SAN ANTONIO – The Incarnate Word Cardinals got their first win of the Eric Morris era in dominating fashion, defeating the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks (0-2) 31-7 in front of 3,331 fans at Benson Stadium on Saturday night.
The game was the home opener and first win for UIW after dropping their first two games on the road. The game was also the Cardinals first win against SFA in program history in five tries.
“I’m proud of our defense. I’m proud of our receivers,” UIW Head Coach Eric Morris said. “Our receivers aren’t selfish at all. They’re blocking their tails off and that’s fun to watch. The defense did really well tonight. I’m proud of our whole team.”
UIW running back Ra’Quanne Dickens had two touchdowns and a career-high 220 rushing yards. He scored twice in the first half and ran for 142 yards on 12 carries in the first half as the Cardinals used a 21-point second quarter to blow the game wide open.
Dickens scored on a 79-yard dash to the house to put UIW up 24-7 then quarterback Jon Copeland found Kam Williams, who hauled in one of his two touchdowns on the night.
Copeland completed 15 passes for two touchdowns and finished with 180 passing yards on the night but also had two interceptions.
“I thought he managed the game really well early,” Morris said of Copeland. “Any time you have a young quarterback and people are showing him different looks for the first time … he’s seeing a lot of things for the first time in a game. We leaned on him early.”
UIW’s improvement on the defensive end was another nod to the change in culture. The Cardinals allowed just seven points and allowed 127 rushings after giving up a combined 120 points in the first two games of the season on the road.
“We didn’t play all that well against New Mexico, so Coach Deason took that really personally,” Morris said. “He studied really hard after that game. They [the defense] executed really well tonight.”
The game was only close in the first quarter when SFA quarterback Foster Sawyer found Josh McGowen for a 14-yard touchdown reception for the Lumberjacks only score of the game.
UP NEXT:
Incarnate Word is now 1-2 (1-0, SLC) on the season and will return to the field in two weeks when they travel to face the Abilene Christian Wildcats (2-1, 1-0 SLC) at Wildcat Stadium.
