Stephen F. Austin Goes 8-0 with a 37-6 Rout of Houston Christian
Eight sacks, a punt return for a touchdown and an interception return for another. Stephen F. Austin did a lot of its scoring without the offense on the field, and it still won 37-6 to move to 8-0.
Stephen F. Austin scored first on Jaylen Jenkins' 7-yard run late in the first quarter and led from there. Houston Christian answered with a 23-yard Lukasz Smolen field goal, and that was as close as they got. Gavin Rutherford threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Clayton Wayland, and AJ Rosen kicked a 51-yard field goal as the half ran out, making it 17-3.
Then the third quarter turned it into a rout. Bugs Mortimer returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown at 14:34, and after Smolen's second field goal (43 yards) made it 24-6, Rutherford hit Wayland again, this time from 46 yards, for 30-6. The extra point failed. It did not matter, because Makai Frisby returned an interception 32 yards 50 seconds later for 37-6. Nobody scored again, which left the entire fourth quarter as garbage time on the scoreboard.
Take away the punt return and the interception return and Stephen F. Austin still wins 23-6. Stephen F. Austin had 330 total yards to Houston Christian's 265, and Houston Christian ran 41 times for 81 yards. Houston Christian is 3-3. The defense did more than return an interception: eight sacks on the day, against one for Houston Christian, and Stephen F. Austin lost one fumble against one interception thrown by the visitors. Eight wins, no losses, and a margin of 31.
If you started Wayland, you got 30.5 points. On the other sideline, Jamaal Hall II caught nine passes for 112 yards.