HBU falls to SFA in power outage delayed game; 59-27

The HBU Huskies relaxed in their weight room during the
long delay due to the power outage.
Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2014 All Rights Reserved

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2014 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (October 18, 2014) Falling behind 31-13 at halftime, the Houston Baptist UniversityHuskies could not overcome the deficit and fell to the Stephen F Austin Lumberjacks by the score of 59-27 at Dunham Field in Houston on Saturday, October 18, 2014.

The Lumberjacks quickly got on the scoreboard in 20 seconds at the beginning of the game. Braxton Beardon returned the HBU kickoff 65 yards to the Huskies two-yard line.

Running back Gus Johnson carried the ball the final two yards for the score. With the Jordan Wiggs kick splitting the uprights, SFA took a 7-0 lead.

After the kickoff by the Lumberjacks, Huskie quarterback Jonathan Fleming completed a 13 yard pass to wide receiver Ethan Fry for a first down.

Then the players, coaches, fans, and media had to wait one hour, 55 minutes for the next play.

As the play was under review, suddenly, the lights when out at Dunham Field and darkness covered field and stands. The only lights illuminating in the stadium complex were under the stands, in the press box and the concession stands at both ends of the bleachers.

Center Point Energy was notified and after nearly one and a half hour of darkness, lights were restored and both teams were given approximately 20 minutes of warmup.

After the restart, SFA rattles off 78 yards in three plays concluding with a 36-yard pass from quarterback Zack Conque to wide receiver Aaron Thomas for another six points. Wiggs again concerted the extra point to give the Lumberjacks a 14-0 lead at the 11:33 mark in the 1^st quarter.

The Huskies responded less than two minutes later with a Craig Bell 34-yard run to get the Huskies on the board. Kicker Travis Shinn missed the extra point to cut the SFA lead to 14-6.

The Lumberjacks added Conque quarterback keeper eight-yard touchdown run, another Wiggs extra point for seven more points. Wiggs added three points with a 33-yard field goal to close out the first quarter scoring.

SFA and HBU traded touchdowns in the second quarter with the Lumberjacks scoring on a 15-yard Gus Johnson run and another Wiggs extra point.

The Huskies closed out the half with a one-yard run by Bell for his second touchdown of the night. Shinn added the extra point to close the half out with SFA leading 31-13.

They again traded touchdowns in the third quarter with HBU scoring on a seven-yard pass from Jonathan Fleming to D’Angelo Wallace and a Shinn kick.

The ‘Jacks added seven more points on a 17-yard run by Gus Johnson and a Wiggs extra point to make the score 38-20 with 15 minutes to play.

With 13:57 remaining in the game, SFA padded to their lead with a seven-yard reception by Justice Liggins for the touchdown and another extra point by Wiggs.

Fleming then competed a 58-yard pass to Bibbins for their final touchdown of the game. Again, Shinn added the extra point to make the score 45-27

The ‘Jacks added three insurance touchdowns and extra points in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring at 59-27.

With the win, the 'Jacks raise their season record to 5-2 and their Southland Conference record to 2-1. The Huskies fall to 1-6 and 0-4 in conference play.