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Temple Daily News



Wild, wild loss: Explosive Allen, Temple can‘t match potent Hubenak, Georgetown in 62-51 defeat
These are strange days indeed for the Temple Wildcats.
It was a Friday night when Temple and its football fans could have been celebrating junior quarterback Zach Allen‘s splendid performance against Georgetown: 380 passing yards — smashing the Wildcats‘ single-game record for the second straight week — with two touchdowns plus 125 rushing yards and three scores.
Or junior receiver Keith Buhl‘s seven-catch, 188-yard evening that included three touchdowns — two very long ones — to give him five already in this young season.
However, there were no celebrations to be found on the Wildcat Stadium artificial turf after Temple‘s home opener.
That‘s because Georgetown, after spotting the home team a 10-0 lead in the second quarter, used quarterback Jake Hubenak‘s dynamic play to blitz the Wildcats‘ struggling defense for a 62-point flurry in the final 30 minutes for a 62-51 result that kept Mike Spradlin winless in two games as Temple‘s head coach.
―Too much crazy,‖ Spradlin said after immediately taking his team into the fieldhouse for a 5-minute postgame talk. ―I could say a lot of things right now, but I‘ve got to stay positive. There‘s too many positives for this team. We have an opportunity to become a good football team.
―We have to play better defense,‖ he added after the Eagles (2-0) torched Temple (0-2) for 658 yards — 437 through the air and 221 on the ground. ―I‘ve got to do a better job as the head coach. Every person needs to say, ‗I need to do my job better.‘ Everybody has to find a way to get better.‖
Unlike in last week‘s opener when Temple seized a 33-17 lead at Pflugerville Connally before allowing 35 straight second-half points in a 52-33 defeat, Spradlin was pleased with the fact that the Wildcats scrapped to the final gun this time — with Allen rushing for two fourth-quarter touchdowns to cut into the margin.
―This felt a little different tonight,‖ said Spradlin, whose squad‘s final game before District 12-5A play is next Friday at home against San Antonio Churchill (2-0). ―We battled to the end and I could feel fight on the sideline. We‘re finding out (what it takes to win) right now. I‘m not going to sugar-coat it, but we‘re doing enough good things and we‘re going to get better. We‘re putting some excitement on the field and our kids are excited.‖
It was a second consecutive bittersweet Friday night for Allen, who passed for a Temple-record 311 yards at Connally. Against Georgetown he completed 16 of 25 passes for 380 yards, including touchdowns of 70, 81 and 3 yards to the speedy Buhl. Allen scored on runs of 1, 1 and 3 yards en route to his 125 rushing yards and 505 yards total offense.
Spradlin shook his emerging star‘s hand afterward and told him he‘d never had a quarterback throw for that much yardage and run for that much in the same game.
―Without the loss it feels amazing to pass for 380 and run for 125,‖ Allen said. ―It‘s frustrating that it‘s not in a win. As Coach Spradlin says, control what you can control. Part of the quarterback position is you‘ve got to build other people up.‖
Said Georgetown coach Jason Dean about Allen: ―He‘s just a competitor. There‘s one stinkin‘ minute left on the clock and he‘s still competing. He played great.‖
As impressive as Allen was, he met his match in Hubenak, another talented, versatile junior who‘s 6-3 and 185 pounds to Allen‘s 6-3, 180. Hubenak was 23-of-29 passing for 425 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 97 yards, highlighted by scores from 6 and 4 yards out.
He benefited from the talents of three 100-yard receivers — Colten Shea (five catches, 198 yards, TDs of 91 and 38 yards), Randy Knightner (10 for 121, scores of 22 and 7 yards) and Parker Reyna (six for 102 with a 61-yard TD).
―I felt like it took us a while to get going, and it was an emotional game for Temple with it being the home opener,‖ said Dean, whose team popped Temple 37-7 in 2010. ―We survived that emotion and settled down. We‘ve got three or four (receivers) we depend on, and they did a great job taking pressure off the running game.‖
Temple used Joseph Pickett‘s 26-yard first-quarter field goal and Buhl‘s 70-yard TD catch from Allen to build a 10-0 lead 4 minutes into the second quarter.
Hubenak‘s 6-yard scoring run 2 minutes later got the Eagles on the board, then Buhl hauled in an Allen pass and ran away from everyone for a 70-yard touchdown — only for Georgetown to respond on its next play with a 91-yard catch-and-run from Hubenak to Shea for a 16-14 Temple edge.
Allen crashed in from 1 yard out 3 minutes before halftime, but the Eagles drove and Hubenak hit Knightner for a 22-yard TD pass with just 18 seconds left to slice Temple‘s advantage to 23-21.
Georgetown didn‘t grab its first lead until Hubenak and Shea hooked up for a 38-yard TD pass a minute into the third, making it 28-23. The Eagles got the ball back quickly and Hubenak‘s 4-yard scoring rush made it 35-23.
The Wildcats answered with Allen‘s 3-yard fade pass to Buhl on the left side for a TD and a 35-30 game midway through the third, but Darius Davis‘ 2-yard scoring run and Hubenak TD
passes of 61 yards to Reyna and 7 to Knightner expanded the Eagle lead to 55-30 early in the fourth. Ronnie Chapman‘s 4-yard TD run and Allen‘s pair of ground scores only helped the Wildcats chip into the visitors‘ winning margin.
―I told the kids I‘m proud to have this ‗T‘ on my hat and on my chest. We fought and there was a sense that we were never out of it,‖ Spradlin said. ―Next week we‘ll bust our tail to beat Churchill." By Greg Wille – Temple Daily Telegram
Temple junior quarterback Zach Allen (12) rushes for some of his 125 yards as Georgetown's Blair Murski closes in during the Wildcats' 62-51 loss to the Eagles on Friday night. Allen passed for a Temple-record 380 yards and three touchdowns, and he had three TD runs. (Josh Quinn/Telegram)