Aggies get away from Pioneers in 2nd half

For 30 minutes on Saturday afternoon at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium, the Wayland Baptist Pioneers gave Oklahoma Panhandle State all it wanted. Wayland led the Aggies late in the second quarter and, at halftime, trailed by just four points.

"I thought we came out and played really well early…until about three minutes to go before the half," Wayland coach Butch Henderson said. 

The final 30 minutes were a whole other story, however, as the Aggies ran away from the Pioneers in the second half, taking a 62-21 victory back to Goodwell, Okla.

"We had a couple of big mistakes and just couldn't shake those," Henderson said. "We didn't make plays like we did in the first half. We made some plays here and there, but just didn't string them together like we were able to do in the first half."

The Aggies (2-4), an NCAA Division II alliance member of Wayland's in the Central States Football League, scored 45 answered points, with 31 of those points coming in the third and fourth quarters when Wayland's offense sputtered, its defense sprang too many leaks, and its special teams were anything but special.

"I don't think (OPSU) changed their game plan a lot…maybe a few wrinkles, but nothing major," Henderson said of the Aggies.

The Pioneers (0-5) were poised to take a lead into halftime after Kendall Roberson scored his second touchdown of the game on a 9-yard run and JT Torres kicked the PAT to make it 21-17 with 2:39 left in the second period.

But that's when things started to go south for Wayland…in a hurry.

After the Aggies marched down the field and quickly scored on a 21-yard pass, Wayland's Zac Maldonado muffed the ensuing kickoff on a ball that hung up in the wind. The Aggies recovered at the Wayland 39 with 1:13 left before halftime, plenty of time for OPSU to take it in for another score, this time on a 12-yard pass.

After holding a 4-point lead just 1 minute and 23 seconds earlier, suddenly the Pioneers found themselves down by 10.

Wayland was never the same team after that.

"I thought we'd be able to go in at halftime and get back in a groove, which we needed to do immediately, but we just never could get back into it," Henderson said.

The Aggies picked up where they left off after intermission, returning the second-half kickoff 61 yards to the Pioneer 18-yard line.

Henderson said Wayland's special teams, which had been solid all season, "weren't as strong today.

"We jack them up (right before) halftime then let them run that kickoff back," Henderson said. "That's just not like us."

Two plays later, with the second half just 54 seconds old, OPSU scored on a 19-yard pass. The Aggies were beginning to pull away, 38-21.

Unfortunately for Wayland, things got worse.

After a three-and-out by the Pioneer offense, the Aggies scored again. Wayland then threw an interception on its next snap, and two plays later OPSU was in the end zone yet again, making it 52-21 with the third quarter not yet five minutes old.

"We needed to get back to what we were doing (in the first half) and just couldn't," Henderson said, adding that the Pioneers' punting – engineered by quarterback/punter Josh Houtaling's leg – did an admirable job. "If we get stops and get the ball down the field, we have a chance to get right back into things."

The action slowed a bit after that, at least for a while. The Aggies didn't score again until a 34-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, then they capped the point production on a one-yard run with 7½ minutes to go in the game.

The contest started with a bang for Wayland, which took just 56 seconds to score the first points. On the fifth play of the afternoon, Houghtaling connected with Brendan Pegg for a 54-yard touchdown pass play that put the Pioneers up, 7-0.

After the Aggies scored to tie it, an onsides kick attempt sailed out of bounds and provided the Pioneers the ball at the OPSU 45. Four plays and 36 seconds later, Roberson scampered 27 yards after a pass from Houghtaling and Wayland was in front again, 15-7, following a two-point conversion pass to Ashton Tillman.

Neither team scored for some 13 minutes until the Aggies put up a field goal, which Wayland answered with Roberson's 9-yard TD run. With 2:39 left before halftime, OPSU blocked Torres' kick, signaling the beginning of the end for Wayland.

"We executed well at times," Henderson said. "The kids understand if they can execute a game plan all the way through, we'd be in great shape."

After getting 11 first downs in the first half, the Pioneers were limited to just six in the second, and the Pioneer offense crossed midfield just once after halftime on a 20-yard pass from backup quarterback Anthony Campuzano to Seth Eaton to the OPSU 32. That was followed by four consecutive incompletions.

The Aggie offense ended with 37 first downs and 718 yards of offense, including 468 in the air. The 3-hour, 5-minute game saw the teams combine to throw the ball 101 times. The Pioneers completed 13-of-44 passes for 230 yards. Roberson ended with 66 yards rushing yards on 19 carries.

On defense, Jon-Lucas Poe had 11 tackles (5 solo) and Tyler Smith 10 (7 solo), including 2½ stops for loss and a quarterback sack. Nathaniel Sisler and Travis White recorded interceptions.

The Pioneers wrap up a three-game home stand next Saturday by hosting Bacone College at 2 p.m. for its homecoming game. The Warriors (3-2) were off this week after defeating Haskell, Kan., the week before, 38-6. Bacone also owns wins over Southwestern, 32-14, and McPherson (Kan.), 37-31 in overtime, while losing to Northwestern (Iowa), 55-37, and Lamar, 53-0. Wayland fell to Bacone last year in Muskogee, Okla., 53-0.

"Right now I'd say they're the conference leader," Henderson said of the Warriors.
That won't make it easy for the Pioneers to get a taste of success, but that's exactly what needs to happen for Wayland.
 
"We're a lot better football team than we were a year ago," Henderson said. "But we need to turn the corner."