LSC Roundup 9-28

Streak over! - Bob Forrest
Ada — East Central’s football family lingered a lot longer than usual on the turf at Norris Field after Saturday night’s historic 23-0 victory over Southwestern.

Parents — some from as far away as California — visited with players and coaches and took pictures of their kids with the stars of the game. Nobody seemed to be in too big a hurry, because this win was not only too long in coming — it was special. Instead of heading to the locker room after another disappointing loss in a streak that had reached a school-record 16 games, everyone associated with the ECU football program hung around to savor that elusive — but not forgotten — winning feeling.

Tim McCarty was able enjoy his first victory as a head coach in almost five years. Second-year defensive coordinator Justin Deason accepted congratulations for his first career shutout. Armonty Bryant, who put an exclamation mark on a career night with his first-ever touchdown, was all smiles, along with the rest of a defensive unit that pitched ECU’s first shutout since 2006.

“This obviously feels great,” said McCarty, whose club was roughed up by Fort Hays State and nationally-ranked Lone Star Conference opponents Texas A&M-Kingsville and Abilene Christian in the first three weeks of the season but earned a share of the early lead in the LSC North with Saturday’s victory. “This team won a game and shut out an opponent. It’s hard to shut a team out. We scored on defense, and we scored on special teams, but we still have a lot to do,” he added. “The win is great. I’m happy for our kids, our coaches, for ECU and for our fans.”


Buffs bolt past Angelo State - Dave Henry, Amarillo Globe News
SAN ANGELO — The West Texas A&M Buffs presented head coach Don Carthel with the game ball Saturday night, signifying his 100th career coaching victory.

The Angelo State Rams did their best to postpone that ceremony for at least another week, but it wasn’t quite enough.

ASU shut out the Buffs in the second half — the first time WT has been scoreless in a half this season — but 23 unanswered points by WT in the first half provided enough of a cushion as the Buffs edged the Rams, 37-27, before 5,208 fans at San Angelo Stadium.

The Buffs improved to 3-1 overall and 3-0 in the Lone Star Conference. The Rams are 2-1, 2-1.

“This feels good, but every win feels good,” said Carthel, who also tied the legendary Frank Kimbrough for the No. 2 spot in WT career wins with 54. “This one was special because it was an LSC South game and it was a battle. We knew it would be. (ASU) is a much-improved football team fighting for their lives and very confident.”

Who is the newest Jaguar, Keith Null? - Adam Stites, Big Cat Country
In the moments directly after the news from Adam Schefter that the Jaguars are flying in and subsequently signing QB Keith Null, the reaction was similar to that of draft day when Gene Smith drafted Tyson Alualu. With Trent Edwards, a player that the common fan has heard of, available and backup quarterbacks seemingly an option as trade possibilities, Gene signed the relatively unknown Null.

The jokes are already rolling in with the news that Null played college football at West Texas A&M with Ryan Leaf as his quarterback coach. But all jokes aside, who and what did the Jaguars just acquire and what can we expect as fans from him?



National Football Stats Update (LSC Teams and players in top 10)
Team Rushing Offense - #3 Midwestern State - 287 yds per game
Team Passing Offense - #1 West Texas A&M - 437.25 yds per game, #5 Eastern New Mexico - 354 yds per game
Total Offense - #1 West Texas A&M - 578 yds per game, #5 Midwestern State - 513.25 yds per game, #10 Eastern New Mexico - 472.25 yds per game
Scoring Offense - #3 Abilene Christian - 47.25 pts per game, #4 West Texas A&M - 46.5 pts per game, #8 Midwester State - 43 pts per game
Rushing Defense - #1 Texas A&M-Kingsville - 24.5 yds per game, #10 Abilene Christian - 68 yds per game
Passing Defense - #3 Texas A&M-Kingsville - 109.75 yds per game
Total Defense - #1 Texas A&M-Kingsville - 134.25 yds per game
Scoring Defense - #1 Texas A&M-Kingsville - 5.75 pts per game, #8 Abilene Christian - 12.25 pts per game

Individual leaders
Total Offense - #2 Taylor Harris - 396.5 yds per game, #4 Wes Wood - 381.25 yds per game
Passing Efficiency - #8 Mitchell Gale - 169.25
Receptions per game - #4 Tyson Williams - 9.25 per game, #8 Jesse Poku - 8.75 per game
Receiving yds per game - #7 Tyson Williams - 124.50 yds per game
Sacks - #7 Matt Romig 1.25 per game
Interceptions - #3(tie) Alvin Johnson - 1 per game, #10 (tie) Darien Williams, Marvin Tribble - .75 per game
Tackles - #5 Tillman Stevens - 12 per game
Punt Returns - #3 Kendrick Johnson - 22.0 yd per return
Kick Returns - #5 Darrell Cantu-Harkless - 34.5 yd per return
Scoring - #5 Morgan Lineberry - 12.75 pts per game
Field Goals - #1 Morgan Lineberry - 2.5 per game, #5 Jose Martinez - 1.75 per game, #10 Tyler Cannon - 1.5 per game
Punting - #9 George Shamblin - 43.20 yd per punt

CONFERENCE AND NON-CONFERENCE ACTION ON TAP
A mix of Lone Star Conference and non-conference action will take place this week. Abilene Christian and West Texas A&M are both 4-0 in conference play to lead the league with three squads behind them at 3-1 as teams compete for one of eight spots at the LSC Volleyball Championship.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE
Flynn Harrell, Tarleton State University, FR, Brownwood, Texas/Brownwood
Harrell had an outstanding week, recording 34 kills, while hitting a .391 percentage in three Tarleton victories. In the TexAnns’ 3-2 win over St. Edwards, Harrell hit 12 kills, before setting a career-high on Saturday versus Southeastern Oklahoma with 15 kills, leading Tarleton to a 3-0 sweep. Between those two performances, Harrell added seven kills, but hit a .467 percentage in a 3-0 victory over East Central. She also contributed 15 digs and a block to the TexAnns’ efforts.

Amanda Waclawczyk, Texas A&M University - Kingsville, JR, Poth, Texas/Poth
Waclawczyk led the Javelinas to a 2-1 week. In a three-set win over Huston-Tillotson, she had 10 kills and a .562 attack. She came back with 13 kills, no attack errors, four blocks and a .542 attack in a four-set win at Cameron in the first LSC road game of the season. She finished the week with 10 kills in the team’s loss at Midwestern State. She averaged 3.3 kills per set with a .377 attack.

DEFENSIVE
Shea McBrearty, Tarleton State University, SR, Dripping Springs, Texas/Dripping Springs
McBrearty added to her already robust school record in digs with 47 over three matches this past week, helping Tarleton to a 3-0 record, including a 2-0 record in conference play. With 22 digs at St. Edwards, 10 against East Central, and 15 against Southeastern Oklahoma, McBrearty anchored a tough Tarleton defense that lost just two of their 11 games last week. She averaged 4.27 digs per game, while playing in all 11 sets for the TexAnns, and committed just a single receiving error in 48 tries.

Hillary White, Midwestern State University, JR, North Richland Hills, Texas/Richland HS
White may have been Midwestern State’s top offensive threat with 3.36 kills per set while helping the Mustangs to a pair of Lone Star Conference wins over Incarnate Word and Texas A&M-Kingsville, but the junior from North Richland Hills showed her versatility with solid averages of 4.00 digs and 0.91 blocks per set. White notched her fifth double-double of the season with a career-high 17 kills and 15 digs Tuesday against Dallas Baptist before quickly tacking on her sixth with 14 kills and 17 digs in Thursday’s win over Incarnate Word. The all-around performer, who notched her fifth-straight match with 10-or-more digs with 12 Saturday against Texas A&M-Kingsville, also showed her value at the net matching a season-high with four total blocks against Incarnate Word while notching three against Dallas Baptist and Texas A&M-Kingsville.

SETTER
Taryn Westerman, Midwestern State University, JR, Liberal, Kan./Liberal HS
Westerman directed Midwestern State to a pair of Lone Star Conference wins over Incarnate Word and Texas A&M-Kingsville by delivering a pair of 50-assist performances last week. The junior transfer from Seward County CC averaged 11.64 assists per set while directed the MSU to a .184 team hitting percentage. Westerman posted double-doubles with 51 assists and 15 digs against Dallas Baptist on Tuesday before notching 50 assists and 12 digs Thursday against Incarnate Word. She concluded her stellar week with 27 assists while leading the Mustangs to a .225 hitting percentage Saturday versus Texas A&M-Kingsville to go along with nine digs.

Alex Woolsey, Angelo State University, SO, Plano, Texas/Plano East HS
Woolsey had 61 assists (10.17 assists per set) leading the Rambelles to a pair of 3-0 sweeps at Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas Woman’s University over the weekend. Woolsey just missed her fifth double-double of the season when she notched 30 assists and nine digs at Texas Woman’s. The Plano, Texas, native totalled three kills, a service ace, 12 digs and four total blocks in the two matches. The sophomore setter leads Angelo State in assists (452) and has registered 44 kills, three service aces, 108 digs, and 16 total blocks on the season.