BELTON – The Howard Payne Yellow Jackets jumped out to a two-touchdown lead over No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor less than five minutes into their American Southwest Conference tilt Saturday afternoon, but the host Cru roared back for a 59-14 victory.
Howard Payne (6-3, 5-3), which suffered its third straight setback, scored on a 70-yard pass from Landon McKinney to Jake Parker on the game’s first snap. Then, after a UMHB (9-0, 8-0) three-and-out, the Jackets moved 53 yards in four plays as McKinney and Parker again connected from 35 yards out on a touchdown to push the HPU lead to 14-0 with 11:31 left in the first period.
By the end of the quarter, however, Mary Hardin-Baylor had gained a 21-14 advantage which grew to 35-14 by halftime and stood at 49-14 through three quarters.
Brandon Jordan put UMHB on the board with a 26-yard touchdown reception from Ryan Redding at 6:12 of the first quarter, Aphonso Thomas evened the score on a 4-yard carry at 4:46, and the Cru surged in front on Kenneth Cormier’s 3-yard touchdown carry with 20 seconds left in the opening stanza.
UMHB added touchdowns on a 26-yard Redding run and a 30-yard pass from Redding to Jordan before the first half ended.
In the third period, Thomas scored from 8 yards out and Cormier added a 6-yard touchdown run to boost the lead to 35 points.
The Cru tacked on two more scores in the fourth period – a 17-yard sprint from Redding and a 33-yard Brandon Cunningham field goal.
Howard Payne finished with 333 yards of total offense – 262 passing and 71 rushing – with three turnovers, while yielding 616 yards – 348 through the air and 268 on the ground – with no takeaways.
McKinney completed 3 of 9 passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns before leaving the game after being sacked on the first play of the second quarter. Nick Infante connected on 14 of 29 passes for 147 yards but was picked off three times.
Parker finished with three grabs for 129 yards and two touchdowns, Otis Lanier added a team-best four catches for 29 yards, Tyler Vann pulled down three receptions for 11 yards and Brazos Gadler also finished with multiple receptions, grabbing two for 22 yards.
On the ground, Infante rushed for 33 yards followed by Jeremiah Milton with 13, McKinney with 12 and Tauren Bradley with 11.
Defensively for the Yellow Jackets, Kyle Bell and Dai’Shawn Fisher led the way with 10 tackles apiece followed by Jarett Brown with seven and Keith Guillory with six.
Howard Payne will wrap up the 2021 season at 1 p.m. Saturday when it hosts last-place Austin College (1-7, 1-7) – coming off a 56-14 loss to Hardin-Simmons – as the Yellow Jackets are looking to end a three-game skid and conclude their first winning campaign since 2005 on a positive note.
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| American Southwest Conference |
Conference Wins |
Conference Losses |
Overall Wins |
Overall Losses |
|
| Mary Hardin-Baylor | 8 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
| Hardin-Simmons | 7 | 1 | 8 | 1 | |
| Belhaven | 5 | 3 | 6 | 3 | |
| Howard Payne | 5 | 3 | 6 | 3 | |
| East Texas Baptist | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | |
| Southwestern | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | |
| Texas Lutheran | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | |
| Sul Ross | 2 | 6 | 2 | 6 | |
| McMurry | 2 | 6 | 2 | 6 | |
| Austin College | 1 | 7 | 1 | 7 |
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Week 10 Games
Mary Hardin-Baylor 59, Howard Payne 14
East Texas Baptist 31, Sul Ross 28
Belhaven 35, McMurry 20
Hardin-Simmons 56, Austin College 14
Southwestern 24, Texas Lutheran 14
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Week 11 Games
Austin College at Howard Payne
Belhaven at East Texas Baptist
Mary Hardin-Baylor at McMurry
Texas Lutheran at Hardin-Simmons
Sul Ross at Southwestern