UMHB football rolls over Trinity
San Antonio, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team dominated the first half and the 2nd-ranked Cru eased to a 49-28 victory over Trinity University Saturday night in San Antonio. UMHB improves to 3-0 on the season with a win that wasn't nearly as close as the final score might indicate. The loss drops the Tigers to 2-2 on the year.
The Cru would take the opening kickoff and march 67 yards in nine plays before Stephen Salinas scored on a two-yard run to make it 7-0 UMHB with 11:37 remaining in the first quarter. The Cru defense would stuff a Trinity fourth-and-one attempt on the next drive and LiDarral Bailey scored on a 36-yard run three plays later to give UMHB a 14-0 lead. The Cru defense would force a fumble on the next offensive play and Marc Perez recovered at the Tiger 15-yard line. Bailey found a wide-open Keith Reineke for a score on the next play to push the lead to 21-0 with 5:47 left in the first quarter. Trinity would close to 21-7 early in the second quarter, but UMHB answered with a 75-yard drive capped by Elijah Hudson's 36-yard TD dash. Trinity threatened on the next possession, but Eric Allen intercepted a pass at the goal line and returned it 70 yards to the Tiger 30-yard line. Bailey hit Geoff Myles for a 30-yard score on the next play to make it a 35-7 Cru lead. Bailey added a nine-yard TD run on the next series as the Cru would stretch the lead to 42-7 at halftime.
UMHB would rest the starting offense in the second half and Trinity closed the gap against the Cru reserves. Nyk McKissic scored on a seven-yard run to cut it to 42-14, but Jake Sims led the Cru on a 12-play, 92-yard drive, covering the last 18 yards himself to take the UMHB advantage to 49-14. The Tigers would score two late touchdowns on a long pass and an interception return to cut it to the final margin.
Bailey finished 14-16 through the air for 183 yards and two touchdowns. He completed his first 10 passes of the game and added 43 yards and two scores on the ground. Myles caught a career high eight passes for 111 yards to post his first career 100-yard receiving game. Michael Carpenter led the running game with 79 yards on 17 carries as the Cru rested leading rusher Darius Wilson in the game. Alex Kemp had three sacks for the UMHB defense and Andy McAteer had a team-high eight tackles.
The Cru rolled up 509 yards of total offense and gave up 374 yards to the Tigers, but most of those yards came well after the game had been decided. UMHB also forced two turnovers while giving the ball away just once.
McKissic was 17-29 passing for 178 yards and a score for the Tigers. Hagen Kattner caught five passes for 119 yards and a score and Patrick Granchelli ran for 49 yards on 12 carries. Tom Puskarich had 11 tackles to lead the Trinity defense.
The Cru has now won four straight over Trinity to even the all-time series at 4-4. It was the first regular season trip to San Antonio for UMHB since the program's inaugural game in 1998. The Cru will return to action with the American Southwest Conference opener at Sul Ross State next Saturday in Alpine. The Lobos are 1-2 on the season and were open this week after beating Trinity 62-35 two weeks ago in Alpine.
