UMHB, HSU Improve to 4-0, Cru Sets ASC Records
10/4/2015 1:12:50 PM
No. 3 / 4 Mary Hardin-Baylor 59, Belhaven 13 – Box Score
BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team exploded in the second quarter and made the most of numerous short fields on the way to a 59-13 victory over Belhaven University Saturday afternoon in Belton.
The Cru improves to 4-0 on the year with its 58th consecutive regular season victory. The Blazers fall to 0-5 on the season with the loss.
UMHB drew first blood when Zach Anderson hit T.J. Josey with a 25-yard touchdown pass with 4:50 left in the first quarter. Blake Jackson scored on a one-yard run following a Belhaven turnover to make it 14-0 Cru after the first quarter. UMHB would then erupt for 36 second quarter points to put the game out of reach. Baylor Mullins intercepted a Belhaven pass and returned it 29 yards for a score, Jackson added a three-yard touchdown run and Anderson threw a 14-yard scoring TD pass to Lin Gilliam and a 40-yard scoring strike to Marcus Wimby to make it 43-0. Duane Thompson then closed out the half with a four-yard scoring plunge with 39 seconds remaining to five the Cru a 50-0 halftime lead.
The Cru forced six turnovers in the first half and started all but one drive on the Belhaven side of the 50-yard line. Tristan Hibbeler threw touchdown passes of 41 yards to Nate Williams and 61 yards to Jaquay Daniels in the third quarter to cut the gap to 50-13, but Matt Cody returned a blocked extra point attempt the length of the field after the second score to make it 52-13. The Cru closed out the scoring with Anderson's three-yard touchdown pass to Wykeyhe Walker just 37 seconds into the fourth quarter.
UMHB broke the NCAA Division III record for sacks in a game by sacking Belhaven quarterbacks 15 times in the contest. The previous mark of 13 was set by St. John's (MN) in a November 19, 2005 game against Monmouth. The Cru also set a new school record by holding the Blazers to -87 rushing yards in the contest. UMHB finished with 336 yards of total offense with 228 of those coming through the air.
Anderson was 18-of-23 through the air for 228 yards and he tied a school record with four touchdown passes. Wimby caught seven passes for 79 yards and a touchdown and Thompson ran for 46 yards and a score on 14 carries. Haston Adams broke the UMHB single-game record with 4.5 sacks and he had seven total tackles, Teidrick Smith added 3.0 sacks, a forced fumble and a blocked punt. Reggie Wilson also intercepted two passes for the Cru defense. Five different players finished with two or more sacks in the contest.
Hibbeler was 33-of-46 for Belhaven for 358 yards and two touchdowns. Clayton Webb went 12-of-18 for 101 yards. Jacob McNeill caught 13 passes for 106 yards and Daniels hauled in six catches for 116 yards and a score. Belhaven turned the ball over six times, all of which came in the first half.
UMHB will continue its home stand with the American Southwest Conference opener next Saturday. The Cru will host Sul Ross State for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff at Crusader Stadium. That will also be "Hometown Heroes" Day at Crusader Stadium as UMHB honors first responders from across Central Texas.
No. 15 / 18 Hardin-Simmons 31, Trinity (Texas) 7 – Box Score
SAN ANTONIO – Hardin-Simmons' football team moved to 4-0 for the first time since 2008 with a 31-7 win over Trinity University Saturday afternoon at the Trinity Football Stadium in San Antonio.
The Cowboy defense held the Tigers to 253 yards in the game and did not allow a point until a Cort Cowart touchdown with 22 seconds to play.
HSU took control early in the game. The Cowboys forced a punt on the first possession and came back with a three-play 62-yard touchdown drive capped off with a Reese Childress 29-yard run.
The Cowboys forced another punt and then went 96 yards in 15 plays with Weston Garner capping the long drive with a one-yard touchdown run. Nico Francino made it 17-0 with a 31-yard field goal with 13:43 to play in the first half.
Cory Ward, playing in his hometown, intercepted a pass and returned it 53 yards for a touchdown with 2:21 to play in the first half to make it 24-0 at intermission.
Neither team scored in the third quarter and the Cowboys capped a nine-play 45-yard drive with a Kerry Sloan three-yard run for a score to make it 31-0 with 6:24 to play.
Ward, James Place and Ryne Lewis had eight tackles each for the Cowboys. Lewis had a pair of sacks, Ward and Place had interceptions.
Weston Garner was 20-of-25 for 196 yards and Kerry Sloan had 76 yards on 17 carries. Childress added 60 yards on six carries. Jessie Ramos had nine catches for 80 yards.
Jeremy Simmons had 139 yards rushing to pace the Tigers and Austin Grauer was 14-for-29 for just 109 yards and an interception.
The Cowboys are 4-0 on the year and Trinity fell to 4-1. HSU will play at McMurry for the Wilford Moore Trophy at noon on Saturday.
Louisiana College 38, Sul Ross State 28 – Box Score
PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana College Wildcats celebrated its 2015 Homecoming with an impressive 38-28 win over Sul Ross State at Wildcat Field in Pineville, their first win of the season.
The Wildcats were led offensively by quarterback Easton Melancon's 283 passing yards and four touchdowns while running back Aurren Cooksey carried the ball 22 times for 97 yards and a touchdown.
Senior defensive end Joey Jarreau led the LC "White Shirt" defense with 2.5 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks.
McMurry 34, Lincoln-Missouri 14 – Box Score
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – McMurry built a 21-0 lead after one quarter against NCAA Division II Lincoln-Missouri and never looked back, recording a 34-14 road win. The War Hawks' victory over the Blue Tigers came despite facing some long odds.
In addition to playing up a division, McMurry had to journey 12-plus hours to play its first football game in the state of Missouri in 22 years and did so without the services of its top offensive threat, senior running back Paxton Grayer. Grayer has not played since injuring his shoulder in first half of last week's loss at Langston.
The McMurry defense gave their offensive counterparts some early help when cornerback Ryan Williams picked off LU quarterback Owen Jordan at the Blue Tigers' 23 yard line and returned it for a touchdown at the 10:41 juncture of the opening period. Joey Silva's extra point kick made it 7-0. It was Williams' team-leading fourth interception of the season.
After a two three-and-outs and a series that stalled on its own 44, the McMurry offense finally began to gel with a running-back-by-committee mentality despite the absence of Paxton Grayer.
With 7:29 left in the first period, a quick 78-yard punt return by Decorian Johnson was nullified by an illegal block, placing the ball on McMurry's own 37 yard line. A few plays later, Derrick Johnson powered into the end zone from four yards out to make it 14-0 with 3:02 left in the first quarter.
LU penetrated deep in War Hawk territory with less than two minutes remaining in the period, only to have the drive stall at McMurry's 24 yard line. Dontrell Dock carried out to the 30 on McMurry's first play after taking over on downs. Then, War Hawk quarterback Matthew McHugh connected on a deep pass to Charles Agugua, who raced to the end zone for the 70-yard catch-and-run TD that put McMurry ahead, 21-0.
Another lengthy drive midway through the second quarter helped McMurry to extend its advantage to 28-0. Dock's five-yard dive with 7:44 left in the first half capped a 15-play, 86-yard set that chewed up better than seven minutes on the clock.
The Blue Tigers finally got on the board after intercepting McMurry reserve signal-caller Xavier Alexander deep in their own territory. With a first-and-10 from the War Hawks' 13 yard line, LU needed just three plays to convert and make the score 28-7 with 3:12 left until the intermission. Neither team was able to add to its score before the half.
McMurry's final tally of the afternoon also came via the air when McHugh targeted Emmanuel Mulumba on a 30-yard dart. The extra point was blocked and made it 34-7 at 10:17 of the third quarter.
McMurry looked like it would add another score late in the game, driving all the way down to the LU one-yard line before turning the ball over on downs with 5:34 left to play. An ensuing 12-play, 99-yard series by Lincoln made it the final 34-14 score.
Despite missing Grayer's 160-plus yard per game rushing average, a committee of seven War Hawk backs made up the difference with 45 carries for 198 yards. The group was led by the quartet of McHugh (51 yards), Johnson (46 yards), Orrin Peterman (42 yards) and Dock (37 yards).
McHugh finished off the passing attack by completing 18-of-29 passes for 237 yards and the two TD's. He was not sacked, but was intercepted twice.
McHugh's favorite targets during the day were Agugua and Mulumba, who had 89 and 78 yards, respectively, through the air. Derrick Johnson also caught two balls for 56 receiving yards.
Defensively, Chase Franklin had nine total tackles and Williams recorded eight tackles with four solo stops. Linebacker Marlon Jackson added seven tackles, while J.R. Arroyo, Charles Smith III and Jamir Bowser each chipped in five stops.
The McMurry team out-gained the Blue Tigers in total offense by a comfortable margin of 472 yards to 332 yards. McMurry had 22 first downs to 16 for LU. McMurry also had better than 7:30 more in time of possession as well.
McMurry will renew its cross town rivalry versus Hardin-Simmons next Saturday at noon for then War Hawks' Homecoming game.
Texas Lutheran 49, Howard Payne 20 – Box Score
SEGUIN, Texas – The Howard Payne Yellow Jackets were held to just 245 yards of total offense in a 49-20 loss Saturday evening at Texas Lutheran University.
The turning point in the game came when TLU's Drake Dowling recovered a field goal block at midfield scooped and scored at the 7:37 mark of the third quarter giving TLU a 35-14 lead.
Colby Mica caught eight passes for 86 yards and scored on TD grabs of 11 and 21 yards. Mica's 11-yarder gave HPU a quick 7-0 lead with 12:23 to play in the first quarter. The Yellow Jackets turned a blocked punt by Austin Schaeffer into the Mica TD catch.
TLU then score three TD's to gain a 21-7 advantage with 6:28 left in the first half.
Mica then hauled in his second TD reception of the game. This time on a 21-yard pass from Richard Young to make the score 21-14 TLU with 4:09 left in the first half.
TLU would score three TD's in the third quarter to open up a 42-14 lead with 4:06 left in the third.
The Jackets scored again with 8:03 left in the game when Caisson Montieth found Blayne Parisher in the back of the end zone for the 22 yard TD reception. The extra point was no good and the score was 42-20 TLU.
Young was 16-of-26 passing for 112 yards, two TDs and no interceptions for the Jackets. Collin Rome led HPU with 38 yards on 11 carries.
For the Jacket defense, Xavier McFalls and Britt Boler each had seven tackles followed by Jordan Shaw and Donald Preston with six each.
TLU held the Yellow Jackets to 245 yards of total offense. HPU was 3-of-14 on third-down conversions and 0-of-2 on fourth-down tries. TLU scored on six of eight trips into the red zone and held HPU to 0-for-2 in red zone trips.
Howard Payne dropped to 0-5 in 2015 and saw its overall losing skid hit nine games. TLU won its third straight game and improved to 4-1 overall. The Jackets will have an open date next week and will play again on October 17th at home versus East Texas Baptist in a Homecoming matchup starting at 2:00 pm.