ALPINE – The Howard Payne Yellow Jackets tallied the first four touchdowns in their battle of American Southwest Conference unbeatens with Sul Ross Saturday afternoon, then staved off a furious fourth quarter rally to emerge with a 56-42 victory over the host Lobos.

Sul Ross (2-3, 2-1) trimmed Howard Payne’s (4-1, 3-0) early 28-0 lead to 49-42 midway through the fourth period and was driving for a potential tying touchdown. But an illegal block resulted in a 15-yard penalty, then Jadie Elie came through with a sack that forced the Lobos to punt the ball away facing a fourth-and-28 from their own 40 with 3:53 left.

The Yellow Jackets then drove 90 yards in seven plays, as quarterback Landon McKinney put the finishing touches on the victory with his sixth touchdown pass – a 42-yarder to Otis Lanier with 37 seconds remaining.

Howard Payne – which eclipsed last week’s 33-point total with 8:59 left in the first half – finished the game with 676 yards of total offense as 391 came through the air to go along with 285 on the ground.

Along with his six touchdown passes, McKinney completed 20 of 36 passes for 391 yards with one interception. Lanier led receiving corps with five grabs for 147 yards and three touchdowns trailed by Hunter Cheek with three catches for 71 yards and a score, Christopher Votaw with three for 56 yards, Jordan Carroll with three receptions for 41 yards with a touchdown, Quentin Gray with two for 8, Javian Myles with two for 5 and a touchdown, Samuel Sims with a 61-yard scoring grab, and Semahj Brown with a 3-yard reception.

On the ground, Billy Reagins compiled 108 yards with two touchdowns, Myles chipped in 106 yards, Tauren Bradley rushed for 46, and McKinney finished with 25 yards rushing.

Defensively, Howard Payne surrendered 550 yards – 327 passing and 223 rushing – with one takeaway on an interception.

Trent Graves completed 25 of 49 passes for 316 yards for Sul Ross with a touchdown and a pick, Ozias Wright rushed for 113 yards and one score, Travell Lumpkin finished with 79 yards on the ground and two touchdowns, and Vicente Luevano caught three passes for 107 yards and scored twice.

Jarett Brown led the Yellow Jackets with five tackles followed by K.C. Cornelious and Jessie Paris with four each, and James Jakubowski with three tackles and a sack.

Howard Payne needed just one play from scrimmage to seize the advantage, as a 64-yard scoring toss from McKinney to Lanier staked the Yellow Jackets to a 7-0 lead 26 seconds into the contest.

The Yellow Jackets added two more touchdowns before the opening stanza ended on Sims’ 61-yard scoring toss from McKinney at the 7:35 mark, and a Reagins 1-yard carry at the 1:52 mark.

The lead grew to 28-0 with 12:28 left in the first half on another 1-yard plunge by Reagins, but Sul Ross answered at 10:03 of the second period on an 85-yard scoring strike from Graves to Luevano.

Up 28-7, Howard Payne notched its final points of the first half with 8:59 left on a 4-yard toss from McKinney to Carroll.

Sul Ross trimmed the deficit to 35-21 at halftime thanks to a 1-yard touchdown by Luevano and a 4-yard run by Lumpkin.

The Yellow Jackets were quickly on the scoreboard again in the second half as at the 10:43 mark of the third period McKinney connected with Cheek on a 47-yard scoring toss to extend the advantage to 42-21.

Sul Ross drew within 42-28 at the 8:50 mark of the third as Graves scored on a 1-yard keeper.

Howard Payne stretched the lead back to three touchdowns, 49-28, at the 2:33 mark of the third on a 21-yard scoring toss from McKinney to Lanier.

In the fourth quarter, the Lobos reduced HPU’s lead to 49-35 with 14:46 left on a 7-yard carry by Lumpkin, then a 57-yard jaunt by Wright closed the gap to 49-42 with 11:31 to go.

Next week, the Yellow Jackets are back home at Gordon Wood Stadium to host McMurry (0-4, 0-2), which played Hardin-Simmons Saturday night.