Southland Notebook: Four Bearkats earn spots on All-SLC first team
After posting back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2000-01, 16 Bearkats were named to the All-Southland Conference football teams Tuesday afternoon.
Sam Houston had four first-team, three second-team and nine honorable-mention selections.
“I think we had four on the first team and several on the second team, which is a great honor for those kids,” Bearkats head coach Todd Whitten said. “It was a great way for the seniors to close out their careers. These honors just speak volumes for the type of players we have at Sam.”
Representing SHSU on the first team were tight end Blake Martin, offensive lineman Brandon Hale, safety Byran Richmond and defensive end Chris Brown.
Martin led the Bearkats with 46 receptions for 561 yards and two touchdowns despite sitting out the season finale, a dramatic 29-28 come-from-behind victory at Texas State last week. The senior from Hemphill finished his career with 1,251 yards, which ranks third all time for SHSU tight ends.
Hale started every game over the past two years on a dominating offensive line that paved the way for back-to-back 1,000-yard rushers. Also a senior, Hale was a first-team selection last season along with Martin.
Richmond has been a steady contributor on the SHSU defense since his freshman season in 2004. He had a solid senior campaign in 2007, recording a career high with 86 tackles and had a key interception that helped spark the rally against Texas State. Richmond was also named the SLC defensive player of the week twice this season.
Brown, SHSU’s lone junior on the first team, had a breakout season after transferring from the University of Texas. He helped rejuvenate a struggling Bearkat pass rush by registering seven sacks and numerous quarterback hurries. Brown’s sack total was one less than Sam Houston State recorded as a team last season.
Highlighting the Bearkats’ second-team selections is running back Chris Poullard, kicker Taylor Wilkins and linebacker Nolan Bucek.
Poullard became the second straight SHSU back to rush for a 1,000 yards in a season, finishing with 1,038, the fourth best in the conference. He also had a conference-leading 13 rushing touchdowns.
Wilkins bounced back from a disappointing freshman season by going a perfect 33-of-33 on extra-point attempts in 2007. He was also 14-of-18 on field goal tries.
Bucek led the Southland Conference in tackles this season with 88.
Junior quarterback Rhett Bomar headlines SHSU’s honorable mention picks. The University of Oklahoma transfer was having a solid year before suffering a season-ending knee injury in the first half of a 16-13 victory over Nicholls State that caused him to miss the final two games. Rhett Bomar was second in the conference in passing yards with 2,209 to go along with 10 touchdowns.
Rhett Bomar also had 406 yards on the ground with seven more scores.
Also on the honorable-mention team from SHSU were offensive linemen Brennan Williams, Ryan Dretke and Hunter Schmidt, defensive linemen David Branch, Jerod Brown and Eric Mikolajchak, safety Carlton Cobey and punter Michael Capparelli.
In all, the Bearkats had eight seniors, four juniors and four sophomores make the All-SLC teams.
“We are excited about our future because half of these guys are coming back next season,” Whitten said. “It was nice to get all those guys on the all-conference teams. But it wasn’t just those guys, but the entire team that made this a good season. We had ups and downs and fought through adversity. We had some great senior leaders and we will miss them.”
McNeese State defensive end Bryan Smith was the Southland Player of the Year. Central Arkansas quarterback Nathan Brown was the Offensive Player of the Year, while Nicholls State safety Kareem Moore was tabbed the league’s top defensive player.
Texas State running back Karrington Bush was the Freshman of the Year, and Nicholls safety Ladarius Webb, a transfer from Southern Miss, was the conference’s top newcomer.
Cowboys coach Matt Viator was tabbed Coach of the Year after leading McNeese to an 11-0 record and second consecutive SLC championship.
Playoff time for Cowboys
McNeese State capped off a dominating season with a 41-14 drubbing of Central Arkansas this past Saturday. The victory ensured the Cowboys (11-0) the outright Southland Conference title and the league’s automatic bid to the FCS playoffs.
“Eleven-and-0 is hard to do,” coach Matt Viator told the Lake Charles American Press following Saturday’s win. “The kids worked really hard. The thing I’m most proud of is they really bought in to what we were doing. That’s the most gratifying thing.”
McNeese was handed the nation’s No. 2 seed when the playoff bracket was announced Sunday, meaning teams will have to go through Lake Charles, La., to get to the championship game in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Dec. 14.
The Cowboys will host Eastern Washington in the opening round of the playoffs Saturday at 7 p.m.
Unlikely volleyball winner
Texas State shocked the league by claiming its first Southland Conference volleyball tournament championship since 2005 on Sunday.
The fifth-seeded Bobcats (21-11) beat reigning champ and second-seeded Stephen F. Austin 14-30, 30-25, 30-26, 18-30 and 15-11 to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
What makes Texas State’s run to the title so amazing is the fact that the Bobcats had to top both Lamar (the top seed) and SFA to hoist the trophy.
“Texas State is a very talented team, as talented as any team in the league,” SFA head coach Debbie Humphreys said in a press release. “Their seed never means anything, and they always get up for tournament time.”
During the regular season, the Cardinals and Ladyjacks cruised through SLC play with 15-1 records. Their only losses came in head-to-head matches.
Texas State went 10-6 in SLC action and was swept by Lamar and SFA by a combined nine games to two in three matches.
Freshman A.J. Watlington had 13 kills and five blocks for the Bobcats in the championship game to earn the tournament’s most valuable player honors.
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