Bearkats rally for rivalry victory
In dominating the Battle of the Piney Woods for the past decade, Sam Houston has beaten Stephen F. Austin in a variety of methods. It found yet another way to get the job done Saturday: scoring in the final minute to take its only lead.
Dezmon Jackson scored from a yard out with 35 seconds remaining and Seth Morgan's successful extra point gave the Bearkats a dramatic 17-16 comefrom-behind victory before a crowd of 26,826 under a closed roof at NRG Stadium. It's the secondlargest attended game in the 96 editions of this heated intrastate rivalry.
“There's a point in that game, I'm saying to myself, this is not a 1-3 football team. This is too good of a football team,” winning coach K.C. Keeler said. “That's not going to happen.”
The Bearkats (2-2) refused to lose in compiling its 11th straight victory in a series it leads 60-34-2. The Bearkats held the Lumberjacks to three points in the second half.
And for the second straight year, quarterback Keegan Shoemaker led a fourth-quarter rally against SFA that ended with a one-point victory for the Bearkats.
“When you talk about us as a team, it's being really resilient,” said Shoemaker, who put up pedestrian numbers but led the game-winning drive that will cement him in Bearkats lore. “That trickles down from coaches, from the leaders on our team, and everyone plays their part.
“It's a team thing. Like the defense did a great job. It's been team and preparation and the guys accepting me as their leader.”
Shoemaker threw 26 more incompletions than his 14 completions and had two interceptions while passing for 188 yards. But he ran for 56 yards, and when the game was in the balance, the junior came through.
SFA was in control most of the game. That was until Sam Houston's game-winning 79-yard drive. The series began with 2:41 left to play and the Bearkats down by six points. Sam Houston's previous scoring drive was only 7 yards.
Shoemaker got loose for a 20-yard run on the drive, and Jackson, who rushed for 50 yards on 17 carries, gained 13 of those yards on one play.
It all came down to a fourth-and-goal at the SFA 3-yard line with 43 seconds remaining. Shoemaker threw an incompletion, but SFA lined up in the neutral zone, giving Sam Houston another chance. On the next play, Jackson plowed through for the goahead score.
Coach Colby Carthel's Lumberjacks (2-3) scored the first 13 points, including an 85-yard scoring strike from Trae Self to Moe Wedman in the opening minute of the second quarter. But like 2021's 2120 loss to the Sam Houston, the Lumberjacks could not close things out.
“It was a tough one in our locker room,” Carthel said. “I'm pleased with how we competed. How we played on offense, defense. Very disappointed in our special teams. That was the difference in the ball game.”
A blocked punt and recovery by Donovan Adkins with just over a minute left in the half got listless Sam Houston back into the game. Adkins' block, which set up a 7-yard scoring drive, was one of the big plays that turned the tide in their favor.
With 11:22 remaining in the fourth, Tyler Moore recovered a fumble at the SFA 20-yard line with the Lumberjacks ahead 16-10. The Bearkats couldn't sustain a drive, but the recovery denied the Lumberjacks an opportunity to get at least three points and make it a two-possession game.
Despite outgaining the Bearkats 397-299, and getting superb play out of their defense, it resulted in another loss for the Lumberjacks in the series, which is now on pause.
“There's a lot of emotion in a game like this,” Keeler said. “The emotion is even tripled when you consider, whoever takes this trophy home is probably taking it home for the last time. Its permanent resting place is going to be in Huntsville, Texas.”
There are no future matchups scheduled for a series that started in 1923.
Both schools are in the Western Athletic Conference, but because Sam Houston is transitioning to the Football Bowl Subdivision and has more players on scholarship that SFA, the Bearkats are ineligible for a 2022 conference championship and postseason.
“Two straight years we've played our tails off,” Carthel said. “It's not a fair fight. It's unfortunate for our players to play so close and not be able to pull it off, because it would have been an upset. These schools were very similar 20 years ago, but it's not anymore.”