Local college notebook (Oct. 11)

Marc David
Special to the Abilene Reporter-News
ACU's Jalone Friday, left, drives to the basket against a Lamar defender. ACU won the game 67-64 on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017 at Moody Coliseum.

BASKETBALL

ACU men mentioned

Abilene Christian junior guard Jaylen Franklin and sophomore center Jalone Friday were named to the Preseason All-Southland Conference team.

Franklin and Friday, who were both second-team picks, are the last two winners of the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year award.

FOOTBALL

Hurley honored

McMurry junior Kevin Hurley was named American Southwest Conference Offensive Player of the Week.

McMurry quarterback Kevin Hurley Jr. throws a pass during the fourth quarter of the War Hawks' 42-30 homecoming win over Belhaven on Saturday at Wilford Moore Stadium.

Hurley took over at halftime and helped the War Hawks erase a 16-point deficit to defeat Belhaven. He was 11 of 14 passing for 245 yards and four touchdowns and added 36 rushing yards.

Cowboys still ranked

A 17-7 defeat to No. 1 Mary Hardin-Baylor was not enough to knock Hardin-Simmons out of the top-10 rankings.

The Cowboys remained No. 5 in the D3football.com poll and are No. 8 in the American Football Coaches Association poll.

Tigers claw Jackets

The euphoria of having snapped a 15-game losing streak was lost when Howard Payne got another wake-up call for how much further it needs to go to compete with the top teams in the American Southwest Conference.

The Yellow Jackets (1-4, 1-3) were shut out for three quarters and never got untracked in a 57-7 loss to East Texas Baptist. Interestingly, the Tigers were coming off an outing in which they yielded 80 points to Hardin-Simmons, and HPU was coming off putting up 45 against Belhaven.

HPU’s Hunter Batten was the game’s leading rusher with 22 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown. His 2-yard touchdown run came with 10:44 remaining in the game and the Jackets trailing 43-0.

The schedule doesn’t get any easier this week. HPU faces No. 1 Mary Hardin-Baylor at 1 p.m. Saturday in Belton.

Wildcats defensive

There may be no such thing as “moral” victories. And yet Abilene Christian achieved some significant milestones in its 13-7 Southland Conference loss to No. 22 McNeese State.

Among them: The Wildcats held the Cowboys to their lowest scoring output of the season – by 14 points. McNeese entered the game averaging 34.6 points per game. ACU was the first team to shut out the Cowboys in the second half – McNeese entered as a “second-half” team averaging 20.4 points after halftime. Additionally, the Cowboys had scored at least three touchdowns in each game before getting just one against the Wildcats.

Johnston leads

It may be a lost season for Baylor from a team standpoint, but it is the season where Clay Johnston has found his game on the Division I level.

Through five weeks and coming off a bye weekend, Johnston, a sophomore from Wylie, has more solo tackles this season than he had total tackles last year. Johnston’s 29 solo tackles and 43 total tackles are each team-leading totals for the Bears (0-5).

Interestingly, another Big Country product led Baylor in tackles last season with Stephenville’s Aiavion Edwards posting 64 solos and 98 overall.

Nicholas named

Faulkner College junior quarterback Clayton Nicholas was named Mid-South Conference co-Offensive Player of the Week during the first week of October.

The Cooper product passed for 374 yards and five touchdowns in three quarter as the Eagles beat Webber International. Nicholas entered this week second in the conference in passing yardage per game at 299.4.

Wranglers fall

Cisco College scored first on Ignacio Correa's 49-yard field goal but host Northeastern Oklahoma A&M controlled the action thereafter and defeated the Wranglers 42-9.

The Norsemen had a 543-228 advantage in total yards as Cisco (2-4, 1-4) suffered its third straight setback. Andre Johnson scored the Wranglers' only touchdown and teammate Raghib Ismail finished with a game-high nine catches. 

GOLF

Trio thrives

Three ACU men had solid tournaments as the Wildcats finished eighth at the Bayou City Championship.

Bryce Dooley had his best round of the season at 68 and finished tied for 14th with teammate Garrett Glanton at even-par 216. One shot behind in a tie for 21st was Alex Clouse.

SOCCER

Kessler has big week

HSU junior Kenne Kessler was downright offensive over the past week. And she was noticed.

In addition to earning her third ASC Offensive Player of the Week award of the season, Kessler was cited as United Soccer Coaches Association National Player of the Week.

Kessler scored seven goals and had an assist as the Cowgirls went 2-0. She leads the nation in scoring with 24 goals.

Meanwhile, HSU is now No. 6 in the USCA poll and No. 7 in the D3soccer.com listings.

Vidosevic, Chavez chosen

HSU sophomore Frane Vidosevic and McMurry junior Alex Chavez were selected as ASC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week.

Vidosevic netted three goals including the game-winner in each game as the Cowboys went 2-0. Goalkeeper Chavez guided the War Hawks (1-0-1) to two shutouts.

Owens owns honor

ACU junior Dylan Owens was named Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week.

Owens scored two goals both in the first 10 minutes in the Wildcats’ win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

McMurry defends well

The McMurry men have won just one of their last four games. But don’t blame the defense.

During that four-game span (1-1-2) the War Hawks yielded just one goal. Included in that span was a scoreless tie with once-beaten Texas-Tyler.

In a season in which McMurry (5-4-2) overall, the Hawks have yielded just six goals and have allowed only four opponents to score. That means McMurry has more shutouts (seven) than victories.

Alex Chavez has seen the bulk of the action in goal and is yielding 0.55 goals per game.

TENNIS

Wildcat women win

Lucile Pothier

ACU seniors Lucile Pothier and Whitney Williams won in doubles and sophomore Sara Adams claimed a singles title to highlight Abilene Christian’s performance at the SMU’s Metroplex Mania.

Pothier and Williams defeated teams from Georgia State, SMU and Louisiana-Monroe to capture the No. 1 doubles title. Adams beat individuals from Texas A&M, SMU and Arizona to win at No. 3 singles.

ACU trio battles

Brad Gleason picked up four singles wins and the duo of Paul Domanski and Hunter Holman did the same in doubles to highlight Abilene Christian’s performance at the Boise State Dar Walters Fall Classic.

Gleason lost immediately in the main draw then won four times in the consolation round before bowing out in the consolation semifinals. Domanski and Holman won four times in doubles before being beaten by Oregon’s No. 1 seeded Ty Gentry and Simon Stevens.