Playing in their first home game since the Feb. 6 season opener, the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets welcome the McMurry War Hawks to Gordon Wood Stadium at 1 p.m. Saturday, with the opportunity to host next weekend’s postseason game at stake.

Howard Payne (1-2) and McMurry (1-2) are vying for the No. 3 seed from the American Southwest Conference West Division, which will host the No. 3 seed from the East on Saturday, March 27 in a one-game playoff to conclude the revamped spring football season.

“It’s one of those games that has a winner-take-all mentality,” said HPU first-year head coach Jason Bachtel. “The winner of this gets to host the playoff. That’s a huge motivation to get a huge advantage. We’re excited to be back at home. It’s our spring homecoming event so we’re looking for a great crowd. We’re excited to play in front of our home crowd again because it’s been a really long time, a month and a half.”

The Yellow Jackets are coming off a 41-14 loss at ASC West front-runner Hardin-SImmons, a game in which Howard Payne yielded the first 27 points of the contest.

“I thought they were the gold standard in the conference and they are,” Bachtel said. “That was a game that we couldn’t come out and start slow, that was my fear, and we did. Hardin-Simmons is everything they are publicized to be. They just took it to us early. Once we settled down, if you look at the second half, I thought it was a little more even which is where I think programs are, I just don’t think we started off real well. They took advantage of all our mistakes and we didn’t take advantage of any of theirs.”

In terms of positives to come out of last week’s defeat, Bachtel said, “I never saw our kids quit. I never had to question our effort. Those are positives, that means we’re going in the direction we all like. I thought we saw some good performances. Billy Reagins had a good ball game on the ground. We got quite a few guys in against a good team to grow some experience. I still think what the positive is is we’re young and our kids competed and fought their tails off for four quarters.”

Heading into Saturday’s contest against McMurry, the Yellow Jackets are averaging 35 points and 475 yards – 276 passing and 199 rushing – per outing. Freshman quarterback Landon McKinney continues to lead the ASC with 796 passing yards and six scoring tosses, while Jake Parker remains atop the conference with 26 catches for 455 yards and four trips to the end zone. Selah Smith has caught 10 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown, while leading rushers include Reagins with 199 yards and five scores and Tauren Bradley with 143 yards.

McMurry counters with a defense that surrenders 38 points and 453 yards – 269 rushing and 184 passing – per game. Standouts include Xavier Gayle (26 tackles), Colton Strickland (24 tackles), Ke’Shaun Jnofinn (20 tackles), Coryell Fillmore (20 tackles), and Aeneaus Gray (20 tackles).

On the flip side of the ball, the Yellow Jackets are also yielding 38 points per game along with 479 yards – 266 passing through the air and 213 on the ground. Leading the charge for HPU are Kyle Bell (30 tackles), Peyton Lowe (21 tackles) and James Jakubowski (20 tackles).

The McMurry offense is producing 15 points and 281 yards – 202 passing and 79 rushing – per contest. Quarterback Carlos Garibay (432 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs), receivers Jermond Lovely (12-187, 2 TDs) and Kristopher Martin (12-183, 3 TDs), and running back De’Marea Robinson (173 yards, 2 TDs) anchor the offense.

“If you look at both teams, we’re going to match up similarly in the fact that the offenses have carried both teams and the defenses have both struggled,” Bachtel said. “They are very, very young. This may be one of the games we’re going into that we have more experience than our opponent. I think that’s going to be a tell-tale sign early in the ball game, if we can expose some youth and get after them.

“Offensively, they’re a vertical passing game and defensively that’s been our crutch this season, the secondary, and they’re being challenged daily to decide whether or not they’re going to perform. Defensively, they’re going to give us multiple fronts and coverages because they are searching for an identity on defense as well.”

As for the keys to a victory, Bachtel said, “I keep going back to we have to start fast on both sides. I don’t think we’ve scored on our first possession all season long. We need that to happen, that will displace any doubt in the back of McMurry’s mind. Versus Sul Ross I thought our defense started off really well and against Hardin-Simmons we didn’t, so I want to see our defense get back to establishing the defensive side of the ball early in a ball game and letting them know we’re here for four quarters.

“We also have to establish the run against these guys. Early on, we’ve been throwing the ball really well in ball games, but I’d like to see us establish the run a little more, let our big guys just go take it.”