SAN ANTONIO – The University of the Incarnate Word football team broke numerous individual and team records in a blistering 52-34 Southland Conference victory over Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday afternoon at Benson Stadium.
 
The victory gave the Cardinals a 3-2 record for the season and improved UIW's conference record to an unblemished 3-0, the best conference start in school history.
 
The UIW offense put up 621 yards of total offense, the most in program history.
 
Freshman quarterback Jon Copeland broke individual and team records for yards passing. With his 411 yards Saturday, Copeland shattered the mark previously held by Trent Brittain, who threw for 368 yards against Abilene Christian during the 2015 season.
 
The 52 points scored represents the most scored by a Cardinal team in Southland Conference play.
 
Copeland threw three touchdown passes Saturday night. Ameer King rushed for 180 yards and scored a rushing touchdown.
 
Two Cardinal defensive linemen scored touchdowns, a 55-yard interception return by Darrius Montgomery and a fumble recovery in the end zone by Lukas Termin.
 
For a while, due to two long scoring drives by Southeastern Louisiana in the beginning of the game, the prospects of a Cardinal victory were not so apparent.
 
On the first possession of the game, the Lions' Juwan Petit-Frere swept to the right side and broke free for a 71-yard touchdown run, giving SLU a 7-0 lead.
 
The Cardinals responded with a 35-yard drive in seven plays, culminating with Rhett Marshall's 47-yard field goal. That cut SLU's lead to 7-3.
 
The Lions responded with quarterback Chason Virgil's 74-yard touchdown pass to Petit-Frere, giving SLU a 14-3 lead.
 
After two exchanges of possession to begin the second quarter, the Cardinals mounted an 80-yard, eight-play drive to trim SLU's lead to 14-10. Copeland hit three key passes—a 32-yarder to Kam Williams, a 20-yard strike to Colby Anthony, and a 22-yard aerial to Phillip Baptiste, setting up Ra'Quanne Dickens' four-yard touchdown run up the middle.
 
Then an unusual interception return for a touchdown and a fake punt on two successive possessions shifted momentum in UIW's favor.
 
With Southeastern Louisiana threatening at the UIW 31-yard line, Virgil's pass bounced off of the shoulder of a Cardinal pass rusher. Montgomery, a defensive lineman, intercepted and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown. That put the Cardinals ahead, 17-14, with 8:16 remaining in the second quarter.
 
A bit of special-team trickery and three solid plays by running back Ameer King sparked an 86-yard, 13-play drive that moved the score to 24-14, in favor of UIW, with 1:30 remaining before halftime.
 
Facing a fourth down and 14-to-go at the UIW 22-yard line, Cardinal punter David Balcomb took the snap, faked the punt, and took off down the right sideline for a drive-salvaging first down. Five plays later, King broke free on a 34-yard rush, giving UIW a first down on the SLU 17. Then, King ran for nine yards, setting up the Cardinals with a first-and-goal at the Lion seven. King's next rush put the Cardinals into the end zone.
 
A 20-yard kickoff return and a 23-yard pass reception by Petit-Frere put SLU in position for a 15-yard touchdown pass from Virgil to D. Johnson, cutting the Cardinals' lead to 24-21 with 37 seconds to go in the half.
 
Then, the Air Raid offense demonstrated its potential. With no timeouts remaining, it took Copeland, the freshman quarterback, 31 seconds to engineer a three-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. A 12-yard run by King, a 28-yard pass to Williams, and a 35-yard touchdown pass to Baptiste gave UIW a 31-21 halftime lead.
 
A second Lion turnover of the game gave UIW the first touchdown of the third quarter.  Pinned deep in his own territory, Virgil, the SLU quarterback, fumbled a snap in the end zone. Temin, a defensive lineman, recovered the loose ball for a touchdown, which gave UIW a 38-21 lead.
 
After UIW forced an SLU punt, the Cardinals embarked on an 89-yard, ten-play drive that made the score 45-21. An 18-yard pass to Baptiste and King's 42-yard rush set up Copeland's 11-yard touchdown to Williams.
 
A 13-play, 80-yard drive, capped by Devonte Williams' one-yard plunge, gave SLU a touchdown and moved the score to 45-27, with UIW leading.
 
The Cardinals replied quickly. Two long completions from Copeland to Baptiste, one for 42 yards and the second a touchdown reception of 43 yards, moved the scoreboard to 52-27 in favor of UIW.
 
A three-yard touchdown run by SLU's Johnson with 38 seconds remaining in the game made the final score 52-34, giving the Cardinals their third-straight victory.

Opening Statement…
 
"Any time you can get a conference win, that's huge. I was proud of the way the guys fought; not perfect. There's stuff to correct.
 
The most impressive think about this win, in that we came out lackadaisical, was the resilience of this team, the way they responded. The defense came up with some huge stops and scored two touchdowns. Anytime you do that, you have a good chance to win.
 
Copeland did of good job of settling down and throwing some stuff down the field.
 
Without Ra'Quanne [Dickens], you tend to get a 5W  bit nervous. We had a true freshman (King) step in and ran the ball very well.
 
We got the victory, which is key, and we'll enjoy that for about 24 hours. We'll reload and we have a good Lamar team to play next week."
 
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH ERIC MORRIS
Regarding how the team responded to SLU's 14-3 lead:
 
"We regained our composure. There's something we harp on a lot. There are going to be bad things that happen in games. The way you respond to good things happening and bad things happening are kind of the key to a good team. I thought we responded in a good way. We never gave up. We kept fighting. We didn't put or head down and pout. And I thought we had good response after that."
 
About the 3-play, 75-yard drive with 36 seconds left in the half:
 
"We might be the best right-before-half team in America. I wish we'd do that on a consistent basis. I though Jon did a good job. We started with a run and got a good gain that allowed us to go fast. Then we got kind of a scramble drill where Jon kept his eyes down the field to hit Cam Williams. Williams did a good job of situational awareness of getting out of bounds, and then threw a perfect strike on a post into cover two and Phillip Baptist played extremely well. He had a big game."
 
About how the players seem to be willing to battle this year.
 
"Belief:  I'd say believing in one another. Believing in their teammates to do the job – then believing in themselves. That was one thing that was glaring when we first got here. I didn't think everybody really believed in what we were doing. They were kind of beat down a little bit. We got them in and really started talking to these kids. That's kind of hard to coach. But I think my staff has done a good job of building this into them every day. And our kids are really fighting for one another."
 
On Jon Copeland really showed his growth and maturity in the game.
 
"You know, that's kind of funny. One of the coaches came up to me and said (about Jon): "He really has that look in his eye." With a freshman, I said: "What are you talking about? What kind of look."  He (the coach) said, he's really got it today. He's dialed in and focused in."
 
And I think that showed to be true during the game. He's a young guy. He's learning on the run. He's spent a lot of time up here. He's a great leader. He takes his mistakes seriously, and that's what you want with a young player. He's learned from some of the mistakes he's made and he's corrected them.
 
In this offense you've got to have a trigger man, and he's doing a good job for us."
 
Over the last three games, what has been the difference for your defense?
 
"Coach Deason does a phenomenal job. He's done this for years. When he and I talk after the game, we're still frustrated at the 87things that we're leaving out there. There is so much room for improvement. But he's doing a good job of getting those guys playing together. And that's what I told the team. It's good to know, when you're a head, coach, that your guys are going to fight for each other, and not for the coaches, but for each other."
 
On the fake punt by Rhett Marshall: Is that something you called or does he have the green light.
 
"Yes, he has the green light. Coach Lechtenberg has done a great job with him. You know he's (Marshall) from Australia. I learned the hard way last week, when I told him to kick the ball out of bounds, by God, he kicked it out of bounds. You can never be too literal with a kid who has come from overseas and played rugby all of his life. It's something we've worked on. It ended up being a big play for us."