Lamar Holds Off Incarnate Word Comeback, Stays Unbeaten
Jojo Uga ran for three touchdowns and Lamar needed all of them. The Cardinals held on to beat Incarnate Word 38-35 and stay unbeaten at 5-0, after leading 38-21 and then watching 14 unanswered points get thrown at them.
It looked easy early. Andres Sandoval kicked a 32-yard field goal, Uga ran 25 yards for a touchdown with 43 seconds left in the first quarter, and Lamar was up 10-0. Jayden Hibbler got Incarnate Word on the board from 10 yards, but Uga answered with a 57-yard run and a 4-yard run, and it was 24-7 midway through the second. Emmett Brown ran in from 9 yards just before the half to make it 24-14.
Parker Jenkins broke a 62-yard run to open the third quarter, and Jacob Emmers caught a 74-yard touchdown pass from Brown only a minute later. That left it 31-21 entering the fourth. Aiden McCown threw 3 yards to Davin Driskell to make it 38-21, which felt like the end of it.
It was not. Patrick Batiste returned a fumble 58 yards for a touchdown with 12:45 left, and Brown threw 5 yards to Tyrece Fairly-Diyem with 5:02 to go to make it 38-35. Lamar never trailed and it was never tied, but the margin was one field goal at the end. Incarnate Word lost three fumbles (two of them Brown's), and Lamar lost one. Lamar rushed for 276 yards on 46 carries and threw for only 123.
Uga's 32.4 points came entirely from the ground, and Brown's 35.1 for the losing side was the best of the day despite the two fumbles. Lamar is 5-0. Incarnate Word is 1-3.