The Yellow Jackets finished with 689 yards of total offense – 464 passing and 225 rushing – while allowing Lyon (1-2) just 94 yards – 70 on the ground and 24 through the air – with five takeaways.
HPU scored just 1:23 into the contest on a 54-yard touchdown catch by Jordan Carroll from quarterback Landon McKinney, who left last week’s 42-10 win over Southwestern Assemblies of God early with a knee injury.
The Yellow Jackets followed with a 2-yard touchdown run by Brownwood-ex Reece Rodgers at 9:50 of the first; a 41-yard scoring sprint by Javian Myles at 8:49; a 14-yard pass from Tucker Bridwell to Carroll at 7:01; a 4-yard rush by Myles at 4:17; a 1-yard pass from Bridwell to Gus Charles; and a 62-yard catch and from by Casey Dufner from Bridwell with 4 seconds left in the opening period, which made the score 47-0 in favor of Howard Payne.
The second period featured an 18-yard touchdown run by Blessing Ngene at 7:23; a 38-yard scoring toss from Bridwell to Sehahj Brown at 3:20; and a 2-yard pass from Bridwell to Kage Gilbreath with 4 seconds to go that staked the Yellow Jackets to a 68-0 halftime cushion.
During a 17-point second half, Ngene scored again at the 9:30 mark of the third period on a 38-yard scamper; Michael Fields converted an 18-yard field goal on the first snap of the fourth quarter; and another Brownwood-ex, Konlyn Anderson, rumbled for a 52-yard touchdown – the last of a dozen trips to the end zone for Howard Payne – with 5:04 left on the clock.
Through the air for Howard Payne, Bridwell connected on 29 of 33 passes for 376 yards and five touchdowns and McKinney was 2 of 2 for 70 yards with a scoring toss. Leading receivers included Charles (7-73, TD), Carroll (5-103, 2 TDs), Dalan Rasberry (4-32), Brown (3-52, TD), Deon Collins (3-44), and Gilbreath (3-10, TD). Top ground gainers were Anderson with 106 yards and a score on 12 carries, Ngene (56 yards, 2 TDs), Myles (48 yards, 2 TDs), and Rodgers (16 yards, TD).
Defensively, Reed Johnson tallied a team-high five tackles as 32 Yellow Jackets recorded at least one takedown. KJ Kelley, KD Bookman and Elijah Dillard intercepted passes while Kaiden DeSanitago and Trevonn Williams combined for the only sack. Johnson, Kelley, Dillard, DeSantiago, Cameron Hall, Jesus Mendoza, Riley Butts, and Early grad Ty Schafer recorded a tackle for loss.
The Yellow Jackets have a bye next week then open American Southwest Conference action at No. 5 Hardin-Simmons (2-0), which was off Saturday and will play at Endicott College on Friday, Sept. 22.
