The football team finished its season against the Southland Conference Juggernaut in Central Arkansas and found out just how good its team was when losing 34-0 Saturday afternoon.
The Wildcats surrendered points to the Sugar Bears in every quarter, and couldn’t find an answer, as the offense could only get into Central Arkansas territory three times.
The Sugar Bears’ dominant season was everything, but complete before the game, and with the win, the team became the outright Southland Conference champs.
After sustaining an injury, redshirt freshman quarterback Luke Anthony took a seat and let senior quarterback Kade Munden start in the last game of his career after junior quarterback Dallas Sealey did not make the trip with the team once again.
Munden completed 12 passes out of 27 attempts, and threw for 147 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.
“I was a little nervous at first when I found out I was going to start, because it’s been awhile since I’ve been in that position,” Munden said. “I had a bunch of guys backing me up that believed in me, and I believed in them, so playing in that game was the most fun I had in a while.”
Senior Linebacker Sam Denmark made six tackles in the final game of his career to give him 396 for his career and set the bar high as ACU’s all-time career leading tackler.
Central Arkansas had an impressive game running the ball totaling 319 rushing yards, with 123 coming from sophomore running back Carlos Blackman.
The Sugar Bears added another 176 yards in the passing category from senior quarterback Hayden Hildebrand. He threw his lone touchdown of the game to senior wide receiver Brandon Cox, who also had 91 receiving yards in the game.
Defensively, Central Arkansas shut down the Wildcats run game giving up only 25 rushing yards and also held ACU to 172 total yards.
Sophomore defensive lineman Chris Terrell continued his excellent season, making five tackles with two tackles for a loss and one sack.
The Wildcats finished the regular season at 2-9 overall and 2-7 in conference, while Central Arkansas finished at 10-1 overall and crushed the Southland Conference with a 9-0 record. The Sugar Bears earned a four seed and a bye in the FCS playoffs, and will next face the winner of New Hampshire and Central Connecticut in the second round on Dec. 2.
