Sam Houston tops Alabama State 51-20

BOX SCORE

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Sophomore quarterback Jared Johnson passed for 386 yards and three touchdowns to lead FCS No. 14 ranked Sam Houston to a 51-20 victory over Alabama State Saturday at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium.

Johnson threw touchdown passes of nine yards to Rickey Smith, 48 yards to Jeffrey Thomas and 68 yards to Keshawn Hill. Hill also scored on a four-yard run.

“I thought we did some good things offensively. Defensively we were a little spotty and gave up too many big plays. That’s going to be the key for us, if we can learn to stop giving up the big plays I think we can be a pretty good football team,” K.C. Keeler said following his first win as Sam Houston head coach.

A pair of transfer running backs led the Bearkats in rushing with 83 yards each. Jalen Overstreet, a transfer running back from Texas, had 11 carries for 83 yards and Donavan Williams, a junior transfer from ASA Junior College, added 83 yards on 12 carries including a one-yard score.

LaDarius Brown led the Bearkats in receiving with six catches for 65 yards. Smith had six catches for 53 yards and Thomas had five for 78 yards. 11 different players caught a pass in the ballgame.

The Bearkats ramped up the offense and ran 104 plays in the game, more than in any game last season. Sam Houston totaled 685 yards of offense and dominated time of possession, keeping the ball for just over 40 minutes.

Hornet quarterback Daniel Duhart led Alabama State completing 17 of 32 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns.

Sam Houston now stands 1-1 for the year while the game was Alabama State’s season opener.

The win extended Sam Houston’s home winning streak to 23 games, which stands as the nation’s longest active home winning streak.

“I wasn’t part of the 22 wins but I am now part of number 23. It really is special to be part of something like that. It’s really exciting to see a great home crowd come out enjoy what we did,” Keeler said.

The Bearkats will hit the road next week and play nationally-ranked LSU in Baton Rouge, La.



COURTESY GOBEARKATS.COM