LSC FOOTBALL
This week features four Lone Star Conference games including the first of five games to be web streamed live on FoxSportsSouthwest.com. The league will show Midwestern State at Texas A&M-Kingsville (Sept. 22) live on the FSW website. Upcoming broadcasts include: Texas A&M-Commerce at Incarnate Word (Oct. 6); Abilene Christian at West Texas A&M (Oct. 13); Eastern New Mexico at Midwestern State (Oct. 27); and Angelo State at Tarleton State (Nov. 10).
The 2012 Lone Star Football Festival presented by Firestone had 33,180 fans at the three-day, six-game event at Cowboys Stadium. On Thursday, a crowd of 3,426 saw Midwestern State top Texas A&M-Commerce, 65-14, in the Harvey Martin Classic, which was televised live on the CBS Sports Network as the NCAA Division II Football Game of the Week. Eastern New Mexico escaped Incarnate Word 34-24 and Southlake Carroll blanked Temple 34-0 in Friday’s action in front of 10,620 fans. The event wrapped up Saturday with a tripleheader of games attended by 19,134, which included Valdosta State over Angelo State 43-10, Abilene Christian edging Tarleton State 34-31 and West Texas A&M defeating Texas A&M-Kingsville 40-10.
WTAMU and ENMU top the LSC standings after victories over TAMUK and UIW, respectively, last week.
LSC football teams are 12-13 overall this season. The squads are 2-3 combined versus the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Great Lakes Valley Conference and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams, which are also in NCAA Super Regional Four.
FIRST DOWN
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Three LSC teams are ranked in AFCA poll (Sept. 15) with No. 15 Midwestern State, No. 19 Abilene Christian and No. 25 West Texas A&M.
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WT’s Don Carthel won his 69th game as the head coach of the Buffaloes versus Texas A&M-Kingsville breaking the all-time school record for wins by a coach set by Joe Kerbel with 68.
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Week three included six 100-yard rushing performances, one 300-yard passing effort along with two 100-yard receiving performances.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE
Taylor Gabriel, Abilene Christian University, JR, WR, Mesquite, Texas, Horn HS
Gabriel’s day spurred the Wildcats to a 34-31 come-from-behind win over Tarleton State at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday in what could be the final meeting between the two long-time rivals. Gabriel had just five catches for 50 yards, but he had three catches for 27 yards and two touchdowns in the second half, including a 16-yard TD catch on third-and-goal in the fourth quarter that gave the Wildcats the lead for good. His first big play of the second half came when he returned the Texans’ second punt of the half 54 yards, setting the Wildcats for the go-ahead score. Gabriel capped the go-ahead scoring drive with a 4-yard TD reception with 4:03 left in the third quarter to give the Wildcats a 24-20 lead.
CO-DEFENSIVE
Taylor McCuller, West Texas A&M University, JR, LB, Red Oak, Texas, Red Oak HS
Had a game-high 15 tackles including eight solo stops in a 40-10 win over No. 14 Texas A&M-Kingsville Saturday. He had a half of a sack for four yards and 1.5 tackles for loss for seven yards. He and the Buff defense had 13 tackles for loss for 40 yards and two total sacks for 13 yards. The Buffs’ D stymied TAMUK all night as it held the Javelinas to 285 yards of offense, well below their 365 yard average coming into the game.
Neiko Conway, Midwestern State University, JR, CB, Houston, Texas, Lamar
Collected three of the seven turnovers taken by the No. 16 Mustangs in the 65-14 win over Texas A&M-Commerce. Conway intercepted a pass on the first play of the second half and returned it 32-yards for a touchdown that started a 35-point third quarter for MSU. It was MSU’s first interception return for a touchdown since Oct. 23, 2010 when Zak Bracken had a 20-yard scoring return at West Texas A&M. The interception return moved him to 182 career interception return yardage to set a new MSU record. Conway moved to fifth on the MSU career interception list with his seventh career pickoff. Additionally, he recovered two fumbles that led to MSU points. His two fumble recoveries are more than anyone in the LSC this season. Conway recorded two solo tackles and added a pass breakup to the interception for a touchdown and fumble recoveries.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Marcus Wright, University of the Incarnate Word, SR, PR/KR, San Antonio, Texas, Reagan HS
Wright returned the opening kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown against Eastern New Mexico. It was the first UIW kickoff return for a touchdown in the program’s history. Wright also set the school record for longest kick return beating Jacob Love’s 66-yard return.