Southland Football News, Notes and Weekly Awards

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The season is winding down in the Southland Conference and teams are positioning themselves for the conference championship and beyond. Let’s take a look at the action and award winners from this past week of play.

The Offensive Player of the Week was No. 25 UIW (University of The Incarnate Word), quarterback Jon Copeland. The sophomore led his team to their first win as a ranked team in their 35-17 win over Lamar. In the game, Copeland finished 24-35 for 376 and four touchdowns. He is now tied for the second-most touchdown passes in school history and needs just two more to become the all-time school leader. One of the more impressive throws of the day was a 90-yard play to WR Ameer King that set up a two-yard touchdown run by Keyondrick Philio. It was also the third 300 yard game of the year and eighth in his career for Copeland. With the win, UIW is now tied for the conference lead at 4-1 and is 5-2 overall.

Sam Houston St kept pace with UIW with a 17-0 upset win over No. 9 Nicholls in a game that saw them limit the top rushing offense to 55 yards on 33 carries. The man most responsible for that was the Defensive Player of the Week, Royce See. He would rack up a team-high 10 tackles, including four solo. He added two tackles for loss, a forced fumble and 1.5 sacks. The win puts the Bearkats at 4-1 in the conference and at 5-3 overall.

The Special Teams Player of the Week is also from the Bearkats, Matt McRoberts. He averaged 45.7 yards per punt including a booming 64 yarder in the win over Nicholls. On three of his punts, McRoberts was able to pin the Colonels inside the 20 three times and inside the 10 twice. He also put one on the five-yard line adding to a rough field position day for Nicholls.

Other Southland Football News

Stephen F. Austin (1-6, 1-3) traveled to Abilene Christian (4-4, 3-3) and the two teams played a thriller. SFA QB, Trae Self had a good day going 25-49 for 318 yards and three touchdown passes. ACU RB, Tracy James carried the ball 25 times for 105 and two touchdown runs. The teams traded scores for the first half but in the third quarter, ACU took a 10-point lead at 24-14. SFA would answer with two fourth-quarter scores to take the game to two overtimes before ACU pulled off the 31-24 win.

Stay tuned for more football news from the Southland next week on NGSC Sport where we never stop.