The Howard Payne Yellow Jackets return to American Southwest Conference action Saturday, seeking their best start to a season since 2002 as they venture to East Texas Baptist for a 1 p.m. league showdown.

In the East Texas Baptist Tigers (2-1, 1-1), the Yellow Jackets (3-0, 2-0) – who are also off to their best ASC start since 2004 – will face their toughest test to date and a program HPU first-year head coach Jason Bachtel knows quite well, serving as the Tigers’ offensive coordinator in 2019.

“With us being fairly healthy and how we’re playing with our pacing, I think we’ve got a really great shot,” Bachtel said. “Our kids know we’re ready to take that next step. It’s just a matter of going out, having fun and playing football.”

The Tigers knocked off McMurry, 24-15, last week, while Howard Payne is fresh off its most complete performance of the young season, a 55-21 non-conference triumph over Hendrix, a game in which the Yellow Jackets led by 48 points heading into the fourth period.

“I thought our kids played great and handled our first true road trip with an overnight stay very well,” Bachtel said. “They’ve bought into everything we’ve ever told them and I think you’re seeing the fruits of that on the field. I thought it was a great performance in all phases of the game. It was a great team win. Every kid that traveled to Prosper made it into the ball game and received some valuable playing time, and that’s how you build programs and that’s how we’re going to build this program.”

Defensively, the Jackets yielded just one touchdown through three quarters, gave up 256 total yards for the game and forced four turnovers.

“We got better defensively coming out of the McMurry game and going into Hendrix,” Bachtel said. “Secondary play stands out the most. When you look at it, I truly believe we have one of the more dominant front seven groups in our conference. The secondary play against McMurry was where we really struggled, obviously we gave up a lot of yards, but we came back and saw two or three interceptions against Hendrix and we didn’t give up the big play in the pass game like we did against McMurry. It was a refocus in that group where we knew we had to address some concerns.”

HPU racked up 754 yards of total offense on 96 snaps as five Yellow Jackets threw a pass, nine ran the ball and 13 registered at least one reception.

“We cleaned up some stuff offensively we needed to clean up,” Bachtel said. “This is a very kid-friendly and playmaker-friendly offense. A lot of the decisions that are made on the field don’t come from coaches, they come from kids. We want to recruit and play guys who are athletes and let them be athletes. We don’t try to coach them to be robotic and coach them to be what we see them as, we want them to be who they are. That’s why we recruited them, that’s why they’re here, and they get to use their football instincts. We put kids in space and that allows them to go make plays.

“The other thing that’s a key factor is our offensive line really coming together and gelling together. We’re establishing a running game and establishing the line of scrimmage in pass protection.”

Howard Payne enters the contest averaging 47 points and 651 yards – 419 passing and 232 rushing – per game, with six turnovers.

Landon McKinney has completed 45 of 78 passes for 956 yards with 12 touchdowns and one interception. Leading receivers include ASC Offensive Player of the Week Jake Parker (17-453, 6 TDs), Otis Lanier (6-132, 2 TDs), Max McCuiston (5-165, 2 TDs), Selah Smith (5-81, TD), Javonte Russell (4-46), and Casey Dufner (3-65, 2 TDs).

The ground game is anchored by Tauren Bradley (290 yards, TD), Stephen Willis (192 yards), and Derrick Berry (117 yards, TD).

East Texas Baptist counters with a defense that is yielding 27 points and 354 yards – 253 through the air and 101 on the ground – per outing, with 11 takeaways in three contests.

Standouts for the Tigers include Chase Thompson (18 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 INT), Justice Henson (17 tackles, 2 for loss), K.J. Kelley (14 tackles, 0.5 for loss), Azaya Patrick (14 tackles, 2 for loss), and Kenneth Bradley (11 tackles, 1 INT).

“I truly believe the ball game is going to come down to two groups, and one is our offensive line against their defensive line,” Bachtel said. “Their defensive line is probably their best group on defense. If we can control their defensive line, because they’re big, they’re physical, I would say outside of ours and them, Mary Hardin-Baylor is who I compare them to. If we can control the line of scrimmage on offense I think we’re going to be OK. ”

On the flip side of the ball, the Yellow Jackets are surrendering 25 points and 389 yards – 257 passing and 132 rushing – with nine takeaways.

Leading the charge for HPU are Peyton Lowe (19 tackles, 2.5 for loss, 1 FR), ASC Defensive Player of the Week James Jakubowski (16 tackles, 3 for loss, 2 sacks, 1 FR), Dai’Shawn Fisher (14 tackles, 1 FR), Kyle Bell (12 tackles), Jarrett Brown (9 tackles), and David Bush (8 tackles, 1 for loss).

Meanwhile, ETBU’s offense produces 25 points and 354 yards – 215 through the air and 139 on the ground – with five giveaways.

Quarterback Troy Yowman has connected on 60 of 109 passes for 616 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions. Top receivers threats are former HPU Yellow Jacket Tariq Gray (13-174), Cornelius Merchant (10-66), DeCarlos Frazier (9-67), Qua Heath (6-80, TD), and Kaleb O’Bryant (6-64, TD).

Leading the charge on the ground is Merchant (283 rushing yards, 2 TDs).

“On the defensive side of the ball it’s going to come down to our secondary,” Bachtel said. “Not that they want to throw the ball a whole lot, but they can. They’ve got some skill guys on offense that can run, they can stretch the field vertically and horizontally. They have that threat, but they are a run-heavy team and they want to be very immediate with their passing instead of vertical.

“If we handle the box like we have over the last three weeks, I think we’ll be OK in the run game. Now what we have to do is get some pressure on a guy that I would think is probably not a real mobile quarterback. I think he loses some accuracy when we has some pressure and has to move in the pocket. If we can get some pressure and help our secondary out, I think that helps us.”

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AMERICAN SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE

Conference Overall

Howard Payne 2 0 3 0

Hardin-Simmons 2 0 3 0

Mary Hardin-Baylor 2 0 3 0

East Texas Baptist 1 1 2 1

Austin College 1 1 1 1

Southwestern 1 1 1 2

Texas Lutheran 1 1 1 2

Belhaven 0 2 1 2

McMurry 0 2 0 2

Sul Ross 0 2 0 2

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Week 3 Games

Howard Payne 55, Hendrix 21

Trinity 51, Texas Lutheran 14

Hardin-Simmons 21, Belhaven 16

Austin College 16, Sul Ross 7

East Texas Baptist 24, McMurry 15

Mary Hardin-Baylor 54, Southwestern 3

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Week 4 Games

Howard Payne at East Texas Baptist

Texas Lutheran at Sul Ross

Southwestern at McMurry

Hardin-Simmons at Mary Hardin-Baylor

Austin College at Belhaven