The football team secured its first win of the season against the University of West Georgia 38-24 on Saturday at Wildcat Stadium. It was the first home game of the season, and the team says the fans’ support is a great influence.
“We talk a lot about defending Wildcat Stadium and that’s important for us,” Head Coach Keith Patterson said. “We have a goal to go undefeated at home this season and we’ve taken the first step.”
The Wildcats were riding a wave of momentum from last week after taking Texas Tech to overtime and losing by one point. The same momentum carried over into this game as ACU led throughout the game.
The Wildcats looked great in the first quarter, scoring on two big plays from Sam Hicks, redshirt senior running back from Fort Worth, and Nehemiah Martinez I, senior wide receiver from Lubbock.
Martinez had an outstanding game finishing with seven receptions, 132 receiving yards, two touchdowns and 55 rushing yards on two attempts.
“That’s exciting for him and you know he’s a great player and moving forward he’s going to help us win a lot of football games,” Patterson said.
The Wildcat running backs were a key part of the offense on Saturday, combining for 218 yards and two touchdowns.
“They’re all so versatile, they’re all so different, they all have different running styles,” Patterson said. “We train Rovaughn Banks, Nehemiah [Martinez], Sam Hicks Jr. and Isaiah [Johnson]. They complement each other very well.”
The ACU defense held UWG to zero points and negative two rushing yards in the first quarter. In the second quarter, UWG was held to just three points, which gave the Wildcats the lead 14-3 at halftime.
Patterson said the message at halftime was for the offense to score three times and for the defense to slam the door.
The Wildcats did exactly that in the second half with the offense scoring three touchdowns and a field goal. The defense did “slam the door” on UWG by not letting them get the game within one possession.
In the fourth quarter, Tyson Williams, sophomore defensive back from Bixby, Oklahoma, intercepted a pass which put ACU in position to put the game away. This is Williams’ first year starting, and Patterson has compared him to former ACU defensive back Anthony Egbo Jr.
“He’s like a little bit more athletic version of Anthony Egbo,” Patterson said. “He embodies everything that we’re about here at ACU: great student, great player and just going to get better and better as his career moves on.”
ACU will celebrate this win and then look to next week when they travel to the University of Northern Colorado and try to remain undefeated in conference play.
