Two of the three remaining undefeated teams in American Southwest Conference football action cross paths on Saturday as the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets invade Alpine and the Sul Ross Lobos.

Kickoff between the Yellow Jackets (3-1, 2-0) and Lobos (2-2, 2-0) is slated for 1 p.m. at Jackson Field.

The Yellow Jackets are fresh off a 33-21 home victory over East Texas Baptist, while the Lobos doubled up Texas Lutheran, 28-14, last weekend.

“It’s a big time win in the ASC and any time you can win those ball games and continue to stay on top of the conference standings, that’s a good day,” HPU second-year head coach Jason Bachtel said of last week’s performance. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss. Kudos to our kids, every time we needed a play made somebody stepped up and made a play, and that’s what great teams do. We’re not there yet, but we’re on the verge and certainly have the potential of being a great team.”

The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 19-0 halftime lead, but ETBU closed the gap to 26-21 in the second half before Howard Payne was able to put the finishing touches on the victory.

“I thought in the first half offensively and defensively we had some things clicking,” Bachtel said. “East Texas Baptist made some really good adjustments defensively and slowed us down a little on offense. We were fortunate that our defense played as well as they did. They played about as well as they possibly could have. They created three turnovers, but we came out scoreless on all three, so we have to be better there.”

Howard Payne’s season-best three takeaways against ETBU gives the Jackets four takeaways on the season now through four games.

“Any time you can steal possessions it’s huge,” Bachtel said. “We’ve got to continue to that, and we’ve finally started getting more sacks. From a morale and confidence standpoint, any time you can steal a possession or get sacks or big plays from the defense, it changes the momentum of the ball game, and it swings it really quick. If you can get those big plays, it’s a momentum shifter and we always loving having the momentum.”

While many teams would be happy with a 33-point outing, the performance was an “off day” for the Yellow Jackets, who average 50 points per game.

“It’s upsetting,” Bachtel said. “We’re not pleased with just putting up around 35 points. Our goal is to score seven touchdowns every ball game. But at the end of the day a win is a win, and you have to give credit to the East Texas Baptist defense for making the adjustments to stop us. They did some things that were a tweak here or a tweak there or a missed block here or missed block there, and that’s film we can learn from. From an offensive standpoint, our coaches have attacked this to where it felt like a loss to us, so that’s how we’ve approached it this week – what do we have to be better at, and these are things people are going to try and do to us.”

Sul Ross enters the contest with a pair of conference victories over Texas Lutheran (28-14) and Austin College (55-14), which come on the heels of losses to Trinity (55-7) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (35-14).

“This is not the same Sul Ross team that we’ve seen over the last four or five years,” Bachtel said. “I think they’re pretty good, they’re very talented. They have a really good quarterback and he’s thrown for a lot of yards, he’s the two-time reigning ASC Player of the Week. They have several transfers that have come in and sparked them on offense, including one out of North Texas and one out of UTEP that are really good football players.

“Defensively, they play about as hard as anyone we’ve seen play. They may be just a shade below East Texas Baptist, a mere fraction, but they’re pretty good. Coach (Barry) Derickson and his staff have done a good job over the course of the last 12 months getting them into a spot where they are competing day in and day out, and any time you’re at the top of the conference standings it’s a great thing. We’ll have to play our best football.”

Sul Ross averages 26 points and 374 yards per game – 306 passing and 68 rushing – with only one turnover.

Quarterback T.J. DeShields has completed 92 of 148 passes for 1,168 yards with 12 touchdowns and no interceptions, while leading receivers include Vicente Luevano (19-372, 8 TDs), Eddie Sinegal (17-224, TD), Austin Ogunmakin (14-243, 2 TDs), Ozias Wright (13-80, TD), and Ahmonte Kendrick (12-115). Leading the way on the ground are Travell Lumpkin (174 yards) and Wright (93 yards, TD).

Howard Payne counters with a defense that yields 30 points and 394 yards – 276 through the air and 118 on the ground.

Standouts include Kyle Bell (27 tackles, 1.5 for loss), Jarett Brown (24 tackles, 2 for loss), K.C. Cornelious (23 tackles, 1.5 for loss), Jessie Paris (21 tackles), Peyton Lowe (19 tackles), James Jakubowski (17 tackles, 2 for loss, 1.5 sacks, 1 interception), and Brevin Wilson (12 tackles, 4 for loss, 1.5 sacks).

“We have to create turnovers and our secondary has to hold up to a large volume pass game,” Bachtel said. “Defensively, it’s been the recipe for either success or disaster all year long and that’s how well our secondary plays. They’re going to throw the ball 60 times a game, so can we hold up, can we make some plays, can we win the turnover battle?”

On the flip side of the ball, Howard Payne comes into game producing 586 yards – 381 passing and 205 rushing – per game, to go along with the 50-point average. The Jackets have turned the ball over on five occasions.

Quarterback Landon McKinney has connected on 76 of 121 passes for 1,356 yards with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions, while receiving threats include Otis Lanier (21-316, 3 TDs), Jordan Carroll (13-382, 4 TDs), Hunter Cheek (10-296, 4 TDs), Tauren Bradley (7-72), and Samuel Sims (7-67). The ground game is sparked by Bradley (233 yards, 2 TDs), Javian Myles (227 yards, 5 TDs), Billy Reagins (216 yards, 3 TDs), and Stephen Willis (96 yards, TD).

For a Sul Ross defense that surrenders 30 points and 389 yards – 207 passing and 182 rushing – per game, with three takeaways, leading the charge are Ronin Williams (43 tackles, 6 for loss, 1 sack), Jade Rios (31 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack), Quincy Blair (23 tackles, 1 interception), and Hunter Bunch (23 tackles, 1.5 for loss, 1 sack).

“The key thing is offensively we’ve seen so many different fronts and coverages that we have to figure out real fast what they’re going to be doing,” Bachtel said. “We have to be able to establish the line of scrimmage and run the ball and create some pass plays.”

Special teams will also be critical, an area in which the Yellow Jackets are trying to improve.

“The kicking game has to be better,” Bachtel said. “We had a blocked kick in the special teams game last week that didn’t cost us in the end, but it did have us chasing points later in the ball game. We have to improve in the kicking game, no blocked kicks and 100 percent on PATs.”