HSU Upsets UMHB, Cowboys Improve to 8-0
11/1/2015 10:41:51 AM
No. 12 / 13 Hardin-Simmons 29, No. 2 / 3 Mary Hardin-Baylor 26 – Box Score
ABILENE, Texas – Hardin-Simmons had lost 13 straight games in every way imaginable to Mary Hardin-Baylor over the last 11 years, but the Cowboys came up with a stellar performance and knocked of the No. 2 / 3 ranked Cru 29-26 on Saturday afternoon in front of a full house at Shelton Stadium.
The defenses put on a show for the first three quarters with the Cowboys leading 14-12 heading into the final quarter. Then the offenses took their turn in the battle of heavyweights in the ASC.
Malcolm Miller scored on a 14-yard run to give the Cru a 19-14 lead with 12:59 to play. HSU retook the lead with a seven-play 66-yard drive capped off by Kerry Sloan's second touchdown of the game from five yards out.
UMHB went right back down the field in nine plays and Marcus Wimby scored on a two-yard run to make it 26-22 with 4:00 to play.
The Cowboys had the answer in Jessie Ramos. The speedster raced right past the two defenders UMHB who tried to cover him with and caught a perfect strike from Ryan Breton for a 57-yard touchdown with 3:12 to play to make it 29-26.
HSU's defense had one last stop in them and Trent Walker and Ryne Lewis had back-to-back sacks to give the Cowboys the ball back and they were able to get a first down to run out the clock.
UMHB took the opening kickoff and went 75 yards in 14 plays with Miller scoring from 11 yards out, but Jacob O'Neill's PAT missed.
Breton gave the Cowboys a 7-6 lead when he hit Ramos on a 25-yard touchdown pass with 10:16 to play. O Neill answered with a 37-yard field goal to make it 9-7 with 7:06 to play in the first half.
Sloan gave the Cowboys the lead with a two-yard run, capping a 13-play 64-yard drive to make it 14-9. O'Neill's 27-yard field goal made it 14-12 with 2:12 to play in the third quarter.
Sloan had a big day for the Cowboys with 108 yards on 25 carries. Miller led the Cru with 113 yards on 23 totes.
Breton was 18-for-27 with 284 yards and two touchdowns. Zach Anderson was 11-for-18 for 124 yards for UMHB. Ramos had 10 catches for a career-best 223 yards and two scores. He also added 55 yards in returns.
Defensively, Korey Zavala had a monster day in the middle for the Cowboys. He had 14 tackles, including three for losses and one sack. Cory Ward and Randy Hirsch added 12 tackles each and Ryne Lewis had a pair of sacks.
HSU had 415 yards of offense and the Cru had just 343, well below their average. The teams combined for only six penalties and each team had a turnover in a well-played game on both sides. Each team extended drives with a fake, UMHB a punt on the first drive of the game and HSU a fake field goal run by Garrett Martin.
The Cowboys are 8-0 for the first time since 2004, which was the last time the Cowboys beat UMHB. The Cru fell to 7-1. The loss snapped a 61-game regular-season winning streak and a 39-game conference winning streak for UMHB.
HSU is tied atop the ASC standings with East Texas Baptist at 3-0. The two teams will play in Marshall next week at 2:00 p.m. for the outright conference lead.
East Texas Baptist 61, Sul Ross State 21 – Box Score
ALPINE, Texas – It’s been 10 years since East Texas Baptist has had a winning season and with a 61-21 win over Sul Ross State University they will have it. The six wins are the most since 2005 five and ETBU has two games left to try for more wins and will now be playing for the right for first place in the American Southwest Conference next Saturday against Hardin-Simmons.
It was another big day for both sides of the ball as the offense finished with 658 yards of total offense with 445 yards passing. The defense forced four turnovers, three of which were interceptions, and had three sacks.
Josh Warbington had a career day passing for 455 yards just missing the ETBU single game record of 450 yards passing. He found four different receivers in the end zone and now has passed for four or more touchdowns seven times in his career. Kendall Roberson continued his rushing dominance with 157 yards and three touchdowns. Jourdan McNeill added 53 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns. Tyler Bates had his second-best day in his career with 229 yards receiving and one touchdown. He now has 11 touchdowns this season and needs two more to break the single-season record.
Defensively, Jeremiah Simpson, Tyrell Williams, and Jarrell Williams all recorded their first career interceptions. Xavier Davis added to his yearly total of sacks with one and Dylan Bowman led the team with six tackles. ETBU also held SRSU on the goal line, once, and stopped them three times on fourth downs.
ETBU scored on their first eight possessions of the game and didn’t have to punt until late in the third quarter. The first series of the game only took 51 seconds as they went 63 yards ending in Roberson’s first touchdown of the day. It only took 2:50 on their second possession as Roberson ran in from three-yards out for a 14-0 lead at the 7:37 mark. SRSU cut the lead to seven (14-7) following Roberson’s score but McNeill bounced in from five-yards out at the 2:48 mark in the first quarter for a 21-7 lead.
Just under two minutes into the second quarter Xavier Gray collected his first touchdown of the year on a 62-yard strike from Warbington that took just 1:26 to go 68 yards to go up 28-7. Seven minutes later Roberson recorded his third touchdown of the day from seven yards out making it 34-7. The final four minutes of the first half finished in two passing touchdowns with the first to Chase Sojka on a seven-yard pass and then Bates took a 79-yard pass to the house as the score ended up 47-7 at the half.
McNeill ran for his second touchdown run in the third quarter from three-yards out after SRSU scored on the possession before. That run put ETBU up by 39 points at 54-15. In the fourth quarter Cameron Peters caught his first collegiate touchdown from 13-yards out as ETBU went up 61-15. SRSU added one more score in the fourth quarter for the final of 61-21.
ETBU’s 61 points was the second-most in the Eargle era behind the 68 points scored against Millsaps College last season. With a 3-0 record in the American Southwest Conference, ETBU will host Hardin-Simmons next Saturday for first place.
Howard Payne 18, Louisiana College 16 – Box Score
BROWNWOOD, Texas - Howard Payne kicker Joshua Martinez made a 39-yard field goal with three seconds remaining to lift the Yellow Jackets passed Louisiana College 18-16 Saturday afternoon.
Louisiana College would score on a 10-yard pass on fourth down to gain a 16-15 advantage with 3:17 left in the game. After a failed LC extra point conversion the Yellow Jackets drove 59 yards in 12 plays and Martinez hit a 39-yard field goal with three seconds remaining to win the game 18-16.
The Martinez game-winner was his fourth field goal of the game, accounting for 12 of the Jackets 18 points on the day. Martinez also hit field goals from 22, 49 and 31 yards in the game.
Colby Mica had four catches for 101 yards breaking the HPU career receptions record with 203 catches. The previous record was held by Keith Crawford with 202 who played from 1998-1992.
Justin Acosta had 14 carries for 59 yards to lead the Jackets on the ground. Richard Young had eight carries for 24 yards which included the Jackets only touchdown of the day, a one-yard run that put HPU up 15-10 in the fourth quarter. Young was 18-for-31 passing for 228 yards.
HPU's Jason Disney led all tacklers with 12, three solo and one for loss. Gage Smith, Xavier McFalls and Britt Boler also had double digits in tackles. Donald Preston picked up his 6th sack of the year and Kris Mack had a game high three pass breakups. Mack leads the ASC with 16.
Howard Payne is now 1-7 overall and 1-2 in American Southwest Conference play. Louisiana College falls to 2-6 overall and 1-3 in league play. The Yellow Jackets will be on the road next week at Mary Hardin-Baylor.
McMurry 14, Belhaven 10 – Box Score