Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team broke away in the final minutes of the first half and controlled the game from there in a 62-20 victory over Sul Ross State in the Cru's American Southwest Conference opener Saturday in Belton. UMHB improves to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the ASC with its 59th consecutive regular season victory. The Cru has also won 39 straight ASC contests. The loss drops the Lobos to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in ASC play on the season.
UMHB opened the scoring when Zach Anderson hit Wykeyhe Walker on a slant route and Walker scampered 79 yards for a touchdown 4:04 into the game. The Cru forced a punt on the ensuing Sul Ross possession and Bryce Wilkerson raced it back 69 yards for another score to make it 13-0 with 8:24 left in the first quarter. James Davis wrapped touchdown passes of 55 yards and 38 yards around Anderson's seven-yard scoring strike to Walker as the Lobos pulled to within 20-14 with 3:59 remaining in the first half. Anderson and Walker hooked up for a 19-yard touchdown pass with 2:47 left in the half and Anderson added a 33-yard TD toss to DeNerian Thomas with 28 seconds left to make it 35-14 UMHB at halftime.
Trey Thedford returned an interception 16 yards for a score on the opening possession of the second half to stretch the Cru lead to 42-14. Jermaine Stevens had a 23-yard interception return of his own to pull Sul Ross State to within 42-20 with 9:50 left in the third quarter. UMHB finally put the game away with Jacob O'Neill's 33-yard field goal, scoring runs of six yards from Sterling Scott and 75 yards from Michael Carpenter and John Mowery's 27-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to provide the final margin.
The Cru rolled up 660 yards of total offense with 377 coming through the air and 283 on the ground. UMHB turned the ball over three times and was penalized 16 times for 136 yards. Sul Ross finished with 330 yards of total offense, but the Lobos had four turnovers, gave up five sacks and were penalized 12 times for 70 yards in the game.
Walker caught 10 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns. He set a school record for receiving yardage, tied the school mark for TD receptions and was one reception away from tying that school record. Anderson was 22-30 passing for 358 yards and four touchdowns. He tied the school record for touchdown passes in a game and was just one yard off the school single-game record for passing yardage. Carpenter finished with 113 rushing yards on just six carries. Thedford led the UMHB defensive effort with 11 total tackles and the interception return for a score. Teidrick Smith added 2.0 sacks and 4.0 tackles for loss.
Davis threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns for Sul Ross. Savedra caught seven passes for 130 yards and two scores and Williton Grear ran for 103 yards on 20 carries. Fernie Gonzalez led the Lobo defensive effort with 10 tackles and Mike Quinonez had 2.0 sacks for Sul Ross State.
UMHB will now hit the road for its first road contest in more than a month next Saturday. The Cru will face Louisiana College (2-3, 1-1 ASC) in a 1:00 PM kickoff at Wildcat Stadium in Pineville, Louisiana next weekend. It will be the first time UMHB has played away from Crusader Stadium since opening the season at Ohio Wesleyan on September 5th.