LOCALS SHINE ON COLLEGIATE STAGE
White, Iowa State on verge of completing historic turnaround
Lawrence White IV hoped to be part of history when he arrived to play for longtime college football doormat Iowa State in 2016.
Having helped bring respectability to the program, he and his teammates took a huge step toward achieving that goal Friday.
White, a Ridgeview graduate and senior defensive back at ISU, had five tackles and made two critical plays deep in Cyclone territory, as Iowa State came back from 10 points down to earn a critical 23-20 win over Texas.
After a Cyclone touchdown cut an early Longhorn lead to 10-7, White helped turn a big Texas gain into a momentum-shifting play the other way.
After quarterback Sam Ehlinger connected with Tarik Black for a 28-yard pass, Iowa State’s Isheem Young delivered a big hit that jarred the ball loose, and White quickly pounced on the fumble at his own 20-yard line.
After ISU took its first lead on a Breece Hall 3-yard touchdown run with 1:20 to play, White made another critical play on the final Longhorn drive.
As Jake Smith attempted to make an acrobatic catch of an Ehlinger throw, White delivered a big hit right as the ball arrived, forcing an incompletion inside the Cyclone 20.
Two plays later, Texas kicker Cameron Dicker narrowly missed a 58-yard field goal wide left, clinching the Cyclone’s first win in Austin in 10 years.
But that isn’t the most noteworthy first White and his teammates are hoping to celebrate.
The Cyclones, who stand alone atop the Big 12 standings with a 7-1 conference record, have never played in the Big 12 Championship Game and can clinch a spot as early as tomorrow if Oklahoma State loses to Texas Tech.
If the Cowboys win, Iowa State can punch its ticket with a home win over West Virginia next Saturday.
The Cyclones have never won a Big-12 title and are well over a century removed from their last conference title, which came as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference in 1912.
HILL THRIVES IN FIRST GAME AT FRESNO STATE
Having recently received a waiver to play this season, Isaiah Hill put on a show in his return to the Valley.
Hill, the all-time boys basketball leading scorer at Liberty High School, scored a game-high 16 points in his first game at Fresno State Wednesday, helping lead the Bulldogs to an 84-47 season-opening rout of William Jessup.
After spending his freshman season at Tulsa, Hill transferred to Fresno State in the spring but wasn’t assured he’d be able to play this season. But after being granted a transfer waiver in October, he began the year in the Bulldog starting lineup and made an immediate impression with his new team.
Hill got to the rim with relative ease Wednesday, finishing 6-of-8 from the field before taking most of the second half off with the Bulldogs comfortably ahead.
Fresno State was set to return to action Friday with a road game against Pacific, but the contest was postponed. On Twitter, Pacific play-by-play broadcaster Zach Bayrouty said the postponement was “due to a courier-related issue with COVID test samples getting to the lab late.”