The Howard Payne Yellow Jackets will venture to Alpine for the last time for the foreseeable future on Saturday to tangle with the longtime rival Sul Ross Lobos in their final season before moving into the ranks of NCAA Division II athletics.

Kickoff between the Yellow Jackets (6-2, 3-2) and Lobos (3-5), who are ineligible for the American Southwest Conference championship due to reclassifying to Division II, is slated for 1 p.m. Saturday.

“It’s one of the those things where you look at conferences and rivalries are just starting to dissipate,” said HPU first-year head coach Kevin Bachtel. “I haven’t been here long enough to know how big the game is, but it’s unfortunate the way things are happening now. But they feel they need to go Division II so kudos to them for making the jump.”

Howard Payne is coming off a 31-27 victory over Texas Lutheran last week at Gordon Wood Stadium, a game in which the Yellow Jackets erased an 11-point deficit in the first quarter, had to rally again in the fourth quarter to regain the lead in the final minute, and turned away a scoring attempt by the Bulldogs on the final snap of the contest.

“The biggest thing is I’m proud of our guys for fighting their way through it and finding a way at the end to get a stop with four seconds left,” Bachtel said. “I don’t know how many more of those I can take, but they never stopped. They were down 11 and fought their way back. Credit TLU for fighting, too.”

The Yellow Jackets were sparked by an ASC Offensive Player of the Week effort from quarterback Landon McKinney, who passed for 450 yards and four touchdowns.

“Landon has really risen up and you can tell his knee has gotten better,” Bachtel said. “He’s really trusting the offense and making the right decisions. He missed one read the other day and he’s really putting the ball where it’s supposed to be and playing well, and it’s good to see that. We get a hard time cause we’re not running the football, but everything we do is RPO and Landon is making the right reads and getting the ball to the right spot.”

The Yellow Jackets offense enters Saturday’s contest averaging 37 points and 461 yards per game – 374 through the air and 87 on the ground – with nine turnovers.

McKinney completed 187 of 301 attempts for 2,428 yards with 19 scoring tosses and five interceptions. Weapons out of the backfield are Javian Miles (359 rushing yards, 5 TDs; 29-215, TD receiving), Reece Rodgers (217 rushing yards, TD; 26-161), and Blessing Ngene (114 rushing yards, 3 TDs). Leading receivers include Jordan Carroll (48-703, 8 TDs), Gus Charles (47-820, 8 TDs), Deon Collins (30-415, 6 TDs), Samuel Sims (13-184), Casey Dufner (8-186, 2 TDs) and Semahj Brown (7-104, TD).

HPU’s defense is yielding 19 points and 317 yards – 217 passing and 100 rushing – per outing, with 19 takeaways.

Standouts include KJ Kelley (73 tackles, 6 interceptions), Jessie Paris (50 tackles, 6 for loss), Jacob Korrodi (44 tackles, 3 for loss, 1 interception), KD Bookman (34 tackles, 4.5 for loss, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery), KC Cornelius (34 tackles, 2 interceptions), and Peyton Lowe (29 tackles, 3.5 for loss, 1 sack).

As for the keys to a Howard Payne victory Saturday, Bachtel said, “We need to see consistency on both sides of he ball, which I say every week, but I haven’t seen that. We play really well on one side at times and then don’t play as well. That’s a huge thing. We’re a little beat up but we’re not making excuses. We have who we have and we have to play better all the way across the board for four quarters.”

Sul Ross is generating 23 points and 313 yards – 203 passing and 110 rushing – per outing, but have coughed up the ball 22 times.

Quarterback Andrew Martinez (102 of 200 for 1,324 yards, 10 TDs, 13 INTs; 245 rushing yards, 2 TDs) anchors the offense, receiving threats include Isaiah Pena (29-241, 4 TDs), Vicente Luevano (23-205, 2 TDs), Ahmonte Kendrick (17-269, 2 TDs), and Tarius McClure (13-11, TD), and top rushers are Rodd Hudson (298 rushing yards, 2 TDs), Travell Lumpkin (176 rushing yards), and Cyrin Myles (112 rushing yards, TD).

Defensively, the Lobos surrender 32 points and 347 yards – 186 through the air and 160 on the ground – while forcing 17 takeaways.

Leading the charge for the Sul Ross defense are Jade Rios (83 tackles, 3.5 for loss, 1 sack), Darrion Brown (39 tackles, 4.5 for loss, 1 fumble recovery), Quincy Blair (38 tackles, 2 interceptions) and Dayln Dunbar (33 tackles, 6.5 for loss, 5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery).

“They’re extremely athletic, maybe as athletic and anybody we’ve seen all the way across the board,” Bachtel said of Sul Ross. “Their quarterback is a dual threat guy that can really run, and that’s scary. Defensively they’re athletic in the back and at linebacker, and they’re really big up front. Our hands are completely full with them.”