The St. Xavier Cougars looked to continue their winning ways this past Saturday, September 16 at Bruce R. Deaton Memorial field against the Langston University Lions.
In the previous two games of the season, the Cougars have dominated their opponents on both sides of the ball scoring a total of 72 points and holding their opponents to only 15 total points.
This match-up between the Cougars and the Langston University Lions, out of Langston, Oklahoma, was the first match-up between these two teams in each of the programs histories. When the game began the Cougars elected to receive the opening kickoff, but their first offensive possession would not last very long.
On the very first play of the game, the Cougars decided to run a reverse pass where Wide Receiver Wes Gastel over threw his intended receiver and the ball was intercepted by the Lions.
The Cougar defense came out of the gate clicking on all cylinders and immediately forced a Lions three and out. After a Langston punt buried the Cougar offense at their own 15 yard line, Jimmy Coy handed the ball off to Nick Pesek who raced down the field eighty five yards for the first score of the game.
The Cougar defense continued their strong play on the next Langston possession and after a big hit on the Lions quarterback forced a fumble Cougar lineman Greg Hayward scooped up the ball to give possession back to the Cougar offense.
Josh Hunter’s seven yard touchdown run capped off a three play 31 yard Cougar scoring drive, which put the Cougars up 14 points in the first quarter of play.
In the second quarter of play the Langston Lions would strike first with a seven play 45 yard touchdown drive to cut the lead in half. This Lion touchdown was the first touchdown the Cougars had given up at home this season. The only other scoring play in the first half came with just under four minutes t-o go in the half when Spencer Nolan tacked on a 36 yard field goal that gave the cougars a ten point halftime lead.
The Lions received the second half kickoff and on the second play of their opening second half drive, Jeremy Rhodes picked off a pass down field and returned it to around midfield giving the Cougar offense great starting field position.
On the second play following the interception, Coy found Shane Zackery downfield for a 52 yard touchdown pass.
After the scoring drive, Langston was forced to punt after linebacker Zach Dolph sacked the Langston quarterback on third down.
The Cougars did not waste any time putting more points on the board, less than two minutes later Coy threw his second touchdown pass of the day, this one 45 yards to Pesek, which gave the Cougars a 23 point lead after three quarters of play.
The Cougars extended their lead less than two and a half minutes into the final quarter of play when Coy tossed his third touchdown pass of night. The 32 yard strike to Zackery ended a seven play 69 yard scoring drive, and it also ended the scoring for the night. At the end of the game St. Xavier improved to 3-0 with the 37-7 victory.
Next week, the Cougars travel on the road to play a MSFA Crossover game against Trinity International University at 1:00 p.m. When these two teams met last season the Cougars were able to pull out a 49-14 victory, and next Saturday the Cougars look for the same result.