SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – After a week off, the University of the Incarnate Word football team gets back on the field on Saturday against Southland Conference rival Abilene Christian University. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. for the UIW Homecoming game at Benson Stadium.
The game will be televised by American Sports Network as their game of the week. Locally the game will be shown on KMYS (CW) which is Antenna 35.1, Time Warner 7, Grande 7, Dish Network 35 and DirecTV 35. Nationally, it will appear on Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), DirecTV 640 and Dish Network 432. For a full list of up-to-the-minute affiliates please go to
http://southland.org/asn. The game will be streamed online at
http://southland.org/watch and on the Southland Conference app. The on screen announcers will be Lincoln Rose, Lemont Williams and Chris Mycoskie.
The Cardinals (3-3, 2-2) enter the game with a perfect 3-0 record at home and they defeated the Wildcats (2-4, 2-3) the last time the two teams met in Benson Stadium in 2013. The offense scored 45 points in their last home game, but they will be without starting running back
Broderick Reeves (Mexia/Mexia HS) who is out with an injury.
UIW quarterback
Trent Brittain (Eastland/Eastland HS) is completing 51.1 percent of his passes for 1,107 yards, six touchdowns and seven interceptions this year. He has rushed for 233 yards and a team high four touchdowns.
Junior Sessions (Mesquite/Mesquite HS) will likely get the call at running back and he has 176 yards on 3.7 yards per carry this year. Tight end
Cole Wick (Hallettsville/Sacred Heart Catholic HS) leads the team with 21 catches for 258 yards while
Kody Edwards (Mesquite/Poteet HS) and
Jamari Gilbert (Baytown/Lee HS) each have over 200 yards receiving.
The Cardinals defense was roughed up in their last game at Sam Houston State, but they have been one of the better defenses in the Southland Conference this year. Senior outside linebacker
Myke Tavarres (Lake Oswego, OR/Lake Ridge HS) leads the charge with 66 tackles, 14.0 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks. He needs one tackle for loss and two sacks to set new school single season records. Inside linebackers
Padyn Giebler (Ivan/Stephenville HS) and
Josh Zellars (Baytown/Lee HS) have combined to make 93 tackles.
Kobie Douglas (Plano/Plano Senior HS) leads the team with six pass breakups.
Ramon Coto (Houston/Westfield HS) averages 41.2 yards per punt for the Cardinals, but has had two blocked this year. He also has nine touchbacks on 26 kickoffs and needs just one more to match his total from last year.
Cody Seidel (Keller/Keller HS) is a perfect 12-for-12 on extra-point tries and 4-of-6 on field goal attempts.
The Wildcats average about 10 yards more per game of total offense than the Cardinals. De'Andre Brown is the leading rusher with 391 yards and four touchdowns on 4.9 yards per carry. Quarterback Parker McKenzie is completing 62.7 percent of his passes for 1,211 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He leads the Southland in passing yards per game. Cedric Gilbert and Jonathan Epps give ACU a pair of dangerous receivers. Gilbert has 28 grabs for 366 yards and six touchdowns while Epps has 333 yards and three touchdowns on 27 receptions.
The ACU defense has struggled against the run giving up 273 yards per game on 6.1 yards per carry, but they have done well against the pass allowing less than 200 yards per contest. Sam Denmark leads the team and the conference with 83 total tackles along with 4.0 tackles for loss. Lynn Grady has 44 tackles and five tackles for loss while Jabari Butler has three interceptions.
Austin Kilcullen is the ACU punter and he is averaging 38.9 yards per kick. Zach Lehr has connected on 19-of-20 extra point attempts, but the team has yet to make a field goal and have only attempted one all season.
The game will be broadcast on CBS SportsRadio 860 AM with Gabe Farias and Shawn Morris on the call. The game can be heard online at
www.tsrnsports.com or through the TSRNSports mobile app.
