ABILENE – Trips to Abilene have not been kind to the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets during the 2023 football campaign.

On Saturday, the Jackets suffered their second American Southwest Conference defeat at the hands of the McMurry War Hawks, 45-21. Prior to Saturday, the only blemish on Howard Payne’s record was a 40-33 setback at No. 20 Hardin-Simmons in the Sept. 30 ASC opener.

The victory was the first in ASC action for McMurry (3-4, 1-3), which had dropped three games this season by three points or less. Meanwhile, the loss likely foils any hopes for Howard Payne (5-2, 2-2) to contend for the American Southwest Conference championship.

HPU entered the game with the top-ranked offense (40 points, 472 yards) and defense (13 points, 284 yards) in the league, but McMurry held the Yellow Jackets to 19 points and 73 yards below their season averages, while the War Hawks scored 32 points and amassed 102 yards more than Howard Payne had allowed per game on average.

Also, McMurry entered the game with 16 giveaways on offense and Howard Payne had recorded 18 takeaways defensively, but the War Hawks did not cough up the ball. The Yellow Jackets owned the game’s two turnovers on an interception and a fumble.

For McMurry, which earned its first win over Howard Payne since 2017, Jess Hoel completed 22 of 30 passes for 238 yards and three touchdowns, while Drew Hagler connected on 3 of 5 attempts for 24 yards and a score.

Brett Kindle led the way with five grabs for 99 yards and two touchdowns while Thomas Chandler chipped in three catches for 46 yards and a score, and Karmelus Card nabbed four receptions for 21 yards and scored once.

On the ground, Hagler led the War Hawks with 77 yards and a touchdown.

Howard Payne quarterback Landon McKinney connected on 31 of 50 passes for 344 yards with three touchdowns and a pick. Leading receivers included Jordan Carroll with nine catches for 119 yards and a touchdown, Gus Charles with four for 52 yards, Deon Collins with two for 51 yards and a score, and Semahj Brown with two receptions for 43 yards and a trip to the end zone.

The Yellow Jackets rushed for just 66 yards, led by Reece Rodgers with 37 yards on six carries.

Defensively for HPU, KJ Kelley led the way with six tackles followed by six from KD Bookman and five from Jaden Elie.

Howard Payne led 7-0 on a 19-yard touchdown pass from McKinney to Collins at 9:39 of the first quarter, but a blocked punt at the HPU 10 recovered by Marshall Tovar in the end zone for a touchdown just 44 seconds into the second period evened the score at 7 and triggered a run of 21 consecutive points for the War Hawks.

McMurry followed with touchdowns of 29 yards from Hoel to Kindle at 7:17 of the second quarter, and a 15-yard carry by Hagler with 2:26 left before halftime to boost the lead to 21-7.

Howard Payne closed the gap to 21-14 prior to halftime as McKinney threw a 5-yard touchdown to Carroll with 67 seconds remaining before intermission.

McMurry then struck first in the second half with a 33-yard field goal by Jared Mendoza at the 2:05 mark of the third period, boosting the lead to 24-14.

The War Hawks padded their cushion to 31-14 with 12:05 to go on 25-yard scoring toss from Hoel to Chandler.

The Yellow Jackets attempted to get back in the game with a 38-yard touchdown pass from McKinney to Brown with 10:14 left to trim the deficit to 31-21.

McMurry immediately answered with 6:58 remaining on a 26-yard touchdown connection from Hoel to Kindle, stretching the lead to 38-21.

Howard Payne then fumbled away the ball at its own 15 on its next offensive play, which eventually resulted in a 13-yard touchdown pass from Hagler to Card with 6:17 to go, as the McMurry lead ballooned to 45-21.

The Yellow Jackets will attempt to bounce back next week when they host Texas Lutheran (1-5, 0-3) – which was set to play East Texas Baptist (3-3, 2-1) Saturday night.