By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Sports Information Director
It was the spectacle Centenary fans eagerly anticipated, but the outcome of the Gents’ first official intercollegiate football game in many decades wasn’t what they wanted.
The Centenary football team fell 43-20 to the Hendrix College Warriors Saturday evening in front of an overflow crowd recorded at 1,978 at Atkins Field on the Centenary campus.
The Gents (0-1) fell behind the Warriors (1-0) by a score of 36-6 at halftime but outscored them 14-7 in the second half. Centenary wound up with 290 yards of total offense while Hendrix had 401 yards.
Centenary’s previous football history began with the Gents’ first game in the fall of 1894 and ended in November of 1941, with a brief attempted revival in the 1960s. The anticipation and excitement after a half-century of the sport being gone was on full display Saturday night.
“So many people have worked for years to make this day happen,” said head coach Byron Dawson. “People invested their time and hard-earned money and I am so happy and grateful that we had college football in this city tonight and we are going to keep pushing forward.”
Hendrix, 3-7 last season, scored on the game’s opening series. Jason Sullivan’s 4-yard touchdown run lit up the new scoreboard and the Warriors converted a two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead at the 11:43 mark, capping an eight-play dive that covered 75 yards in 3:17.
Centenary’s Kobe Chambers took the ensuing kickoff and the 10-yard line and cut to the far sideline, racing to the end zone for an apparent 90-yard TD as the Atkins Field was in a fever pitch but it was unfortunately negated by a holding penalty.
The Gents were only able muster five yards on their first drive and the Warriors followed with a 5-play, 47-yard TD drive to take a 15-0 lead with just under seven minutes left in the first quarter.
Sophomore linebacker Vance Feuerbacher, last year’s starting quarterback, came up with a big defensive play later in the quarter as he recovered a Warriors’ fumble and raced down to the four-yard line. One play later, junior running back Bobby Shanklin Jr. found the end zone to make it 15-6 with 5:01 remaining in the first period. The Gents attempted a two-point conversion that failed but they were on the board.
Hendrix extended its lead with an early TD in the second quarter to make it 22-6 and an 11-play, 95-yard drive by the Warriors capped by a Buniff to Turley eight-yard score made it 29-6 with 5:27 remaining before halftime. Another Hendrix TD with a mere 59 seconds left before the break made it 36-6.
Centenary brought on freshman Preston Doerner from Airline High School for a 39-yard field goal attempt just before halftime but his kick was blocked and the Warriors went to the locker room with a 30-point lead.
Hendrix scored again midway through the third quarter to take a 43-6 advantage. The Gents’ defense was impressive over the final 25 minutes of the game. Freshman Jacob Wilson intercepted and two plays later freshman Kody Fuentes found sophomore receiver Jay Richardson for a 15-yard TD at the 8:07 mark of the fourth period. Chambers ran it in for a two-point conversion to make it 43-14.
Fuentes added a 1-yard scoring run with 1:09 left to get the Gents within 43-20 after a Feuerbacher two-point rush attempt failed. Wilson finished with a pair of interceptions in the game.
Hendrix had a 410-290 total yardage advantage. The Gents couldn’t establish a run game, trying only 17 and netting minus 9 yards. Centenary threw for 299, all by Fuentes.
The Gents will hit the road next Saturday as they open Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play against the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs in Seguin.
Contact Patrick at pmeehan@centenary.edu