SHSU Defeated SFA 42-28 In “Battle Of The Piney Woods” Rivalry
By Cheval John
It was no surprise that everything was at stake between archrivals Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin in the 89th edition of “The Battle of the Piney Woods.”
Both teams were a part of a five-way tie for first place in the Southland Conference (SLC).
The winner of this matchup would have control of their own destiny and have a chance to play for a SLC title.
And for the fourth straight year since the game moved to Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium), home of the Houston Texans, the Bearkats defeated the Lumberjacks 42-28.
The Bearkats dominated the Lumberjacks with their running game and strong defense.
“First of all, congratulations to Sam Houston. They are a fine team,” SFA head coach Clint Conque said. “Certainly, they deserved to win the way they played. It was pretty obvious everybody didn’t play their best game tonight on the defensive side of the football and execution on offense. Congratulations to those guys. We certainly have to play better, but we didn’t do that today.”
Senior running back Keshawn Hill torched SFA’s defense with 156 yards and four touchdowns on 14 carries.
Hill became one of four Bearkats to score four touchdowns in one game.
Sophomore quarterback Jared Johnson, who had the other rushing touchdown, had 140 yards on 13 carries and completed 6 of his 17 passes for 127 yards and no interceptions.
Though the Bearkats gave up 516 yards of total offense, SFA shot themselves in the foot with penalties that would have made this game a lot closer.
In the opening drive of the game, the Lumberjacks (3-2 SLC, 6-3 overall) seemingly had scored the first touchdown.
But an illegal shift penalty on Aaron Thomas nullified the touchdown and a few plays later, SFA had to punt the football.
On SHSU’s first possession Johnson connected with Hill for 13 yards for a first down.
After Hill rushed for 8 yards to the Bearkat 41 yard line, he ran for a 59 yard touchdown to make it 7-0.
The Lumberjacks tied it up at 7 after Trey Vallier recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown.
Both teams exchanged scores that made it 14 with 7:32 left in the second quarter.
Hill scored his third touchdown of the game with 26 seconds left in the second quarter to give SHSU a 21-14 lead.
“That’s one of the benefits of being up tempo,” Bearkat head coach K.C. Keeler said. “We’re comfortable no matter how much time is left on the clock. It just doesn’t bother us. You give a minute, we’ll take it. You give us 30 seconds, we’ll take it. I think that helps being uptempo. We had all of our time outs available. We felt comfortable that we could go down and make a play.”
Sam Houston picked up from where they left off in the third quarter when Hill broke loose for a 32 yard touchdown run that made it 28-14.
That play was set up earlier when Johnson connected with Yedidiah Louis for 42 yards.
The Bearkats increased their lead to 35-14 after Hill scored his fourth touchdown.
Though the Lumberjacks cut the lead to 35-21 after a 1-yard touchdown run by Conque on a 13 play, 86 yard drive, it was too late as they could not recover from the onslaught of the Bearkats.
Bumgarner Or Bust: Giants Wins World Series
By Cheval John
The Kansas City Royals had always found a way to win when everything looked bleak.
They rallied to win the Wild Card playoff game against the Oakland Athletics.
They swept their way into the World Series.
They battled their way to a Game 7 against the San Francisco Giants with history seemingly on their side (home team have won Game 7s since 1980 9-0).
However, it was not meant to be as the Royals ran into a buzz saw in Madison Bumgarner and lost 3-2.
It really was not a question of if Bumgarner was going to pitch in the game, but when.
The key factor was that the Giants had to score enough runs to give Bumgarner the opportunity to pitch a masterpiece.
Tim Hudson, who became the oldest pitcher ever to start a World Series game, only lasted 1 2/3 innings that was the catalyst in the Royals tying the game at 2.
The Giants did not panic because of a spectacular play by Joe Panik that prevented the Royals from breaking the game wide open in the bottom of the third.
With a runner on first and no outs, Eric Osmet hit a sharp grounder to right field that seemed to be a base hit.
However, Panik made a diving stop, had the presence of mind to flip the ball out of the glove to short stop Brandon Crawford, who stepped on the bag and then tried to throw out Osmet, who seemingly beat the throw.
But Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy challenged the call and the replay official confirmed that Osmet was out and as a result, the call was overturn.
That huge call changed everything as the Giants took the lead 3-2 in the top of the fifth inning on a RBI single by Michael Morse.
From there, Bumgarner entered the game in relief and that was when a person sensed that the end was near for the Royals.
Bumgarner retired 11 of the 12 batters and was one out away from the greatest clutch performance ever before the Royals made things very interesting.
With two outs in the ninth inning, Alex Gordon hit a single to left field and the ball got away from Gregor Blanco that allowed Gordon to reach third.
Kansas City could not tie the game as Salvador Perez hit a fly ball in foul territory that allowed Pablo Sandoval to catch it for the final out and gave the Giants their third World Series Championship in five years.
The Giants have showed their team unity and persistent spirit despite facing the odds in winning a Game 7 of the World Series.
If it was not for Bumgarner’s dominant performance in the World Series, the Royals would have won it for the second time in their history.
Down Goes The Cowboys, Down Goes The Cowboys
By Cheval John
Nobody expected the Washington Redskins to beat the Dallas Cowboys.
With all the turmoil that the Redskins were going through with the injury of Robert Griffith III, a.k.a. and the benching of Kurt Cousins, this was suppose to have been an easy victory for the Cowboys.
Even all the experts on Monday Night Countdown chose the Cowboys to win this game.
I also chose the Cowboys to win, even thought I am a San Francisco 49er fan.
The Cowboys was on a 6-game winning streak and it looked like it should have been their seventh consecutive win.
Well, the Redskins proved everyone wrong and shocked the Cowboys in overtime 20-17 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Colt McCoy, who started the game for Washington, did everything right to keep his team in the matchup.
He did not make too many mistakes and managed the game.
McCoy went 25 of 30 for 299 yards and one interception.
When it counted, McCoy came through in the clutch.
On a 3rd and 3 in overtime, McCoy was flushed out of the pocket and he kept the play alive and found Jordan Reed, who made a one-handed catch and kept his feet inbounds for the crucial first down.
A couple plays later, Kai Forbath kicked a go-ahead 40-yard field goal to give Washington a 20-17 lead.
Needing a touchdown to win, the Cowboys had to play four downs to tried to get out of their own end of the field.
After a few plays that did not benefit Dallas, they tried to keep their drive alive on fourth and 3.
However, the Washington defense forced quarterback Tony Romo to throw an incomplete pass that secured the win and sent the Washington bench in a frenzy.
We should not have underestimated Washington in this game since the Cowboys are their rivals.
Also, with McCoy starting the game in his home state, that should have been a huge sign that Washington was going to win and the fact that his family was there to support him.
This tweet by freelance writer Corey Roepken explains it all.
You didn't think Colt McCoy would lose a football game in Texas did you? #Redskins #Cowboys
— Corey Roepken (@RipSports) October 28, 2014
Dominant Pitching By Bumgarner Leads Giants To Win
By Cheval John
Madison Bumgarner’s pitching dominance led the San Francisco Giants to a 5-0 victory against the Kansas City Royals to take a 3-2 lead.
Bumgarner had 8 strikeouts in the game and improved his Earned Run Average (ERA) to 0.29, which is the lowest in World Series history.
He became the second pitcher to throw a shutout in a World Series game.
The last pitcher to do so, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jack Sanford in the second game of the 1962 World Series against the mighty New York Yankees.
Bumgarner’s World Series record has improved to 4-0.
Even if the Giants had lost the night before, this series would have gone back to Kansas City because of the pitching dominance of Bumgarner.
It does not hurt that he can hit too.
Video courtesy of Major League Baseball (MLB)
Clowney’s Commitment To The Houston Texans “Questioned”
By Cheval John
The Houston Texans are now 4-5 after their 31-21 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at NRG Stadium in Houston.
First year head coach Bill O’Brien believes that his team can turn the season around and make the playoffs.
And since they have a bye (not playing football) this week, Mr. O’Brien will focus on fixing the inconsistencies of the offense.
I think he should really focus on trying to make sure that the No.1 overall pick, Jadeveon Clowney, is committed 100% to the team.
Many have question Clowney’s committment to the game of football after he “took off” from playing very hard in his last year at the University of South Carolina.
One could say that Clowney was more concerned about making the jump to the NFL and making millions of dollars in the NFL than helping South Carolina to make another run at a potential SEC title.
And it seems like Merril Hoge’s prediction about Clowney is coming true.
Since he was drafted, Clowney has only participated in two NFL games this season due to injuries and Sunday’s game to a flu.
It might be too early to tell if Mr. Hoge was right about Clowney about being a bust, but signs of Hodge being right is there.
And according to a report by ESPN, Clowney allegedly liked a photo on Instagram during the game on Sunday.
Even though it should not be a big deal, it is a big deal because it raises questions about Clowney’s commitment to the game of football.
Reports also suggests that the Texans, who in my opinion are a first class organization, are questioning whether they made the right decision to draft Clowney.
O’Brien denies the reports about questioning the commitment of Clowney to the football team.
“Yeah, he and I…like we tweeted back and forth last night.” O’Brien said to Pro Football Talk. “I went on Spacebook, he went on Twitter…I mean, I don’t know. This guy wants to play football. He’s trying to get better to get back on the field.”
One can hope that Clowney will be ready for their next game in two weeks and be very consistent in producing for the Texans.
If he continues to struggle with staying healthy and also his supposed lack of focus on the game of football, then Mr. Hoge’s prediction about Clowney will be right on the money.
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