who have been here five years like Dolan, are part of a football startup program under coach Vic Shealy. Building a program
Saturday’s loss was HBU’s eighth straight and kept the Huskies in the Southland Conference cellar. But this senior class is leaving a mark as pioneers.
“The body of work that we’ve made here, it’s forever going to live on because we’re the ones that were able to get the program on its feet and get it going,” said Dolan, a three-time All-Southland performer who is in the top 10 all-time in FCS history with 526 career tackles.
“It’s a great experience even though we just experienced a loss. Knowing we helped build this program, us 13, we brought it up from the ground, the grass and weeds to the stadium it is now.”
Both HBU and Lamar came into the game with identical 1-8 overall and 0-7 conference records.
Lamar held a considerable advantage in yards (460-187) as the Huskies played without their No. 1 quarterback Bailey Zappe, who was out with a concussion.
Lamar went ahead 23-16 with 6:11 remaining in the game on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Blake McKenzie to Isaiah Howard.
“It’s tough to swallow a lot of these games; it’s been a rough season,” said HBU linebacker Cody Moncure. “We’re playing with these teams. We just can’t seem to get over that hump to finish.”
Like Dolan, who collected 16 tackles against the Cardinals, Moncure is part of that fraternity for HBU’s inaugural 2013 season.
The first two recruiting classes in program history were honored prior to the game.
“The program is going to continue to grow,” Moncure said. “Everything is slowly coming along. We set a foundation for years to come.” A record-setting day
HBU, which led 13-0, had several big plays on defense to stay in the game. Alec Chadwick made a 58yard field goal and Raphael Lewis returned an interception 96 yards for the Huskies.
Chadwick’s field goal is the longest in NCAA Division I this season and gave the Huskies a 16-9 lead with 5:08 remaining in the third quarter.
Chadwick has two of the four longest field goals in FCS this year.
Lamar, which ran on its first 19 offensive plays, scored in unique ways, returning an extra-point attempt for a two-point score, putting together a 99-yard drive and Desmond Veals recovering a blocked punt in the end zone after Brandon Dabney made the block.
Lewis returned his interception 96 yards for a touchdown on Lamar’s opening drive. The Huskies’ La’Travien Gee, who later recovered a secondquarter fumble on special teams, tipped the ball in the air, Lewis secured it on his 4-yard line, broke several tackles and ran down the right sideline for the touchdown.