Gents Set To Face War Hawks At Home On Saturday in SCAC Matchup
The Centenary football team is back home on Saturday as the Gents will face the conference-leading McMurry University War Hawks in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference game set for 5 PM at Atkins Field.
Shreveport - The Centenary football team is back home on Saturday as the Gents will face the conference-leading McMurry University War Hawks in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference game set for 5 PM at Atkins Field.
Live stats and live video are available for the game at the links below:
STATS: https://gocentenary.com/sports/fball/2025-26/boxscores/20251025_cd1m.xml
VIDEO: https://www.flocollege.com/live/187571
TICKETS: https://fan.hudl.com/tickets/VGlja2V0ZWRFdmVudDY4NjQzMWRhNjUxMDQ0NzYwODQ1M2IwOQ==
Due to the possibility of a rainy game day on Saturday, umbrellas will be allowed but Tents are not allowed inside the stadium or in the seating areas. GATES WILL OPEN AT 4 PM.
The Gents (1-4, 1-1 SCAC) recorded a 23-20 overtime victory over the Lyon College Scots in a SCAC game last Saturday in Batesville, Ark., while the War Hawks (3-3, 2-0 SCAC) defeated Austin College 31-13 last weekend in Sherman, Texas.
"We're fully focused on the challenge ahead against a talented and well-coached McMurry team," said head coach Byron Dawson.
"Our players must be mentally sharp and perform at a high level for four quarters. We're counting on the Gent faithful to show up and show out this Saturday at 5 p.m."
Centenary rolled up a season-high 531 yards of total offense in last Saturday's win, which included a season-best 304 rushing yards. The Gents also recorded a clean sweep of the conference's Player of the Week awards as senior RB Obadiah Butler (Crowley, La.) was named the SCAC Offensive Player of the Week and senior DL Rhema Getter (Shreveport, La.) was named the SCAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. The honors continued on Tuesday as Butler was named to the D3football.com Team of the Week. The Team of the Week, presented by Scoutware, is D3football.com's weekly honor roll, in its 27th season of recognizing the top performance at each position from the previous week. Players are nominated by schools.
Butler had a monster performance as he rushed 17 times totaling 234 yards and two touchdowns. Butler, who also caught three passes for 18 yards, had touchdown runs of 70 and 80 yards and averaged 13.8 yards per carry. The senior holds a commanding lead in rushing yards in conference play averaging nearly 200 per game and 12.3 yards per carry and is third overall in the conference in total yards and YPG.
Butler is the first Centenary athlete to earn D3football.com National Team of the Week honors since his teammate Vance Feuerbacher was recognized back in week five of the 2024 season.
Getter had a team-leading and game-high 14 solo stops and 18 total tackles on Saturday. He also posted three tackles for loss, one sack, and a QB hurry and Getter's 18 tackles are the most this season by a SCAC player.
The Gents are averaging 417.8 yards of total offense per game – 278.8 passing and 139.0 rushing and average 22.4 points per game.
Gents' Individual Season Statistical Leaders:
PASSING: Senior QB/LB Vance Feuerbacher (Plano, Texas) – 101-156 for 1,112 yards (9 TD and 2 INT)
RECEIVING: Freshman WR Theo Dunn (Gonzales, La.) – 28 catches for 464 yards and 4 TD
RUSHING: Senior RB Obadiah Butler (Crowley, La.) – 32 attempts for 393 yards and 3 TD
TACKLES: Freshman DB TJ Ranson (New Orleans, La.) – 37 total tackles (20 solo)
The Gents' defense has registered 31 tackles for loss, nine sacks, four interceptions, and two forced fumbles.
A CLOSER LOOK AT LAST WEEK:
Senior QB Zin'Tavious Smith (Coushatta, La.) started at quarterback last weekend and was 15-27 for 226 yards and a TD. He also rushed eight times for 57 yards with a long run of 27 yards. Senior QB/LB Vance Feuerbacher (Plano, Texas) was injured so Smith made his first start of the season.
Freshman QB Abram Wardell (Shreveport, La.) made his season debut and completed three of six passes in relief of Smith. Wardell, a former Calvary Baptist Academy star, could see extended playing time this Saturday. Dunn caught four passes for 94 yards against the Scots and a TD and sophomore RB/WR Christopher Jackson (Shreveport, La.) caught three passes for 53 yards.
The Gents raced out to an 18-7 lead after the first quarter against Lyon, sparked by Butler's 70-yard TD run on the third play of the game. Freshman K/P Zane Wyss (Shreveport, La.) missed the PAT but the Gents had an early 6-0 lead. The Scots then went on an 11-play, 65-yard TD drive that ended in a 4-yard TD pass from Grayson Johnson to Javarion Williams to make it 7-6. Centenary, though, responded quickly as Smith hit Dunn for a 47-yard TD to cap an impressive 7-play, 95-yard drive. The Gents went for two and did not get it but led 12-7 with 3:13 remaining in the first period.
After the Gents' defense forced a punt, Butler struck again as he took it to the house with an 80-yard scoring run on the first play of the drive. Centenary again went for two but Smith's pass failed to make it 18-7 Gents with just 37 seconds left in the quarter. Neither team scored in the second period as the Gents took that double-digit lead into halftime.
Lyon's Tky Posy scored on a 6-yard TD run to make it 18-13, but junior DB Bryan Washington (Wylie, Texas), blocked Jesus Romero-Castillo's PAT attempt and sophomore DB Jay Scott (Slidell, La.) returned it for two points to extend the Gents' lead to 20-13. Rain, thunder, and lightning then forced the game to be halted for roughly an hour and a half, and once the lightning moved out of the area the game continued but still in a downpour.
Five combined scoreless possessions followed and then Johnson's 24-yard TD run and Romero-Castillo's PAT enabled the Scots to tie the game at 20-20 with just 4:11 remaining in the game.
The Gents punted and then the Scots drove to the Centenary 8-yard line and Romero-Castillo attempted a game-winning field goal from just 18 yards out but it was no good as time expired and the game headed to OT.
Wyss kicked a 21-yard FG to give the Gents a 23-20 lead and then it was Lyon's turn on offense. Jacobi Williams gained 23 yards on three-consecutive carries as the Scots looked poised to get in the end zone and win the game from the 2-yard line. But the Gents' defense stood tall and held Williams to a yard on first and goal and Getter tackled Williams for a loss of one on second and goal. Then on third and goal from the 2, Grayson Johnson fumbled the snap and lost nine yards to set up a fourth and goal from the 11-yard line. Romero-Castillo and his snapper and holder could not process the potential game-tying kick as Getter tackled him to end the game and set off a much-deserved celebration for the Gents.
Saturday's game was just the 10th conference contest to go to overtime in SCAC history and the first since Rhodes College defeated Sewanee 19-16 on Nov. 14, 2009.
LAST MEETING: McMurry defeated the Gents 49-12 in Abilene, Texas in the regular-season finale last season. The War Hawks also beat the Gents in Shreveport earlier in the season, 28-10.
CURRENT SCAC STANDINGS
T1 MCMURRY 3-3 (2-0 SCAC)
T1 TEXAS LUTHERAN 3-3 (2-0 SCAC)
3 HENDRIX 3-3 (1-1 SCAC)
4 CENTENARY 1-4 (1-1 SCAC)
T5 AUSTIN COLLEGE 1-4 (0-2 SCAC)
T5 LYON COLLEGE 1-4 (0-2 SCAC)
The SCAC is featuring a new and exciting format for determining its league champion this season as all six schools (Austin College, Centenary, Hendrix, Lyon, McMurry, and TLU) will meet on Nov. 15 in Little Rock, Ark. for championship weekend held at War Memorial Stadium with an exciting day featuring three games - the No. 5 versus the No. 6 seed (10 AM), the No. 3 seed versus the No. 4 seed (3 PM), and the top two seeds playing each other at 8 PM.
Tickets on sale NOW for 2025 SCAC Football Championship: ow.ly/HcOK50Xh8yo
Centenary Football Season Tickets and single game tickets are on sale now at the following link: https://fan.hudl.com/usa/la/shreveport/organization/69826/centenary-college-of/tickets
A new policy implemented will require fans to pay to attend all 2025-26 Centenary home athletic events and tickets can only be purchased online. NO cash sales will be available. Centenary students, faculty & staff are allowed into every home event FREE with a valid Centenary ID.
For more information or to donate to Centenary athletics and the football program, visit gocentenary.com/gocentenary/C_Club.
See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/fball/2025-26/schedule
#GoCentenary #CTheOpportunity