CEDAR CITY, Utah. The Southern Utah football team closed out its home season at Eccles Coliseum with a dominant 55-0 drubbing of Lincoln University on Saturday, Nov. 12. With the win, SUU moves to 4-6 on the season and finished with a winning home record of 3-2.
Sizzling Shutouts
The shutout is the first for SUU since back-to-back 44-0 shellackings delivered to then-Big Sky opponents Weber State (Oct. 2) and Sacramento State (Oct. 17) in 2017. Additionally, that's the largest margin of victory in a shutout by the T-Birds since a 56-0 conquest of Occidental College on Sept. 1, 1979. The 1979 game stands as the school record for most points in a shutout.
Dominant Defense
Southern Utah's defense controlled the entire game, holding the Oaklanders to just 74 yards from 61 plays. That's a paltry 1.21 yards per play for the visitors. Lincoln also only managed four first downs, while also coughing up the ball three times with one interception and two lost fumbles.
Defensively, junior Aubrey Nellems led the way with 10 tackles including one for loss. Senior defensive lineman Francis Bemiy lived in the backfield with a trio of tackles for loss. In fact, SUU recorded a crushing 14 tackles for loss during the contest. Sophomore Davin Wilson and freshman Brendan Hale each corralled an interception during the game as well with Wilson turning his into a house call.
Overpowering Offense
The T-Birds offense took care of its side of the equation, amassing 450 yards of offense from a balanced attack with 229 rushing yards and 221 passing yards. SUU collected 23 first downs and nearly made it through the entire contest with a punt before senior punter Jake Gerardi rocketed a 58-yarder with 14:07 left in the fourth quarter.
Junior quarterback Justin Miller helmed SUU's offensive attack with a stellar 202.7 quarterback rating. He went 22-for-25 for 208 yards and four touchdowns against one errant pass that led to an interception.
Junior wide receiver Ethan Bolingbroke paced eight pass catchers with 52 yards from five receptions. Sophomore wide receiver Brennon Hutchings led all scorers with a pair of touchdown receptions.
With the game well in hand at the half with SUU up 34-0, plenty of T-Birds had the chance to pound the rock with freshman running back Braedon Wissler leading nine ball carriers with 88 yards off 10 attempts. Freshman running back Jayden Perkins also rushed 10 times for 64 yards.
Scoring Plays
The Thunderbird wasted little time staking SUU to a 13-0 lead with back-to-back house calls by the T-Bird defense. Nellems returned a fumble recovery 16 yards for a score after Rylen Sua-Filo strip-sack of Lincoln's quarterback. Wilson followed the very next drive with a 33-yard pick-six to put SUU up 13-0 with 12:24 left to play in the quarter. Miller capped an impressive 11-play, 89-yard drive that took 4:02 off the clock with a 24-yard toss to Hutchings in the end zone as SUU went up 20-0.
Miller piloted a pair of scoring drives in the second quarter. Miller again connected with Hutchings on a 10-yard touchdown pass with 4:39 left in the second quarter following a Lincoln fumble at the 10-yard line. The tally pushed the lead to 27-0. Miller then drove the Thunderbirds 65 yards in eight plays in just 1:39 to close the quarter with a two-yard touchdown pass to Tim Patrick Jr. with 42 seconds left in the half for a 34-0 advantage.
Miller ended his day early with a 27-yard pass that hit paydirt as Marcus Phillips Jr. crossed the goalline to complete a 72-yard, six-play drive that took 2:19 off the clock to push the lead to 41-0.
With junior quarterback Austin Ewing now at quarterback at the 10:00 mark of the third quarter, SUU pushed its lead to 48-0 in just two plays as sophomore running back Tosh Wright raced down the left sideline for 24 yards.
Freshman quarterback Jackson Berry then took control of SUU's offense in the fourth quarter, leading Southern Utah on a seven-play, 56-yard scoring drive that ate up 3:22 of the clock, capped by Berry's 15-yard scamper off the left side to close scoring at 55-0.
Notable Plays
Senior Day
The Thunderbirds also celebrated 12 seniors prior to the contest:
#91 Francis Bemiy- Defensive Lineman
#11 Tre Caine- Defensive Back
#18 Austin Ewing- Quarterback
#31 Jake Gerardi- Punter/Kicker
#81 Brennon Hutchings- Wide Receiver
#37 Clayton Johnson- Tight End
#16 Justin Mitchell- Safety
#36 Jake Narayan- Cornerback
#7 Mitchell Price- Safety
#47 Dillon Smith- Linebacker
#2 Zach Strand- Defensive Lineman
#4 Jason Thomas- Safety
Follow Us
For all the latest on Southern Utah football, follow @SUUFB_ on Twitter, @SUUFB on Instagram, and like the Southern Utah Football Facebook page.
And don't forget to listen to the Thunderbird Coaches Show on your favorite Podcast platform and YouTube! New Episodes drop Every Monday at 6 p.m.
