LSC FOOTBALL
Texas A&M-Commerce, Midwestern State, West Texas A&M, Tarleton State and Western New Mexico picked up victories after a full week of Lone Star Conference action.
A&M-C and MSU remain unbeaten this season.
LSC football teams are 15-13 overall this season. The squads are 3-3 combined versus the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Great Lakes Valley Conference and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams, which are also in NCAA Super Regional Four.
LSC FOOTBALL ON ESPN3
A pair of Lone Star Conference football games are part of the 2016 Division II Football Showcase schedule and will be broadcast on ESPN3 and WatchESPN.
For a second straight season, A&M-Commerce will host a national broadcast on October 8 as the Lions welcome Midwestern State. The game starts at 7 p.m.
UT Permian Basin hosted West Texas A&M in the Falcon’s first LSC football game in the program’s initial season. Due to inclement weather the game was postponed and was not broadcast as scheduled.
NCAA Division II announced 18 of the 22 regular-season football games that will be carried on ESPN3, WatchESPN and American Sports Network, after the division entered a three-year agreement in 2015 to deliver Division II athletics events. By comparison, only seven games were televised in each of the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE
Javia Hall, Western New Mexico, SR, QB, Dallas, Texas, Skyline HS
Hall was on fire from start to finish against Oklahoma Panhandle State, accounting for all six of the Mustang touchdowns in the 44-21 victory. He was able to escape several would-be sacks to setup the first score of the day on an 18-yard TD pass. Hall then displayed his strong arm airing one out for a 75-yard strike. He used his legs to tally the next score on a 14-yard run. To close the opening half Hall added 25- and 47-yard TD passes. He ended the scoring in the fourth with an 11-yard scamper. In all, Hall was 17-of-25 for 249 yards with four TDs. He also led the team in the run game as well carrying the ball 13 times for 62 yards and a pair of scores. Hall helped run an efficient offense that piled up 461 total yards, went 7-14 on third-down, 4-5 on red zone chances and had zero turnovers.
DEFENSIVE
Cody Burtscher, Tarleton State University, SR, LB, Glen Rose, Texas, Glen Rose HS
Burtscher continued to add to his total tackles as the senior linebacker led the Tarleton defense to its best performance against a Lone Star Conference rival in nearly seven seasons. The Burtscher-led Texans held Angelo State to just five points on 222 yards of total offense. The five points allowed is the first time since Oct. 24, 2009 that Tarleton has held a conference opponent to fewer than 10 points. The 222 total yards is the fewest allowed by Tarleton since Oct. 11, 2014. Burtscher added 0.5 tackles for a loss and 0.5 sacks while recovering one fumble and forcing three QB hurries. With his team-high 11 tackles, Burtscher extended his streak of double-digit tackle performances to eight in a row dating back to last year.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Tanner Graeber, Midwestern State University, SR, K, League City, Texas, Clear Creek HS (McNeese State)
Graeber connected on an 18-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining to lift No. 12-ranked Midwestern State to a 32-30 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville Saturday night at Javelina Stadium. The senior from League City hit on 29-yard field goal to open scoring for MSU and was successful on two of his three point-after attempts.