Though the 2021 spring football season has featured an abbreviated schedule, an opportunity exists for the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets that hasn’t taken place since 2005 – to finish with a winning record.

The Yellow Jackets (2-2) host the Belhaven Blazers (2-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Gordon Wood Stadium in an American Southwest Conference crossover playoff game, which will wrap up the season. Both teams placed third in their respective divisions.

“That’s the goal, to end up with a winning record. It’d be the first time in quite a long time,” said HPU first-year head coach Jason Bachtel. “Some of our older kids came up to me earlier in the week and mentioned how this win would be real special because it does boost you into the little bit of offseason we will get and set us up for what we want to accomplish in the fall season, and that’s playing for a chance to be the conference champion. It will also get people back on board wanting to see Howard Payne succeed.”

Howard Payne defeated McMurry, 24-3, last week at Gordon Wood Stadium to earn the right to play Saturday’s season finale on its home turf.

Reflecting on the victory, Bachtel said, “I keep going back to it being a great team win. Both units did what we needed to do to win. We executed and got up on them early, we’ve been looking for that fast start and we got it. We stalled a little bit offensively in the second half but our defense stepped up their game. We hadn’t created a turnover since the Texas Lutheran ball game and we created three interceptions – two interceptions in the end zone – and a goal line stand in the first half, which was essentially a fourth turnover. That was a big confidence booster for that side of the ball. They’d been struggled the last couple of weeks. The secondary really stood up and made some plays. Really, it was just a great overall team win on spring reunion day.”

Belhaven enters the contest on a two-game win streak, having defeated Southwestern (21-7) and Louisiana College (33-24) after suffering losses to Mary Hardin-Baylor (41-0) and East Texas Baptist (44-16).

“Belhaven is pretty good,” Bachtel said. “I believe the best side of the ball for them is their defense. They’re big and physical on the defensive line. Their front seven may be one of the best we’ve played all season. I think they’re a close comparison to the Hardin-Simmons defense. I don’t think they are quite as good as the Hardin-Simmons secondary so we’re going to have to do some things to hurt them in that department, but overall they’re very sound, they’re good at what they do. They’re not very complicated in what they do, but they do it really well.”

The Blazers allow 29 points and just 310 yards – 208 passing and just 102 rushing – per game.

Howard Payne counters with an offense that produces 32 points and 494 yards – 284 through the air and 210 on the ground – per outing.

Freshman quarterback Landon McKinney continues to lead the ASC in passing yards with 1,095 yards and he ranks second in touchdown passes with eight, and completions with 67, while tossing no interceptions.

Meanwhile, senior receiver Jake Parker leads the American Southwest Conference in catches (33), 10 more than anyone else; yards (633), 261 more than anyone else; and touchdowns (5), one more than a trio of players. Hunter Cheek contributed a season-high five grabs for 99 yards and a touchdown last week.

On the ground, Billy Reagins has compiled 261 yards and five touchdowns, while Tauren Bradley has added 250 yards.

“We have to convert some more third downs and move the chains where we didn’t at times last week,” Bachtel said regarding areas he would like to see the Yellow Jackets improve from the McMurry contest.

Coming off their best defensive effort of the season, Howard Payne is now allowing 29 points and 447 yards – 266 passing and 191 rushing – per game, with four takeaways. Standouts include ASC Defensive Player of the Week Kyle Bell with a league-high 42 tackles and one interception, James Jakubowski (26 tackles), and Peyton Lowe (24 tackles).

Belhaven is generating 16 points and 294 yards – 159 rushing and and 135 passing – per game.

“Offensively they have some explosive weapons that you have to wrap up,” Bachtel said. “The running back is really, really good, probably one of the better ones we’ve seen. They’ve got a big, massive offensive line. They play a lot of one tight end, two tight end, pro set formations. They want to beat you running the ball and they want to keep the ball away from you if you’re a high scoring offense. They throw it well enough to keep you honest in the secondary, so we’re going to have to come out and be firing on all cylinders again and get after them.”

Brad Foley ranks second in the ASC with 407 rushing yards and one touchdown, while Kolbe Blunte has chipped in 123 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Mayowa Asagunla has thrown for 408 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions, while leading receivers include Brooks Brymer (10-128) and Michael Simpson (6-143, TD).

Win, lose or draw Saturday, there are plenty of positives for Howard Payne to build on heading into the traditional fall campaign later this year.

“The biggest takeaways are going to be seeing that all of our guys were 100 percent moving in the right direction after a coaching change,” Bachtel said. “Another thing you’re going to see is that we have a bunch of guys who love to play football and that’s why they’re here. You’re also going to see we’ve gained some experience at key positions, especially at quarterback and some other offensive skill positions. I think you’re going to see we’re pretty good on both lines and experienced up there. It’s been good to get some guys some experience and see what they can do in the live action situation. All these guys gain another year so essentially this was a tryout for them and we got to try several of them out.”