PROSPER – The Howard Payne Yellow Jackets shook off their first loss of the season with a 67-10 mauling of the Hedrix Warriors Saturday afternoon in a neutral site, non-conference contest at Children’s Health Stadium.

Leading just 6-3 after one quarter, Howard Payne (2-1, 1-0) erupted for 30 points in the second period and never looked back. Up 36-3 at halftime, the Yellow Jackets carried a 50-3 lead over Hendrix (1-2) into the fourth period.

The Yellow Jackets generated 769 yards of total offense behind a balanced attack of 394 passing yards and 375 rushing yards on 86 snaps – an average of 8.9 yards per play. The 769 yards set a new school record for most in a game for Howard Payne, eclipsing the 754 yards – 476 passing and 278 rushing – the Yellow Jackets compiled last year against Hendrix.

Javian Myles led an HPU ground game that averaged 6.8 yards per carry with six touchdowns as he amassed 151 yards rushing and three scores. Billy Reagins chipped in 69 yards and three more touchdowns, while other contributors on the ground were Stephen Wills with 59 yards, Tauren Bradley with 47, Gavin Rountree with 27, Landon McKinney with 13 and Andrew Smith with 9 yards.

Through the air, McKinney – the reigning ASC Offensive Player of the Week – connected on 13 of 17 passes for 234 yards. Tucker Bridwell completed 6 of 9 attempts for 106 yards with a score, Austin Valdez was 3 of 3 for 51 yards, and Rountree tossed a 3-yard touchdown on his lone completion in three pass attempts.

A dozen Yellow Jackets caught at least one pass Saturday, led by Bradley with five grabs for 45 yards. Hunter Cheek led HPU in receiving yards with 81 and a touchdown on three catches, while Samuel Sims hauled in a scoring reception and finished with two grabs for 10 yards. Also contributing in the passing game were Jordan Carroll (2-79), Greg Borgeson (2-72), Quentin Gray (2-58), Otis Lanier (2-20), Reagins (1-10), Semahj Brown (1-6), Deon Collins (1-5), Shafiq Taylor (1-5) and Kage Gilbreath (1-3).

Defensively, Howard Payne yielded 224 yards of total offense – 136 passing and 88 rushing – with one fumble recovery, the first takeaway of the season for the Yellow Jackets which was returned for a touchdown. HPU also recorded its first two sacks of the season, as well.

Kyle Bell led the way with six tackles including one for loss, followed by Jarett Brown with five tackles and James Jakubowski with five tackles and half a sack. K.C. Cornelious, Mark Taplette, Peyton Lowe, Jessie Paris, and Lance Robertson contributed four tackles apiece. Other standouts were Nathan Garza with two tackles for loss, Jaden Elie, Riley Butts and Nicholas Acker each added a takedown behind the line of scrimmage, and Jacob Korrodi scooped and scored on the fumble.

For Hendrix, Jacob Wood completed 11 of 28 passes for 136 yards with a touchdown, Auvic White rushed for a team-best 43 yards, and Jax Johnson led the Warriors with three catches for 57 yards.

Down 3-0 after a 39-yard field goal at the 8:13 mark of the first period, Howard Payne answered with a 1-yard touchdown run by Myles to grab a 6-3 advantage at the 5:33 mark of the opening frame.

Howard Payne’s 30-point second quarter featured a 10-yard touchdown run by Reagins, Rountree’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Sims, Korrodi returning a fumble 11 yards for six points, and Cheek caught a 5-yard scoring toss from Bridwell.

In the third quarter, Myles tacked on a 20-yard touchdown run and Reagins chipped in a 5-yard run to the end zone.

The final 15 minutes featured a 75-yard scoring sprint by Myles, Reagins rumbling 18 yards into the end zone and Bell booted a 19-yard field goal to cap the scoring with 3:32 remaining.

The Yellow Jackets resume American Southwest Conference action at 1 p.m. Saturday when they host East Texas Baptist (1-1, 1-0) – a 28-7 winner against McMurry (0-3, 0-1) Saturday afternoon.