Sherman, TX

September 2, 2018 | Blake Cochran

The Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) Lions and Austin College Kangaroos are almost even in their past 10 matchups and the games have been down to the wire. Austin College received the ball first and executed well, scoring the ball in 6 plays from a 17 yard touchdown by Tim Crossly . Quarterback, CJ Collins and the Lions took control of the ball. Collins aired it out deep on 2 passes to set SAGU up in perfect position to the tie the game up. Junior, running back Stephon Free punched in one of his two touchdowns in for the day with 10:41 left in the 1st, 7-7. With two big stops from the defense the Lions got the ball back and drove it into field goal range for Tluang Hmung and SAGU to go ahead 10-7 with more than 3 minutes left in the first. The Lions look to get their third stop in a row on a gutsy 4th and 1 call from Austin College, Colt Collins took a quarterback sneaker 21 yards to the house giving the Kangaroos a 14-10 advantage to end the quarter.

Quarter 2 repeated itself with the teams scoring a touchdown each, like the first two possessions of the game, Austin College leading SAGU, 21-17. The Lions received possession of the ball to start the 2nd half, and in control of the game after a 65 yard drive and a 4th and goal touchdown by Gary Powell , giving SAGU a 24-21 lead for the first time of the game.

With an exciting fourth quarter upon us, Austin College leader Colt Collins scored his second rushing touchdown of the night when he saw an opening up the middle to squeeze his way in. SAGU moving the ball well on every possession of the 4th were able to chip away 2 field goals, once again by Tluang Hmung . With not much time left on the clock, Collins knew he had to score being down by 2, 30-28 SAGU. Collins drops back to make a desperation long ball to his target to set the Kangaroos into field goal possession. The ball in mid-air, Lions own Marco Mathews reads it perfectly to pick it off and take it 60 yards to Austin’s end zone. SAGU wins game 2 by a score of 37 to 28 and moves back to .500%. CJ Collins connected on 22-33 passes for 244 yards, running backs Michael Bledsoe and Free had 180 yards combined (Bledsoe, 103 and Free, 77). Sam Northey led the Lions with 11 catches for 126 yards and Toriente Williams lead the defense with nine tackles.

The Lions have a bye for week 3 but are back in action at Wayland Baptist for their first conference game of the season for week 4. The game will kick off at 2 pm against the Pioneers who are currently 0-0 with their first game this Saturday versus Austin College.

Southwestern Assemblies of God University is a private, Christian university located 30 minutes south of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Waxahachie, Texas. The university was established in 1927, and now offers more than 70 associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees on campus or online. More information is available at www.sagu.edu