A pair of sophomores had career games on offense as the Stetson Hatters overcame a sluggish first half to race past visiting Louisiana Christian 45-14 Saturday night at Spec Martin Memorial Stadium.
 
Sophomore Brady Meitz became just the second Stetson quarterback to throw for more than 400 yards in a game, completing 25-of-48 passes for 444 yards and three touchdowns in his first collegiate start. Sophomore receiver Nazeviah Burris posted his name fourth on the single game receiving yardage list with seven receptions for 180 yards.
 
It was the second consecutive game in which the Hatters (2-0) posted more than 500 yards of total offense (546), but came away feeling as if they left points on the field.
 
"I think we left five touchdowns on the field tonight," Hatters' coach Brian Young said. "It is going to be very hard for anyone to play man coverage for four quarters against the receivers we have on this team. The plays were there for us, we just have to connect on those throws."
 
The Hatters used the deep passing game early to jump out to a quick lead. On the very first offensive play of the game Meitz connected with Burris for a 44-yard gain, setting up a 15-yard Jalen Leary run to the end zone five plays later for a 7-0 Stetson lead.
 
That lead grew to 14-0 later in the first quarter when Meitz capped a seven-play drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to junior Quinton Lane, who finished the game with five receptions for 107 yards of his own.
 
After that solid opening quarter, it was the Wildcats who controlled the second period. LCU put together a seven-play drive, covering 92 yards, to cut into the Stetson lead and then, after a Hatters possession ended in a missed field goal, the Wildcats went 80 yards in 10 plays to tie the game at 14 going in to halftime.
 
"We missed some tackles and didn't cover very well and they took advantage of that," Young said. "I thought they had a decent plan, running some quick slants and things like that to take advantage of some errors we made."
 
After giving his squad some proper motivational notes at halftime, Young thought his team came out for the second half with better intensity on both sides of the ball.
 
"We knew we were playing against a hungry group that had nothing to lose," Young said. "We have to learn to come out and play with some killer instinct from the word go. We just had to get them focused on their attention to detail."
 
That focus was on display early in the third quarter when the defense got off the field quickly, allowing Meitz to get back to work. He looked for Burris early in the Hatters' opening drive to no success, but found the Stetson speedster on a post route for a 47-yard touchdown to cap an eight-play scoring drive, putting Stetson back on top to stay.
 
Stetson's special teams got involved, blocking a LCU punt to set up a short field. Sophomore Kaderris Roberts took care of two of the three plays in the scoring drive with runs of 12 and 30 yards to put the Hatters up 28-14 mid-way through the third quarter.
 
After Meitz was intercepted in the end zone on a fourth down pass to end a drive, the Stetson defense got the ball right back when Davion Maxwell forced a fumble that Rassie Littlejohn covered, giving the Hatters a short field. The Wildcats forced Stetson to take a 28-yard Cameron Gillis field goal on the opening play of the fourth quarter, pushing the Stetson lead to 31-14.
 
The Hatters added on twice more in the final quarter, with Meitz hooking up with senior Jalen Mason for a 24-yard touchdown pass that included a spectacular leaping catch for the score. Sophomore Jackson Ellerbee then closed things out with a 13-yard touchdown run with just over four minutes left for the final points of the game.
The two teams rushed for almost identical yardages, with the Wildcats gaining 103 yards on the ground to 102 for Stetson, but LCU quarterback Salm Palermo completed just 14 of his 27 passes for 243 yards in the game.
 
On the defensive side, senior Majeste' Hansberry led all tacklers with eight stops on the evening, including four tackles for loss. He also forced one of the two LCU fumbles. Graduate transfer corner Ja'Veon Ensley also finished with eight tackles and had 3.5 tackles for loss. Overall, Stetson had 11 tackles behind the line in the game, including two sacks.
 
The Hatters will continue their season-opening four-game home-stand next Saturday when they welcome in Princeton from the Ivy League. The Tigers are the defending champions of the "Ancient Eight" Conference, but will be playing their first game of the year.
 
That game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start at Spec Martin Stadium next Saturday.
 
About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program is driven by a shared purpose. It is what inspires, motivates and binds us together. More than a task, a reason for being. THE HATTER PURPOSE is to create and provide an experience of a lifetime through teamwork and relationships to achieve excellence. This purpose is achieved through five Core Values: Communication, Integrity, Excellence, Value People and Commitment. To learn more about the HATS program and our Core Values, visit GoHatters.com/HATS. Get in on the conversation on social media by following Stetson Athletics on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For video content, visit our YouTube channels: Stetson Hatters, Stetson Athletics and, for live events, Hatter Vision.