LU 55 Miss College 10

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BEAUMONT, Texas (Lamar Athletics) – For the second time in as many weeks the Lamar Cardinals utilized their depth at running back to overwhelm an opponent. Lamar carried the 36 times for 282 to defeat Mississippi College, 55-10, Saturday night at Provost Umphrey Stadium. The 282-yard rushing performance came on the heels of last week’s 393-yard performance that was the second best in school history.

“I was worried about their speed on offense early,” said head coach Ray Woodard. “But we made the appropriate adjustments. We took control of the game in the third quarter and put it away. I’m happy with our record, but I’m never happy with all the phases of our game. We definitely have to improve on kick coverage and kick returns. Regardless of the opponent, you want to continue to get better.”

Although Lamar recorded a 45-point margin of victory, the game wasn’t that easy early on as Lamar would score, only to have the visitor’s from Clinton, Miss. answer on the ensuing drive. The Cards got on the scoreboard less than four minutes into the contest when Gratian Gladney hauled in a six-yard pass from Caleb Berry to cap a 10-play, 74-yard drive.

The Choctaws answered eight plays later. After a long kickoff return had the Choctaws starting the drive from the Lamar 30-yard line, Mississippi College’s Kyle Smith put the visitors on the scoreboard with a 12-yard run. Despite starting from the 30, it took the Choctaws eight plays to punch it across the goal line.

Lamar regained the lead 3:22 later when transfer Carl Harris capped another long LU drive with a one-yard plunge for the score to give the Cardinals back a seven-point advantage. He finished the night with 15 carries for 134 yards and three scores. Harris, who is averaging better than 143 rushing yards per game in the team’s last two contests, set a career high with his three scores Saturday night.

Mississippi College answered with a 37-yard field goal early in the second quarter off the leg of Hunter Estess, to cut the deficit to four points, but that would be as close to a victory as the Choctaws would get. Similar to the season-opener against Grambling State, the Cardinals went on scoring run to break the game wide open. Lamar scored 41 unanswered points to close out the game.

Following a 28-yard field goal from Josh Davis, Harris recorded his second one-yard touchdown run of the night. Lamar closed out the half with a 44-yard strike to Reggie Begelton as the horn sounded. Lamar took a 31-10 advantage into the locker room

It was more of the same in the second half as junior Devonn Brown caught his second touchdown pass of the season. Brown’s scoring grab was a 17-yard pass from Berry, who finished the game 30-of-40 (.750) for 379 yards and three touchdowns. The 379-yard performance was one of the top-15 performances in school history.

Harris added his third and final scoring run of the night on a 37-yard scamper to give Lamar a 38-point lead. The LU defense put the final touches on the game when Matt Johnson recovered a fumble in the end zone with just under three minutes remaining in the game. It was the first fumble returned for a score by a Cardinal since October of 2012.

The Cardinals finished the night with 661 yards of total offense, including 282 yards on the ground. Lamar’s defense held Mississippi College to 219 yards, and only 91 through the air.

In addition to Harris’ 134 rushing yards, he also caught a team-high six passes for 34 yards. Junior Dillon Barrett had a huge night receiving with five catches for 93 yards, while Brown, Begelton and Gladney each caught a touchdown pass. A converted wide receiver, junior Brent Salenga was moved to running back and finished the night with 12 carries for 75 yards.

Senior Anthony Beard led the Cardinals’ defensive effort with 10 tackles, including three solo stops, and 1.5 tackles for a loss. Senior Joe Okafor finished the night with six tackles, including 1.5 sacks.

Lamar closes out the three-game homestand, and opens conference play Saturday against Sam Houston State. The game against the Bearkats is slated to kick off at 7 p.m. from Provost Umphrey Stadium.

“The conference games are the ones you look forward to,” said Woodard. “You play the non-conference games to get ready for the conference. We felt like we took a step forward last year at Sam Houston State, but we didn’t get the job done, plain and simple. It’s not end of the world if you lose your first conference game but it definitely puts you behind the eight ball. We have to start winning those type ball  games.”

 

 

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