NATCHITOCHES, LOUISIANA – The University of the Incarnate Word football team makes their first trip of the season to Louisiana and they will take on Southland Conference rival Northwestern State on Saturday with kickoff scheduled for 6:04 p.m.
The Cardinals (1-5, 1-2) and Demons (2-3, 0-1) are meeting for the first time ever on the football field. The game is going to be broadcast on ESPN3 as well as on the ESPN GamePlan PPV lineup on DirecTV 788.
The Cardinals are coming off their first victory of the season and are hoping to build upon the progress that has been shown. Sophomore running back
Junior Sessions (Mesquite/Mesquite HS) rushed for 118 yards and two scores against Houston Baptist, his third career 100-yard game. His pounding style will be crucial to the success of the UIW offense against the Demons.
Red-shirt freshman quarterback
Breylann McCollum (Cibolo/Steele HS) showed great improvement last week as well completing 72.7 percent of his passes, including his first career touchdown pass.
Casey Jennings (Fremont, CA/Washington HS) and
Cole Wick (Hallettsville/Sacred Heart Catholic HS) have been the top two receivers. Jennings has 26 catches for 306 yards while Wick, a tight end, has 12 grabs for 170 yards.
The UIW defense is coming off its best game of the season against HBU. They limited the Huskies passing game to just 7-of-19 for 71 yards with 52 coming on one play. HBU managed 146 yards on the ground, but the 217 total yards of offense were over 150 yards less than any previous game. The Cardinals forced two turnovers in the game for the first time all season.
Junior linebacker
Padyn Giebler (Ivan/Stephenville HS) leads the Cardinals with 36 tackles while safety
Robert Johnson (Richmond, CA/Berkeley HS) had 35 stops.
Jarrius James (Galveston/Ball HS) has been the top pass defender with an interception and four breakups. Nose tackles
Corey Lee (Humble/LaPorte HS) has been one of the best interior linemen in the conference with 9.0 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks.
The Cardinals have a pair of dangerous return men in
Kody Edwards (Mesquite/Mesquite Poteet HS) and
Jamari Gilbert (Baytown/Lee HS).
Ramon Coto, Jr. (Houston/Westfield HS) is averaging 41.0 yards per punt and is drilling nearly 50 percent of his kickoffs for touchbacks. He is 4-of-8 on field goals and 6-for-6 on extra points.
The Demons are coming off a close loss at Southeastern Louisiana and are returning home for the first time since August 28. Their offense is led by quarterback Zach Adkins who has completed 66.3 percent of his passes for 1,082 yards, seven touchdowns and eight interceptions. Five players have at least 10 receptions while Ed Eagan leads the team with 27 catches for 302 yards and two scores. Garrett Atzenweiler is a big, bruising running back who has four touchdowns and 276 yards on the season.
The defense has been good this year even though a loss to Baylor has skewed some of the statistics. They are allowing 183 yards rushing and 258 yards passing per game. They have forced 15 turnovers in five games. Marion Chapman leads the team with 43 tackles and 4.5 tackles for loss. Adam Jones and Imoan Claiborne have each intercepted two passes on the season.
The Demons are in their 105
th year of playing football and have a 515-439-22 all-time record.
The game will be broadcast on CBS SportsRadio 860 AM in San Antonio with Gabe Farias and Shawn Morris on the call. It can also be heard online at
www.uiwlive.com.
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