By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Sports Information Director
In its first official season of intercollegiate competition in seven decades, the Centenary football team can get to .500 overall and two games over .500 in league play with a happy Homecoming performance Saturday.
The Gents entertain the Austin College ‘Roos in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest on Saturday set for 6 p.m. at Atkins Field. Centenary already owns a 36-17 road win at Austin College on Sept. 21.
The Gents (3-4, 3-2 SCAC) recorded a thrilling comeback 28-21 victory over the Lyon College Scots last Saturday in Batesville, Ark. as they scored the winning touchdown with 15 seconds remaining in the game.
Austin College (1-6, 1-4 SCAC) fell 55-17 at home to Texas Lutheran last Saturday.
HONORS: Freshman defensive back Jacob Wilson, a former Evangel star, was named the SCAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.
Wilson came up with a game-defining play on Saturday for the Gents as he intercepted a Scots’ pass at the Centenary 11 and returned it 24 yards with the game tied at 21-21 and only 53 seconds remaining. The Gents moved 34 yards in five plays and won on a TD pass with 15 seconds left. Wilson added four total tackles and two pass breakups.
Wilson was also recognized nationally as he was named to the D3Football.com Team of the Week on Tuesday. The Team of the Week is D3football.com’s weekly honor roll, in its 26th season of recognizing the top performance at each position from the previous week.
Wilson, who also made the team after Week 1, is the first SCAC football athlete to appear on multiple national team of the week squads in the same season since Austin College’s Kyle Crawford in 2014. His selection marks the third consecutive week and 10th total national honor for an SCAC athlete this year, the most for the conference since the league landed 12 in 2014.
Sophomore Vance Feuerbacher was named the SCAC Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday, the second consecutive week he has won the honor.
Feuerbacher was 4-for-4 on PAT’s, punted four times for 135 yards with a long of 40 and landed one inside the 20-yard line, and was the Gents’ leading tackler on defense. Feuerbacher had a team-high eight solo stops and 10 total tackles, one sack, and two tackles for loss.
MEN’S BASKETBALL: The Gents will face the Bossier Parish Community College Cavaliers on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Gold Dome in an exhibition contest. Admission is free.
WOMEN’S GOLF: Centenary finished in sixth place on Tuesday in the Bash at the Bend hosted by Hardin-Simmons at Cypress Bend Resort near Many.
The Ladies shot a 209-over par 785 for the week, opening with a 105-over 393 in Monday’s opening round followed by a 104-over 392 on Tuesday.
The host Cowgirls and Ladies were joined by East Texas Baptist, Howard Payne, McMurry, Schreiner, Southwestern, and Texas Lutheran.
Southwestern won the team title as the Pirates shot a 104-over par 680 (337-343) and Hardin-Simmons finished second at 120-over par 696, and ETBU was third. Schreiner finished fourth, TLU fifth ahead of the Ladies, and Howard Payne finished seventh.
Haughton freshman Haylee Crowder earned the Ladies’ best finish as she tied for 11th place at 34-over par 178 as she carded a 15-over par 87 in Tuesday’s final round which was preceded by a 19-over par 91 on Monday. Crowder recorded her best finish of the season as her previous best was 15th at the 2024 SCAC Preview last month.
The Ladies wrap up their fall season in the Crusader Cup hosted by the University of Dallas on Oct. 28-29 at Hawk’s Creek Golf Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
CROSS COUNTRY: Centenary hosts the 2024 SCAC Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships Saturday, Nov. 2 at South Bossier Park in Bossier City.
The women’s 6K race will start at 9 a.m. and the men’s 8K follows at 10. With the additions of Concordia (Texas), McMurry and University of the Ozarks to the SCAC, there will be 11 men’s and 11 women’s teams competing at this year’s meet — creating the largest fields on both sides since the 2011 championships.
Contact Patrick at pmeehan@centenary.edu