East Central University’s Tigers stepped up a division and felt stepped on Thursday night in the 2008 football season opener before a crowd of 12,158 at Bowers Stadium.
ECU fell victim to the first-half passing of former University of Oklahoma quarterback and senior Rhett Bomar and the running of junior James Aston as NCAA Division I Championship Subdivision (formerly NCAA Division I-AA) Sam Houston State rolled to a 58-14 win over the NCAA Division II Tigers.
Bomar, who played just the first half, completed 14-of-22 passes for 198 yards and four touchdowns while Aston, who also played in just the first two quarters, netted 115 yards on only eight carries and scored twice, including once off a 49-yard run, as the Bearkats rolled to a 52-0 halftime advantage.
The only big highlights for ECU came in the second half as junior quarterback Marcus Johnson connected with tight end Thurman Sims on a 6-yard scoring strike in the back of the end zone with 9:33 to go in the third and Johnson fired a 53-yard scoring bomb to Tyrone Gibbs with 11:31 remaining in the contest.
Johnson, the 2007 Lone Star Conference North Offensive Back of the Year and 2008 LSC North Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, was 31-of-53 passing for 296 yards and two touchdowns, but was intercepted twice, including once in the end zone late in the game. He directed ECU on a nine-play, 68-yard drive for the first Tiger score and engineered a three-play, 57-yard series for the second.
Justin Goolsby led the Tiger receivers with five catches for 56 yards while Gibbs and Sterling Headen hauled in four passes apiece. In fact, Gibbs’ catches amounted to 75 yards, including the big 53-yarder.
Besides the two interceptions, ECU also fumbled the ball six times and lost four to finish with six turnovers in the game (three in each half).
Bomar and company rolled up 386 first-half total yards as the Bearkats finished with 474 for the game. Meanwhile, ECU managed just 82 yards of offense in the first two quarters while losing two fumbles and being intercepted twice.
Thanks to the passing of Johnson, the Tigers did accumulate 379 yards of total offense, including the 296 through the airways and 297 total in the second half.
SHSU receiver Catron Houston caught five passes for 72 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Aston and Jason Madkins caught three aerials apiece and recorded one TD catch each.
Free safety Dionte’ Dean led the Tigers with eight solo tackles while Tim Dial, Ty Gower, Maurice Lanclos and Ryan Madison each recorded a tackle apiece for lost yards. Dial’s stop was a sack of Bomar.
ECU opens the home portion of its 2008 season next Saturday by entertaining Lone Star Conference South foe Texas A&M-Kingsville at 6 p.m. at Norris Field.
