Sophomore quarterback Lorenzo Nunez rushes with the ball in the game against Sam Houston State University. He recorded a career-high 102 rushing yards during the game. Nikisun Shrestha/The Lion's Roar

The Lions football team’s five-game winning streak ended with a 33-23 loss at home to Sam Houston State University last weekend.

In the game that resumed the 2017 Homecoming festivities, the Bearkats defense held the Lions to a scoreless fourth quarter, which enabled them to eventually win the game.

Head Coach Ron Roberts described how the team had chances to win but were not able to execute plans during crucial periods of the game. 

“I thought we had opportunities,” said Roberts. “I thought we started in the third quarter coming out of the gate. We got a couple of stupid penalties. We had our opportunities at certain times. We just didn’t make the play. We could have won the game, just didn’t make the plays we needed to.”

Roberts credited the opposition for making changes at half time that restricted the Lions to their lowest scoring game in the past five games.

“They just did a good job in the second half,” said Roberts. “I just take it to them. They made some adjustments coming into the second half.”

Senior running back Eugene Bethea also praised the opposition’s defense.

“They just did a good job of playing good physical football,” said Bethea. “I take my hats off to Sam Houston. Great football team, and they just did better than us today.”

Bethea was coming off of an injury. He shared how he felt during the game.

“It felt good,” said Bethea. “My hands are still a bit sore, but it just feels good to be back playing football. I was excited to be back out here. We took a tough loss, but we gotta bounce back from it. We got McNeese coming up this week. We gonna work them and move onto the next game.”

Sophomore quarterback Lorenzo Nunez rushed a career-high 102 yards and threw a touchdown in the game. He gave his evaluations of the opposition and the second half.

“They really packed the box,” said Nunez. “So we couldn’t really do the running in the middle like we usually do. So, the passing game was there and then the rushing for me, which you saw in those long runs. We stopped, and we changed at half time where we just didn’t execute like in the first half. They’re very physical, I give them that. They were very nice up front defensive line.”

In the first quarter, a touchdown was called off for the Lions. Nunez shared his view of the event and whether it held back the momentum for the team.

“Yeah, it was, but we got back up and scored the next drive,” said Nunez. “We got a field goal out of it. So, it was still a win-win situation. At the end, we came up short, and we just gotta go back and film and watch videos of our own.”

Nunez also had an injury scare with his knee in the third quarter but assures that it is not a big problem.

“It’s good,” said Nunez. “I tweaked it a little bit at the end in third quarter, but it should be fine.”

Roberts feels after the loss, the team needs to come back and finish the season on a high. 

“It kinda set us back,” said Roberts. “We’re kinda behind things. Now we just got to get the next two and finish as strong as we can and hope for the best.” 

Senior linebacker Lee Spight tackles Sam Houston State University’s senior running back Corey Avery. Spight had 10 tackles during the game. Nikisun Shrestha/The Lion's Roar