Fort Worth Cats pitcher
Aaron Crow taken with
12th pick in MLB Draft
SHSU Dominates SFA in The Battle of the Piney Woods at Reliant Stadium

HOUSTON - The Sam Houston State Bearkats(5-0, 2-0 Southland Conference) and the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks (1-5, 0-2). stepped onto the big stage Saturday afternoon at Reliant Stadium in the 86th annual Battle of the Piney Woods football game but it was the Bearkats that stole the show as the trounced SFA 45-10 in front a 25,083 fans.




















Andrew Weaver picked off SFA quarterback Brady Attaway several minutes into the third quarter and rumbled his way to the SFA 18-yard line where the Bearkats took over with great field position and a chance to pad their lead.

Not only did the Bearkats pad their lead moments later, Tim Flanders took a hand off at the nine yard line and made an acrobatic play that left the crowd breathless. With the SFA defense closing in at the goal line, Flanders hurdled one defender and was hit by a second sending him flipping backwards into the air and landing in the end zone. The spectacular touchdown run left the Bearkat lead at 24-3 with just over seven minutes to play in the third quarter.



Email to:texassportsaction@yahoo.com

The Bearkat defense brought the heat all game as they forced five Lumberjack turnovers. While the defense was making life hard for SFA, the SHSU offense was racking up the points as they scored 45 consecutive points after falling behind 3-0 in the second quarter.

SFA held the lead until Brian Bell connected with Torrance Williams on a 49-yard touchdown pass. Then with just seconds left in the first half the Bearkats extended their lead to 10-3 when Miguel Antonio kicked a 39-yard field goal,

SHSU got their offense rolling as the second half got underway when Bell hit Keith Blanton on a 55-yard touchdown pass with 12:27 left in the third quarter putting SFA in a 17-3 hole.
Flanders would add another third quarter touchdown run and teammate Richard Sincere helped put the game totally out of reach with his two fourth quarter touchdown runs. Flanders, Sincere, and Ryan Wilson powered a powerful ground game for the Bearkats as the totaled 217 yards rushing.

SHSU held the Lumberjacks to just 23 yards rushing and finished with 431 total yards to SFA's 274. The Breakats defense played an outstanding game as they intercepted SFA quarterback Brady Attaway four times. Attaway finished with 251 yards on 36-of-63 passing with one touchdown.