By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Sports Information Director
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Centenary football team hopes the third time will be the charm when the Gents face the Austin College ‘Roos in the opening game of the inaugural Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Football Championship at 10 a.m. Saturday at War Memorial Stadium.
The Gents (1-7, 1-4 SCAC) and ‘Roos (2-6, 1-4 SCAC) will meet for the second week in a row after Austin College defeated Centenary 20-10 in Shreveport last Saturday.
The Gents and ‘Roos are also playing each other for the third time this season as Austin College recorded a 41-15 win over Centenary on Oct. 4 in Sherman, Texas.
“We are excited about the opportunity to play at a historic venue, War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock,” said Centenary coach Byron Dawson. “This is a great event, and we’re looking forward to competing at a high level. We must be prepared and ready to face a strong Austin team, staying focused on correcting the mistakes from last week and executing the game plan with discipline and effort.”
The Gents are averaging 358.3 yards of total offense per game – 248.3 passing and 110.0 rushing and average 17.3 points per game.
Freshman Theo Dunn tops the Centenary receivers with 47 catches for 659 yards and 5 TD
Senior Obadiah Butler is the Gents’ most productive running back, posting 549 yards and scoring for times on 64 attempts.
The team’s top tackler is senior defensive lineman Rhema Getter, a senior from Shreveport who has 54 total tackles (33 solo).
The Gents’ quarterback situation is unsettled. The two veterans, starter Vance Feuerbacher and backup Zin’Tavious Smith, are injured and out for the remainder of the season.
Calvary Baptist freshman Abram Wardell played in two games before being benched he last two weeks by a concussion. Another true freshman, Brock Hamilton, has started the last two games and passed for 363 yards, with no interceptions but also no touchdowns.
Butler has been one of the top running backs in the SCAC and ranks second in rushing yards/game (68.6) and is the league leader with 1,464 all-purpose yards and averages 183 total yards, good for fourth nationally in NCAA Division III.
Butler is also seventh in total offense and owns the conference’s top two rushing performances of the season, finishing with 234 yards at Lyon on Oct. 18, preceded by 159 yards the week before at home against Texas Lutheran.
He also has the conference’s two longest runs of the season – a 95-yard run against TLU and an 80-yard scamper against Lyon. Butler amassed 274 all-purpose yards against the Bulldogs and 269 yards against the Scots – the top two totals in the conference this season.
Dunn is finishing an impressive rookie season as he ranks third in the conference in receiving yards per game (82.4) and has been very consistent, with 60 or more yards six times and a pair of 100-yard games. He had a season-high 133 yards against East Texas Baptist on Sept. 20.
Getter is averaging 6.8 tackles/game which is good for fifth in the conference and also ranks fifth in tackles for loss (8.5). He had 18 solo tackles in the Lyon win, the second-most by a SCAC player in a game this season, and was named the SCAC Defensive Player of the Week.
Tickets for Saturday’s games are available.
Live stats and live video are available for the game at the links below:
STATS: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=624558
VIDEO: https://www.flocollege.com/signup?redirect=%2Flive%2F214700
Contact Patrick at pmeehan@centenary.edu