St. Louis used a proficient passing game and survived a late Sam Houston onslaught to preserve a 20-14 season-opening win against the Broncos on Friday night at Cougar Stadium.
Despite trailing a majority of the game and remaining scoreless for the first 44 minutes, Sam Houston scored touchdowns on back-to-back drives and converted consecutive onside kicks in the last 3 minutes, 16 seconds that cut St. Louis’ lead from 20 points to six and gave the Broncos a chance to steal the game.
The Broncos got to the St. Louis 20-yard line in the final minute, but a sack put Sam Houston in a fourth-and-long situation and a reverse pass ended up in the hands of St. Louis defensive back Carrington Guillory to seal the win for the Saints.
“Those onside kicks, we might not give up two more all year,” said St. Louis head coach Charlie Cryer. “But our kids stayed in there and fought. We got a little tired defensively toward the end, but I thought we played really well.”
Saints quarterback Bailey Hardy regularly found open receivers and finished 13-of-22 passing for 203 yards and three touchdowns while throwing one interception.
“I thought he played really great,” Cryer said. “Sam Houston, defensively, was pretty dang good. We had two of our starting guards out and a running back that didn’t even dress tonight. We were a little short-handed, but those other kids stepped up and did a great job.”
St. Louis got on the board first late in the first quarter thanks in large part to an interception by strong safety Matthew Houston, who returned it to the Sam Houston 11-yard line.
Three plays later, Hardy found fullback Kade Khoury for a 2-yard touchdown pass to give the Saints a 7-0 lead.
The Saints added to their lead midway through the second quarter when Hardy completed a pass to a wide-open Conner Williams who easily ran into the end zone for a 77-yard touchdown reception that extended St. Louis’ lead to 13-0.
Sam Houston was able to move the ball effectively in the first half, getting the ball into St. Louis territory multiple times.
But untimely penalties and turnovers kept the Broncos scoreless as they went to the locker room for halftime.
The Saints added to their lead midway through the third with a long, lumbering drive that ended with Hardy finding Patrick Lavergne in the end zone from 6 yards out.
Hardy’s primary target came in the form of running back Jimon Sallier, who caught five passes for 48 yards. Williams finished with 98 yards off two receptions and a touchdown.
Sam Houston quarterback Dustin Jackson threw 19-for-40 for 239 yards and punched in two touchdown runs from a yard out in the closing minutes of the game.
“You learn a lot from a game like this,” Cryer said, “like you have to play the whole 48 minutes or you’re going to get beat.”
---
Follow Tyler Nunez on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TylerAmPress
from American Press: Your Best News And Advertising Source - Home http://ift.tt/2bTjaSD
0 التعليقات:
Post a Comment