'Roos Climb Out of Early Hole for Win at Centenary

SHREVEPORT, La. - After falling behind 10-0 early, the Austin College football team scored 20 unanswered points to close out their road Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference game against Centenary College on Saturday to capture a 20-10 victory. The 'Roos are now 2-6 overall and 1-4 in conference play.

A field goal for the Gents made it a 3-0 game just over two minutes in, and the lead would grow to 10-0 with six minutes remaining in the opening quarter after Christopher Jackson scored on a 17 yard run to complete an eight play, 90 yard scoring drive. That remained the score until nearly halftime, when Austin College managed to get their first points of the game on a 29 yard Caleb Balderas field goal with 1:57 left in the second quarter to make it 10-3 at the break.

Austin College came out strong in the third quarter, putting together a nine play, 75 yard drive culminating in a 15 yard scoring strike from Jaylon Talton to Jermiah Johnson with just under 10 minutes left in the period. The game went into the fourth quarter all square at 10 points apiece, but that didn't last long as Talton connected with Johnny Dorpinghaus for a 33 yard touchdown just 57 seconds into the fourth, giving Austin College its first lead of the game at 17-10. The 'Roos tacked on one more field goal with just under two minutes remaining, this time with Balderas hitting from 24 yards to seal the win.

The 'Roos finished the game with 410 yards of total offense compared to 295 for the Gents, and Talton finished the game completing 13-of-21 passes for 138 yards with two scores and a pick. He also added 56 rushing yards on eight carries. Johnson caught 10 passes for 93 yards to lead the receivers, and Zyan Stewart rushed 15 times for 89 yards. Barrett Hudson added 89 yads on 12 carries, while Kenneth Alexander paced the defense with seven tackles.

Austin College and Centenary will meet again next weekend in Little Rock, as the No. 5-seed 'Roos will take on the No. 6-seed Gents in the first SCAC Football Championship Weekend. That game will kick of at 10:00 a.m. at War Memorial Stadium.