It was a four-game slate in Week 5 of the Lone Star Conference football season, and we learned that there are some potent offenses and brick-wall defenses around the league.

There are a few surprises across the conference that have popped up to be contenders, too. 

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Central Washington, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Angelo State and Western Oregon are the LSC’s remaining unbeaten teams in conference play as of this writing, placing them early on as the favorites to push through and lead the fight to be conference champion.

There’s a while to go until all of that is decided, but a lot of scenarios and situations are shaking out week by week in LSC.

Here’s a look at three of the biggest takeaways league-wide after Week 5 of the Lone Star Conference football season:

CWU’s Loidhamer Is A Breakout Star

Star defensive back Tanner Volk gets his (deserved) flowers as the reigning Cliff Harris Award winner and the star of No. 13-ranked Central Washington’s lockdown defense, which had a field day in a 36-0 rout of Western New Mexico in the Wildcats’ home opener Saturday.

But after four games this season — including his best one of the year yet Saturday — it’s now also time to make sure that CWU defensive lineman Chase Loidhamer gets some kudos in the meantime, too.

The redshirt senior from Wenatchee, Washington, only had 3.5 career sacks entering the 2024 season and almost surpassed that in a single game against WNMU this past weekend, bringing down Mustangs quarterback Josh Magana for sacks three times as CWU’s defense ruled in a dominant display.

Have a day Chase Loidhamer 👏

Loidhamer finished the game vs Western New Mexico with five tackles and three sacks.#LSCFB | @LoneStarConf | @CWUFB pic.twitter.com/zB9GcUZ2C4

— FloFootball (@FloFootball) September 30, 2024

Paired with the Wildcats’ 45-3 blowout victory over West Texas A&M in Canyon the week prior, the Wildcats have only surrendered a field goal in 120 minutes of LSC play as no offense in the league yet has been able to crack CWU’s code. With the obvious caveat that it’s still very early in the conference season, the Wildcats have only given up an average of 155 yards of total offense in those two conference games, as well, including when they allowed just 91 yards of offense to WNMU this past weekend.

Loidhamer deserves some credit for that, especially in the trenches as he’s picked up four sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss to date for CWU to lead the team in both categories and putting him tied for first in the LSC in the former category. He and the rest of the stars on the Wildcats will look to wreak some more havoc this weekend on the road against an Eastern New Mexico team still looking for its first LSC win.

Beware Of The Javelinas

Did Texas A&M-Kingsville just need to be a bit wounded to unleash the best version of itself?

Four games into the season and a 2-0 start to LSC play later, it sure seems that way.

The Javelinas dropped their opening game of the season to Colorado Mesa at home but have since rolled past their last three opponents, the most impressive victory of which was a 20-14 win Sept. 21 at defending conference champion Texas Permian Basin. There was no hangover from that big win upon their return to Kingsville this past weekend against Sul Ross State, when they dumped almost 500 yards on the Lobos in a 56-21 triumph in front of over 10,000 fans at Pepsi Field at Javelina Stadium.

Sophomore quarterback Teague Sedtal, in his first year as a starter in Kingsville, was awesome against SRSU as he threw for 230 yards and four touchdowns through the air, which paired nicely in the meantime with the Javelinas’ four rushing scores through four different players (Roger Hagan, Raymond Hudson, Santana Scott and Kannon Williams) and 221 rushing yards in total. Mix that in with one of the LSC’s stingiest defenses so far (league-low 63.5 rushing yards allowed per game), and TAMUK’s response since its opening-week loss has been nothing short of stellar.

👍 for Qb1

Teague Sedtal wins offensive player of the week in the @LoneStarConf after his 4️⃣ touchdown performance!#DontFlinch pic.twitter.com/QlA4l4n2X0

— TAMUK Javelina Football (@JavelinaFB) September 30, 2024

Midwestern State will be making the seven-and-a-half-hour drive down from Wichita Falls to Kingsville to try and stop the Javelinas’ roll this Saturday, but coming off of a loss this past weekend to UTPB the Mustangs will be the underdogs on paper for a Kingsville team looking to make it 3-0 in the LSC ahead of tough back-to-back games to follow against Angelo State and Central Washington.

Western Oregon On The Rise?

Though it is important to not get too ahead of ourselves, there is a path for the Wolves to be 4-0 in LSC play in a couple weeks’ time with no defeats to Division II opponents.

It definitely wouldn’t be a bad place for WOU to be, especially considering that it was picked to finish eighth in the league’s preseason poll back in July.

After beating D-II newbie Sul Ross State in their LSC opener Sept. 21, the Wolves played their home opener Saturday and took it right to West Texas A&M, beating the Buffaloes 24-16 with the help of a five-catch, 98-yard, one-touchdown day from receiver Damon Hickok and a defense that was close to holding its opponent to single digits before a WTAMU touchdown on the final play. 

Having gone 3-8 a season ago with a five-game losing streak to close the year, WOU has looked strong early on in its opening games against conference foes. It has one of the best defensive players in the league in linebacker Malcolm Liufau — who had 10 tackles with 3.5 being for a loss against the Buffaloes — and a rushing offense that averages 172.3 yards per game, good for third in the LSC and made even more impressive considering that the Wolves played two FCS teams (Idaho State and Cal Poly) to start the season.

The Wolves have an opportunity to make it to 3-0 in LSC play next week against a Western New Mexico team that has scored a total of three points in its three LSC matchups so far, followed by a home matchup the next week against an Eastern New Mexico squad that hasn’t won a league game yet but possesses the second-best rushing offense in the country at 396.5 yards per game. 

Both are winnable games for WOU, and it’ll need them if it wants to ride a wave of momentum into a brutal second-half LSC slate that includes trips to Texas Permian Basin and Central Washington.

AFCA NCAA Division II Football Rankings In Week 6

• 1. Harding (Ark.) (4-0)
• 2. Grand Valley St. (Mich.) (4-0)
• 3. Valdosta St. (Ga.) (4-0)
• 4. Colorado School of Mines (4-0)
• 5. Ferris St. (Mich.) (3-1)
• 6. Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) (4-0)
• 7. Minnesota St. (5-0)
• 8. Kutztown (Pa.) (4-0)
• 9. Slippery Rock (Pa.) (4-0)
• 10. Pittsburg St. (Kan.) (3-1)
• 11. Central Washington (3-1)
• 12. Central Missouri (3-1)
• 13. Western Colorado (4-0)
• 14. Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) (4-0)
• 15. West Alabama (4-0)
• 16. Charleston (W.Va.) (4-0)
• 17. Central Oklahoma (4-0)
• 18. Colorado St.-Pueblo (4-1)
• 18. Emporia St. (Kan.) (4-1)
• 20. Delta St. (Miss.) (3-1)
• 21. Indiana (Pa.) (4-0)
• 22. Indianapolis (Ind.) (3-1)
• 23. Findlay (Ohio) (4-0)
• 24. Johnson C. Smith (N.C.) (5-0)
• 25. Carson-Newman (Tenn.) (4-0)

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