Gents Fall To Warriors 43-20 In Season Opener

Shreveport – The Centenary football team fell 43-20 to the Hendrix College Warriors in its season opener on Saturday evening in front of an overflow crowd at Atkins Field on the Centenary campus.

The Gents (0-1) fell behind the Warriors (1-0) by a score of 36-6 at halftime but outscored them 14-7 in the second half. Centenary wound up with 290 yards of total offense while Hendrix had 401 yards.

Centenary's previous football history began with the Gents' first game in the fall of 1894 and ended in November of 1941, with a brief attempted revival in the 1960s and the anticipation and excitement after a half-century of the sport being gone was on full display Saturday night.

"So many people have worked for years to make this day happen," said head coach Byron Dawson. "People invested their time and hard-earned money and I am so happy and grateful that we had college football in this city tonight and we are going to keep pushing forward."

How it happened:

Hendrix won the toss and elected to receive and after a fair catch, started its opening drive at the 25-yard line. Auvic White rushed for eight yards on first down and quarterback Jacob Buniff hit TE Parker Turley for 30 yards and a first down to the Centenary 37-yard line. Six players later, Jason Sullivan scored on a four-yard touchdown run and the Warriors converted a two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead at the 11:43 mark to cap an eight-play dive that covered 75 yards in 3:17.

Junior WR Kobe Chambers (Greenwood, Miss.) took the ensuing kickoff and the 10-yard line and after receiving an early block, he cut to the far sideline and raced all the way to the end zone for an apparent 90-yard TD as the Atkins Field crowd of just under 2,000 was in a fever pitch but it was unfortunately negated by a holding penalty.

The Gents were only able muster five yards on their first drive and the Warriors followed with a 5-play, 47-yard TD drive to take a 15-0 lead with just under seven minutes left in the first quarter. Sophomore LB Vance Feuerbacher (Plano, Texas) came up with a big defensive play later in the quarter as he recovered a Warriors' fumble and raced down to the four-yard line and one play later, junior RB Bobby Shanklin Jr. (Macon, Miss.) found the end zone from four yards out to make it 15-6 with 5:01 remaining in the first period. The Gents attempted a two-point conversion that failed but they were on the board.

Hendrix extended its lead with an early TD in the second quarter to make it 22-6 and an 11-play, 95-yard drive by the Warriors capped by a Buniff to Turley eight-yard score made it 29-6 with 5:27 remaining before halftime. Another Hendrix TD with a mere 59 seconds left before the break made it 36-6. Centenary brought on freshman K/P Preston Doerner (Bossier City, La.) for a 39-yard field goal attempt just before halftime but his kick was blocked and the Warriors went to the locker room with a 30-point lead.

Hendrix scored again midway through the third quarter to take a 43-6 advantage but it would be the last score of the game for the visitors as the Gents' defense was impressive over the final 25 minutes of the game. Freshman DB Jacob Wilson (Shreveport, La.) intercepted Hendrix QB Josh Hayes and two players later, Gents' QB – freshman Kody Fuentes (Baytown, Texas) found sophomore WR Jay Richardson (Baton Rouge, La.) for a 15-yard TD at the 8:07 mark of the fourth period. Chambers ran it in for a two-point conversion to make it 43-14. Fuentes added a late one-yard scoring run with 1:09 left to make it 43-20 as Feuerbacher two-point rush attempt failed. Wilson finished with a pair of interceptions in the game.

By the Numbers:

FIRST DOWNS:

HENDRIX - 24

CENTENARY - 20

RUSHING YARDS:

HENDRIX – 39 ATTEMPTS FOR 189 YARDS

CENTENARY – 17 ATTEMPTS FOR (-9) YARDS

PASSING YARDS:

HENDRIX - 212 YARDS

CENTENARY - 299 YARDS

TOTAL OFFENSE:

HENDRIX - 70 PLAYS FOR 401 YARDS

CENTENARY – 63 PLAYS FOR 290 YARDS

TIME OF POSSESSION:

HENDRIX – 34:38

CENTENARY – 25:22

Gents' Individual Statistical Leaders

RECEIVING: Chambers – 9 catches for 106 yards

RUSHING: Shanklin Jr. – 3 attempts for 13 yards

PASSING: Fuentes – 30-46 for 299 yards and 1 TD, 1 INT

TACKLES: Feuerbacher – 9 solo tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 fumble recovery

The Gents will hit the road next Saturday, Sept. 14 as they open Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play against the Texas Lutheran University Bulldogs in Seguin, Texas.

For more information about becoming a Centenary football season or per game sponsor, please contact Assistant AD/Strategic Communications Patrick Meehan at 318-865-5092 or pmeehan@centenary.edu OR Collin Taylor, Development Officer for Athletics, at 318-869-5052 or cbtaylor2@centenary.edu

See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/fball/2024-25/schedule

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