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| De'Merea Robinson ran for both of McMurry's touchdowns, one in the first quarter and one in the fourth quarter of the War Hawks' win against Sul Ross State. McMurry athletics photo by Caitlin Bela |
Division III football got its spring schedule started Saturday with a slate of eight games, including two which came down to simultaneous defensive stands. The American Southwest Conference had four games on the schedule, the Southern Athletic Association played three and there was one in the Northwest Conference.
At one point on Saturday afternoon, Sul Ross State and Howard Payne were each on their own 35, needing to drive for at least a field goal to win or extend their games. As it turned out, both the McMurry and Texas Lutheran defenses got the stops they needed, and they each got their coach their first career win.
For McMurry, it's the first win for Jordan Neal, who played quarterback across town for Hardin-Simmons before returning to Abilene, Texas, to take his first head coaching job in 2019. And the win was a long time coming, as it was McMurry's first since Oct. 6, 2018.
The defensive slugfest saw McMurry (1-0) limit Sul Ross State (0-1) to 239 yards of total offense and just 2-for-15 on third-down conversions. Meanwhile, McMurry had enough offense to stay close. Trailing 14-9 late in the third quarter, McMurry took over on its own 38 and embarked on a bruising, 13-play drive that took up nearly six minutes of the clock before De'Merea Robinson got into the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown. After a timeout, Carlos Garibay found Kristopher Martin in the end zone for the two-point conversion, giving the War Hawks a 17-14 lead.
A key third-down stop by Keishawn Pratt forced Sul Ross to punt on its next possession, and the McMurry defense held again after a fumble gave the Lobos the ball at McMurry's 24. When Robinson fumbled for the second time in the fourth quarter, Sul Ross got the ball back at its own 35 with 3:39 to go and the defense forced another four-and-out. Given one final chance, Sul Ross got out near midfield and had a deep strike downfield ruled caught out of bounds, ending the game.
Carlos Garibay was 16-for-30 passing for 214 yards for McMurry. Colton Strickland had three and a half tackles for loss and one and a half sacks, as he and Xavier Gayle combined for a key sack in the fourth quarter.
That's how you celebrate a win. @CoachNealMCM gets the Gatorade shower following his first win as a head coach as McMurry football defeated Sul Ross State 17-14 on Saturday#UnitedAsWarHawks #ASCfb #d3fb @mcmsports @McMURRYFOOTBALL pic.twitter.com/MwsVorA43O
— Jordan Hofeditz (@jhofeditz) February 6, 2021
Howard Payne, in its first game under Jason Bachtel, took a 14-point first-half lead against Texas Lutheran, but it was the Bulldogs' first-year head coach that came out victorious as TLU rallied for a 39-38 win. The win gave Ricky Matt his first win as a collegiate head coach after 41 years of coaching football.
Quarterback Seth Cosme scored on a 1-yard run with 1:47 to play, and then Cosme kept the ball again for the go-ahead, two-point conversion to give TLU its first lead of the game. The Bulldogs' defense stopped HPU at midfield to preserve the win.
Cosme threw a 49-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to Mason Perkins, one of his two TD passes on the day, to tie the game at 31. Howard Payne retook the lead four minutes later, but TLU responded with a 53-yard, clock burning drive, for the win. Cosme threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more for TLU. He completed 14 passes for 230 yards and 10 of those went to Perkins, for 205 receiving yards. Freshman quarterback Landon McKinney threw for 309 yards in his collegiate debut for Howard Payne with 11 catches for 195 yards and a touchdown to Jake Parker.
Jacob Wood had a big day on a wet field at Millsaps, as the Hendrix quarterback threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 113 yards and a score in a 37-27 road win. Wood's big day included a 30-yard touchdown run and a 52-yard run that set up the Warriors' first score. Plus, he hit Blake Hinton eight times for 146 yards and two scores. Across town, Mary Hardin-Baylor made quick work of Belhaven in a 41-0 win.
Trinity (Texas) saw its offense come alive in the fourth quarter, making the Tigers' defensive efforts hold up in a 35-24 win against Austin College. The Tigers entered the fourth quarter down 17-14, but Wyatt Messex hit Austin Bertness for two touchdowns and Justin Carmouche added a third touchdown as the Tigers put the game out of reach at 34-17 with 1:16 left. Bertness had a big day with nine catches for 124 yards and three touchdowns, but not as big as the Tigers' defense, which registered nine tackles for loss, nine quarterback hurries and a forced fumble in the win. Trinity held AC to minus-3 yards rushing and 221 yards for the afternoon.
East Texas Baptist exploded for 21 points in the third quarter and ruined Southwestern's return to ASC football with a 28-17 win. Aaron Brown accounted for 206 yards of total offense in the win. And in the day's only West Region game, Puget Sound controlled the ground and the clock as Duncan Varela ran for 132 yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries in a 28-20 win against Pacific Lutheran. The Lutes didn't even break the 100-yard mark in total offense for good until their final drive, which started with 61 seconds left and ended with a touchdown to mark the margin eight points on the final play of the game. UPS had the ball for 37 minutes, 3 seconds, in the win.
Birmingham-Southern was also firing on all cylinders in Week 1. Robert Shufford busted loose early, running for a 62-yard touchdown on the Panthers' third play from scrimmage and the rout was on at Rhodes. Shufford, a 2019 D3football.com All-American, had just six carries in the first quarter, five in the second, and retired for the night with 120 yards and a score. Meanwhile, the Panthers' defense held Rhodes to 32 total yards and BSC won 52-0.