Standings

No. 2-ranked Mary-Hardin-Baylor held off rival Hardin-Simmons in a battle of the American Southwest Conference’s only teams remaining without a league loss to highlight Week 8 of ASC football on Saturday (Oct. 20). With the victory on its homecoming, UMHB also extended its conference winning streak to 23 games. In a matchup of Sul Ross State’s top-rated offense against Louisiana College’s stingy defense, it was LC that prevailed in Alpine, Texas, to move into a tie for second place in the conference standings with Hardin-Simmons. East Texas Baptist accelerated by Howard Payne to help celebrate its 100th year homecoming, while Mississippi College snapped a four-game skid on the road against Texas Lutheran.
 
(Game recaps courtesy of sports information departments)
 
No. 2/2 Mary Hardin-Baylor 45, Hardin-Simmons 32
 
Box Score
 
BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team battled back from its first second-half deficit of the season to score the game's final 14 points on the way to a 45-32 victory over Hardin-Simmons University Saturday in Belton. The 2nd-ranked Cru improves to 7-0 overall and 4-0 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops the Cowboys to 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the ASC on the year.

UMHB would take a 28-26 lead into the fourth quarter and pushed it to 31-26 on Chad Peevey's 37-yard field goal with 13:22 remaining. Hardin-Simmons answered with Logan Turner's 36-yard touchdown strike to Jimmie Simpson to give the Cowboys a 32-31 edge and their first lead since the opening quarter. The two-point conversion would fail, leaving it 32-31 HSU. Brodrick Crain would intercept Turner on the next Cowboy possession and LiDarral Bailey cashed it in for a 42-yard touchdown pass to Jon Ross. Bailey hit Elijah Hudson on the two-point conversion to give UMHB a 39-32 advantage. Javicz Jones picked off Turner on the next possession, leading to a 42-yard Peevey field goal to give the Cru a 42-32 lead. Jones intercepted another Turner pass on the ensuing drive and Peevey provided the final scoring with a 27-yard field goal.

HSU drew first blood on Turner's 17-yard TD toss to Corey Jones on the game's opening drive. UMHB tied it on Bailey's 12-yard run late in the first and Hudson made it 14-7 with a six-yard run early in the second quarter. Scott Newberry hit a 50-yard field goal to cut the lead to 14-10 1:30 later and it would stay that way into halftime. UMHB missed two first-half field goals and Bailey was intercepted in the end zone to end another drive. That was the first pick thrown by Bailey on the season.

UMHB scored on a six-yard Darius Wilson run just 55 seconds into the second half, but Turner hit Jessie Ramos with a 35-yard TD pass to cut it to 21-16. Bailey's 43-yard scoring scamper made it 28-16 UMHB. But the Cowboys used a 27-yard Newberry field goal and 54-yard scoring strike from Turner to Trei Lewis to close to within 28-26 at the end of the third quarter.

Bailey finished with 172 rushing yards and two touchdowns and he was 13-21 passing for 250 yards and accounted for three touchdowns. Hudson had three catches for 97 yards. Jones was a force for the Cru defense, posting 14 tackles and two interceptions. He also had a sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass break-up.

Turner was 29-58 passing for 470 yards and four scores for Hardin-Simmons, but he also threw four interceptions and fumbled the ball away on a sack. Corey Jones caught eight passes for 160 yards and Lewis added six grabs for 106 yards. HSU managed just 26 rushing yards and gave the ball away five times. Chad Laughlin led the Cowboy defense with 14 tackles and Ryne Lewis had two sacks.

The Cru takes over sole possession of first place in the ASC with the win and controls its own destiny in the race for the league championship and postseason bid that accompanies it. UMHB has won 11 straight over Hardin-Simmons and 13 of the last 14 meetings between the two teams. The Cru will return to action with a 2:00 PM kickoff at Howard Payne University next Saturday in Brownwood. 
 
Louisiana College 41, Sul Ross State 24
 
Box Score
 
ALPINE, Texas – After last week's heart breaking 30-3 loss to Mary Hardin-Baylor, this week's contest against Sul Ross State, the nation's #1 ranked offense, seemed like trap game of sorts for the Louisiana College Wildcats.
 
Those concerns were squashed very early as LC played perhaps their most complete game all season on their way to a 41-24 victory over the Lobos on Saturday afternoon in Alpine, Tx.
 
The Wildcats were led by an outstanding effort from their defense and an outstanding performance from senior quarterback Jamie Bunting, who threw for a season-high four touchdowns, all of which came in the first half.
 
The LC offense wasted no time getting on the board, as they drove 74 yards on 12 plays on their opening possession, capped off by a 9 yard touchdown pass from Bunting to Kyle Galyon.
 
Bunting would add three more touchdowns in the first half on a 46 yarder to D'Mario Parker, a 90 yard bomb to Cortland Bell, and a 21 yard strike to senior Bryan Sampson which was Sampson's first career touchdown for the Wildcats.
 
The Bunting to Sampson touchdown came with 35 seconds left in the half after a huge turnover that was forced by the LC defense. It pushed the Wildcats' lead to 27-10 and provided the proverbial dagger to Sul Ross.
 
The touchdown pass was sweet revenge for the Wildcats after Mary Hardin-Baylor's blocked field goal that went for a touchdown with under a second left the previous week.
 
The second half saw more great defense from Brian Wallace's unit, as well as a healthy dose of LC's running game, led by Ryan Montague who finished with 23 carries for 164 yards and two touchdowns.
 
Reggie Sims (13 carries for 44 yards) and Josh James (5 carries for 23 yards) also contributed to a ground attack that ran for 237 yards on the day.
 
Sul Ross, which came into the game averaging 241 rushing yards per game, was held to just 61 yards on the ground. The Lobos were also held to over 200 yards less than their 572 total offensive yards per game average, coming away with 365.
 
The Wildcats, who sit at 5-2 on the season and 3-1 in the American Southwest Conference, will now turn their focus towards Texas Lutheran for next weekend's ASC matchup. LC will be celebrating homecoming facilities during the week, with the game set to kick off at 4 p.m. at Wildcat Stadium. 
 
East Texas Baptist 52, Howard Payne 28
 
Box Score
 
MARSHALL, Texas – It was a happy 100th homecoming at East Texas Baptist University as all cylinders were clicking for the Tigers overcoming a 10-0 deficit and coming from behind for their first American Southwest Conference win, 52-28, over Howard Payne University.  This day will always be a memorable one for East Texas Baptist as five single game individual records were broken and three team single game records. 
 
“Wins are difficult to come by but every one of them is precious.  I am extremely proud of the way our guys came out at halftime and responded,” says head coach Mark Sartain.  “We have some great really young men that are selfless and some really stellar players and I am hoping that remember this feeling and remanufacture it the rest of the season.” 
 
It was Seth Hubbard’s day at Ornelas Stadium as he put his name in the record book four times.   What started off with an interception in the first series turned into four single game records.  Hubbard threw for 450 yards going 39-of-64 with five touchdown passes which all become records.  He re-broke the attempts and completions that he set earlier this year at Willamette but then broke Phil Van Cleave’s eight year old record for yards in a game which was 406.  Hubbard finished with five touchdowns surpassing his own record from 2011 of four touchdowns vs. Sul Ross State. 
 
Tyler Bates then posted a career day by catching three of Hubbard’s passes in the end zone.  He caught passes of five yards, 15-yards, and 33-yards to break his record.  The three touchdowns come a week after he caught his first collegiate touchdown vs. Hardin-Simmons. 
 
Throwing the ball 64 times and completing 39 passes for 450 yards, East Texas Baptist broke three single game records. 
 
The day started off gloomy for East Texas as nobody scored in the first quarter and the Tigers first pass was intercepted.  Howard Payne then jumped out to a 10-0 lead with 5:18 left in the second quarter.  East Texas Baptist responded with a seven-play drive that ended with a Cory McNeil 30-yard field goal.  Roy Denbow, who led the team in receiving with 139 yards, caught an 11-yard pass to tie the game at 10 with 41 seconds left in the game.  Howard Payne took the final 40 seconds of the half and ended it with a 42-yard field goal for the three-point lead, 13-10, after two quarters.
 
It was a different game plan in the second half for East Texas Baptist as then jump started their offense scoring 42 points.    Hubbard threw for 250 yards and four touchdowns in the second half as the Tigers came roaring back for their second win of the year.  Butler caught his first of three touchdowns just under two minutes into the third quarter on a five-yard pass from Hubbard.  Kailob Wallace knotted his first collegiate touchdown at the 8:56 mark on a four-yard pass from Hubbard, his third of the day, as the Tigers went up 24-13. 
 
Howard Payne handed the ball back to East Texas Baptist on the next possession as Trevor Hamilton forced  a fumble on the first play and Chris Frazier recovered on the 39-yard line.  It only took 35 seconds for another East Texas Baptist score as John Gamble dance his way in from 18-yards out making it 31-13.  Howard Payne was allowed three points in the third quarter at the 4:25 mark on a 41-yard field goal. 
 
The fourth quarter brought 21 more points by the Tigers with two touchdown passes to Butler at the 14:15 mark and 12:04 mark on 15-yard and 33-yard passes.  That sealed the win for the Tigers going up, 45-16.  After Howard Payne recorded a touchdown with 6:12 left, Toi Glover rambled in from 11-yards out for the Tigers final score.  Howard Payne did push in one last touchdown as time expired making it 52-28. 
 
Gable finished the day with 39 yards rushing while Wallace led the team with 43 yards on two rushes.  ETBU finished with just 138 yards rushing on 31 attempts and scored all six times they were within the 20-yard line.  The defense forced three fumbles recovering two as Dylan Bethea led the team with 11 tackles.  Dylan Maxwell recorded a sack and Mark Gray and Shaun Holmes picked off Howard Payne passes.
 
East Texas Baptist will try and make it two in a row as they travel to Clinton, Miss., next Saturday for a meeting with Mississippi College.
 
Mississippi College 24, Texas Lutheran 21
 
Box Score
 
SEGUIN, Texas – The Mississippi College football team stopped a four-game losing streak with a 24-21 victory over Texas Lutheran on Saturday afternoon at Matador Stadium.

The Choctaws (2-5, 1-3 ASC) played their best offensive football of the season with 222 rushing yards on 52 carries.  Freshman Otis Smith earned his first collegiate start and led the way with 13 carries for 106 yards.  MC controlled the clock with over 36 minutes of possession in the contest.

Preseason All-American Allen Cain, who went 5-5 on field goals in Clinton last season, missed three field goals, including two in the fourth quarter that would have tied the game.

Sophmore quarterback Beaux Gipson and freshman signal-caller Stacey Dillard combined to throw for 172 yards and two touchdowns in the contest.  They also ran for 99 yards and a score in the contest.

The MC defense came up huge in the fourth quarter with three stops to clinch the victory for the Choctaws.  Sophomore Alandas Hardy led the way with eight tackles, while junior Stephen Miner had four tackles, one sack and a fumble recovery.

The Choctaws also held the Bulldogs to just 2-13 on third-down conversions, while forcing three turnovers.

After TLU scored to open the game, Dillard found Otis Smith for a 13-yard touchdown catch to tie the game 7-7 with 2:39 to go in the first quarter.

Senior Chris Campbell shook off an earlier blocked field goal to give MC a 10-7 lead with a 37-yard shot early in the second quarter.

The Bulldogs (3-4, 1-3 ASC) took the lead going into halftime as Brent Peavy found Collin Bode for a 31-yard score and TLU led 14-10.

The Choctaws opened the second half with a score to take the lead as Dillard rushed in from a yard out to take a 17-14 advantage with 5:16 to go in the third quarter.

Jo Jo Epps found the end zone for TLU to get the lead back, 21-17, with 1:29 remaining in the third quarter.  Epps rushed the ball four times for 26 yards and the score.

MC would not back down, however, as Gipson found senior Alex Archer for a four-yard score to cap off a 13-play, six minute drive and give the Choctaws a 24-21 lead.

The MC defense came up with three stops down the stretch, including two missed field goals by Cain, to clinch the victory.

The Choctaws will be back in action next week for their 2012 Homecoming contest as MC hosts East Texas Baptist at 3:00 p.m. at Robinson-Hale Stadium.
 
 
 
 
 
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