Quincy, Ill. – After a tough loss at home last week, the SBU Football team was back in the win column Saturday. The Bearcats handled the Hawks in a high scoring affair, 47-31. With the win, the team improves to 4-6 (3-3 GLVC) on the year. In addition, Saturday's win marks Head Coach
Robert Clardy's 27th at SBU, tying the most wins by a coach in program history. From 2007-12, Keith Allen led the Bearcats to a 27-39 record; Coach Clardy currently sits at 27-39 as well since taking over in 2015.
Quincy won the toss and elected to defer, giving SBU the ball first.
Abel Carter gave the Bearcats excellent starting field position, returning the opening kickoff to the 38-yard line. An offsides penalty gave an extra 5 yards, putting the offense on their own 43 to begin. The team drove down the field, scoring on the opening drive to take a 7-0 lead. The score came from
Marcus Manuel Jr., catching a 24-yard pass from
Cooper Callis. The Hawks took just over 4 minutes on their first drive, going 82 yards for a score to even things at 7-7. Late in the first,
Logan Turner knocked home a 39-yard field goal to put SBU up 10-7.
The second quarter started well for SBU, as Quincy was forced to punt. On the snap, the ball went over the punter's head, going out of the end zone for a safety. In addition to the 2 points, SBU got the ball back, starting on the QU 45 thanks to a solid return and another Quincy offsides. The drive took just 3 plays for Callis to find
Gage Anderson, an 8-yard touchdown to take a 19-7 lead. Midway through the second quarter, Quincy found the end zone on a big passing play, cutting the lead to 19-14. After an unsuccessful SBU drive, Quincy got the ball back deep in SBU territory, but they were held to a field goal attempt that was no good. On the next play,
Cooper Callis connected with
Marcus Manuel Jr. for a 40-yard play. It wasn't long after when
Abel Carter found the end zone on the receiving end of a Callis pass, 26-14 SBU.
The Hawks opened the third quarter with a big play, but
Coleton Smith made a 7-yard tackle for loss on 3
rd and 3, holding Quincy to a field goal. A little while later, Quincy was faced with a 4
th and 3 opportunity on the SBU 35, but
Coleton Smith and
Chance Deitz dropped the Hawks running back for a loss, resulting in a turnover on downs. The next two plays were big for the SBU offense, as Callis found
Preston Carson for 34 yards and
Jarrett Massie for 27.
Eric Knight then punched the ball in from the 1-yard line, extending the lead to 33-17. Quincy drove down to the SBU 10-yard line late in the third, but incomplete passes on 3
rd and 4
th down help force another turnover on downs. Just before the end of the third,
Abel Carter broke free for a 52-yard gain, finally brought down at the Quincy 20.
On the opening play of the fourth quarter,
Cooper Callis found
Gage Anderson for another touchdown, their second scoring connection of the game. Quincy took a deep shot downfield on their next offensive play, but
Chris Fuzeme was there to make the interception. A three and out gave the Hawks the ball back, but
Chance Deitz forced a fumble just before the Quincy running back reached the end zone to keep the score at 40-17. Not letting the turnovers get to them, Quincy drove the field and scored on their next possession, making the score 40-24. On the next SBU possession,
Jarrett Massie made two catches of 20+ yards to help cap off a 4-minute scoring drive. It was
Eric Knight doing the scoring once again, putting this one in from 7 yards out. The Hawks managed to score once more, making the final score 47-31 in favor of Southwest Baptist.
Continuing his impressive fall,
Cooper Callis completed 30-42 (71.4%) passes for another 408 yards and 4 touchdowns. Going into Saturday's game, Callis was second in the nation in passing yards (2941), 5th in completions per game (27.0), 5th in completion percentage (69.2), and 9th in passing TD (27).
Jarrett Massie was the primary target, catching 7 passes for 122 yards.
Marcus Manuel Jr. also broke the century mark, catching 5 passes for 101 yards and a touchdown. The linebacker duo of
Coleton Smith and
Aaron Harris dominated the defensive side of the ball. Smith recorded 12 tackles, 3.5 for loss, and 1.0 sack. Harris finished with 11 tackles, 2.0 for loss, and a fumble recovery.
The team returns home for one final game of the fall 2021 season, hosting the Missouri S&T Miners on November 13 at 1:00 PM.
