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Last chance for victory is archrival Southeastern
ADA — History won’t be on the side of the East Central University football team in Saturday’s season-ending showdown with Southeastern at Norris Field.
Losers of their first 10 games this fall, the Tigers will become the first 0-11 team in the long history of their school and of the Lone Star Conference with another loss Saturday afternoon (kickoff 2 p.m.). To make matters worse, they will have to upset an old rival no ECU team has beaten in football since 2000 to avoid a school record-tying 13-game losing streak going back to last season.
“It’s a big game for us,” said Tim McCarty, who will be trying to snap a personal two-game losing streak to Southeastern dating back to his first tour as ECU’s head coach in 2004-2005. “Our players know right now we’re going to win a lot of games in our future. They’re already chewing at the bit for the offseason and the work we have to do, but we still have one game to play. We’re ready to go play.
“It will be a great opportunity for us,” he said. “It will have everything you would want in a college football game, and we’re excited about it.”
Although ECU is the LSC’s only winless team and SOSU (6-4, 3-1) is the only team in the North Division with a winning record overall, both clubs are coming into their season finale off losses. The Tigers were beaten, 42-25, by UCO at home in Week 10, and Southeastern fell, 27-17, to North leader Texas A&M-Commerce, which can wrap up the division title with a victory Saturday over 1-9 Southwestern.
“I thought we moved forward last week,” McCarty said. “(UCO) jumped into a lead, but it was an interesting lead. We threw an interception for a touchdown, then we got the ball back and fumbled it into a touchdown.
“We gave them 14 cheap points and they jumped up 35-14, then we jumped back with two scores of our own,” he added. “They ended up with the charity points and not us.”
Charity has been the Tigers’ downfall in most of their games late in the season. After building two-touchdown leads against A&M-Commerce and Southwestern in Weeks 8 and 9, they lost both games — 31-28 to the Lions after leading 28-14 in the third quarter and 14-13 to the Bulldogs on a 19-yard touchdown pass after time had expired — due in large part to critical turnovers that fueled each comeback and helped keep the losing streak alive.
“When we make a mistake, it seems like it’s always magnified because of the area of the field we’re in,” McCarty noted.
Despite his team’s youth (the Tigers have 18 freshmen or sophomores who see a lot of playing time) and its string of frustrating losses, McCarty said he expects a good effort Saturday.
“Our kids are extremely excited to play this game,” he noted. “A lot of my young players are Oklahoma kids, so they get it. This game has all the intangibles. It’s another opportunity for them to go out and win a game.”
While ECU ranks last in in the LSC in scoring offense (11.7 points per game), total offense and passing offense and doesn’t have a player among the leaders in any LSC offensive category, Southeastern ranks fourth in scoring (31.8 points per game) and has players sprinkled throughout the league’s top 10 in passing, rushing and receiving. The teams are closer on the defensive side of the ball, with the Savage Storm ranked No. 8 and ECU No. 10 in total defense.
“Offensively, they have a couple of good running backs (Baylen Laury and Josh Johnson, who rank eighth and
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