UMHB football rolls over Southern Oregon
Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team took control of the game early in the second quarter and the Cru rolled to a 52-12 victory over Southern Oregon in non-conference action Saturday afternoon in Belton. UMHB, ranked fourth in the country, improves to 6-0 on the season with the victory. The loss drops the Raiders to 3-4 on the season and snaps the team's three-game winning streak.
UMHB would turn the ball over on its first two possessions, the second give-away leading to an SOU field goal and a 3-0 Raider lead. The Cru took its first lead of the game on Darius Wilson's one-yard scoring plunge at the 5:28 mark of the first quarter. Chad Peevey added a 47-yard field goal to put the Cru up 10-3 at the end of the first quarter. LiDarral Bailey hit Ervin Johnson for a 28-yard scoring pass to push the lead to 17-3 and Wilson's 15-yard TD dash stretched the UMHB advantage to 24-3. Bailey added a 35-yard scoring run of his own to make it 31-3 Cru before the Raiders scored their only touchdown on a 39-yard pass from Austin Dodge to Mike Olson with 1:22 remaining in the first half. UMHB then drove 63 yards in six plays and Bailey found Johnson again, this time from 15 yards out to make it a 38-9 Cru lead at halftime. UMHB's first play of the second half was a 90-yard touchdown pass from Bailey to Damian Davis to give the Cru a 45-9 edge. Jacquoi Beauregard scored from one-yard out with 4:33 left in the third quarter to make it 52-9 UMHB and it would stay that way until Tyler Crowley connected on a 44-yard field goal with 5:11 left to play to provide the game's final points.
UMHB rolled up 512 yards of total offense, with 233 of those coming on the ground. The Cru turned the ball over four times and was penalized seven times for 60 yards. Southern Oregon was held to just 47 rushing yards and 258 yards of total offense. The Cru defense forced five turnovers and added three sacks.
Bailey finished the game 16-22 passing for 279 yards and a career-high three touchdowns. He added 85 rushing yards and a score on 15 carries. Davis caught six passes for 158 yards and a score and Johnson had three catches for 65 yards and two touchdowns. Wilson ran for 68 yards and two scores for the Cru. Ty Dooley led the UMHB defense with 10 tackles and J.C. Hickman added eight stops.
Dodge was just 15-29 passing for SOU for 212 yards and a score. Olson caught four passes for 50 yards and Manny Barragan ran for 42 yards on 13 carries. Justin Akau had a team-best 11 tackles and Nate Svedin posted 10 stops.
UMHB will return to American Southwest Conference play with a 1:00 PM kickoff against East Texas Baptist next Saturday. That kickoff time has moved up one hour from the originally scheduled time of 2:00 PM. The Cru has now won 24 consecutive regular season home games and will bring a 15-game ASC winning streak into next Saturday's game.
