BEAUMONT — Welcome to Lamar, Darrel Colbert.

It’s only been 1½ months since coach Mike Schultz announced the former SMU quarterback’s arrival onto the university, and the junior has been determined to impress.

Saturday night, he dominated with six touchdowns, four passing, and completed 18 of 23 passes for 190 yards in Lamar’s 72-6 victory over UT Permian Basin at Provost Umphrey Stadium.

“It’s been the game plan, for sure,” Colbert said. “Just the protection from the o-line. The scheme we had that coach [and offensive coordinator Dan] Dodd put together was perfect. I just tried to do what I could.”

The win also gave Schultz his first victory as a head coach. But he wasn’t bragging.

“I’m more happy for our football team,” he said. “The last two weeks have been challenging for the university, the administration and this area. If they stick with us, we’ll keep going and keep moving forward.”

Lamar (1-0) turned a 6-3 deficit into a 37-6 lead by halftime. Schultz’s high-octane offense turned in 642 total yards and dominated the first-down count 37-9. The 72 points are the most Lamar scored since beating Texas College 73-0 in 2014.

For his part, Colbert totaled 259 yards, as he also rushed eight times for 69 yards.

“Darrel did a good job tonight,” Schultz said. “I’m watching him grow before my eyes day to day. … What Darrel really did a nice job of tonight was protecting the football.”

Lamar lost just one fumble and forced UTPB (0-1) to cough up five, one of which was lost.
Colbert ratted off touchdown passes to Jarod Wood (18 yards), Kendrick King (27) and former quarterback Case Robinson (3) helping the Cards surge from a deficit that lasted only more than 2½ minutes. He ran for touchdowns from 27 and 7 yards out and finished with 69 yards on eight carries.

Hamshire-Fannett sophomore Kendrick King had his most productive game to date, netting 93 yards on 15 carries. Former Texas A&M running back James White carried for 65 yards and true freshman Myles Wanza hauled in 61 yards.

Marcus Daggs’ 15-yard catch was Colbert’s fourth TD pass of the day.

Andrew Allen finished 56 yards on 8-of-8 passing and a touchdown pass to Dorian Gaston in relief.

The defense was stellar, to say the least. UTPB, a Division II program based in Odessa, was held to 141 total yards.

“I thought we played better on defense and did a little better on stopping the run this weekend,” Schultz said. “It was good, really fun. We still have a long way to go. It gets really tough with Northwestern State coming up and we start conference this week.”

Just when it seemed Brandon Dabney capped off the night with a 60-yard interception return for a score, sophomore transfer Cole Starnes made his first Lamar carry count, going 67 yards for six points.

Wanza also had a touchdown run.

Lamar and Northwestern State will kick off in Natchitoches, Louisiana, at 6 p.m. next Saturday.
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I.C. Murrell: 549-8541. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews