Box Score BROWNWOOD – A thrilling second-half comeback came up just short for Wayland Baptist here Saturday afternoon as Howard Payne survived the Pioneers' furious rally, 38-34.
"It's pretty tough," WBU head coach
Butch Henderson said of dropping such a close, hard-fought, emotional game.
Wayland (0-3) overcame a 31-8 deficit to assume the lead early in the fourth quarter. But the Yellow Jackets (2-1) scored on their next possession to retake the upper hand, and neither team scored the rest of the way.
"The kids played hard. They were able to come back and get back on top. We just didn't quite have enough to be able to finish it out," Henderson said.
Wayland was trying to repeat its 27-23 win over Howard Payne last year that marked the first victory for the Pioneers in 72 years after the program was restarted in 2012. Instead, the Yellow Jackets, who last week defeated Southwestern Assemblies of God University, 41-27, won back-to-back games for the first time since 2009.
The Pioneers scored first in the penalty-filled game when
Kendall Roberson, who ended with a school-record 213 yards rushing on 22 carries, scored the first of his three touchdowns on a 64-yard run on Wayland's second play from scrimmage.
Chris Acosta caught the PAT pass for an 8-0 lead.
The Yellow Jackets scored the next 31 points, striking first on a one-yard pass on their next possession. A 23-yard field goal with 36 seconds left in the first period gave HPU a 10-8 lead.
Howard Payne scored three second-quarter touchdowns on a 10-yard interception return, a one-yard run and a 78-yard pass. Wayland was able to get on the board with 44 seconds left before halftime on a 42-yard TD pass from
Josh Houghtaling to
Stephen Malouf that made it 31-14 at intermission.
Henderson said the Pioneers were down, but not out, at the break.
"It would have been real easy for the kids to give up, but they were real positive at halftime," he said. "We struggled with adversity all day long, but they were able to overcome it.
"These guys are starting to show a lot of maturity."
The Pioneers came out playing like a new team in the second half, scoring 26 unanswered points to take a 34-31 lead as Henderson said the team played what might have been its finest 15 minutes of football in two seasons.
"They hung in there and battled," Henderson said, adding that everything came together in the third period. "All three phases clicked. Josh (punting for injured
Jake Higgs) came in there and did a great job punting, defensively we did a great job and offensively we moved the ball."
The scoring started on a 4-yard run by Roberson followed by an 11-yard TD pass from Hudson to
Brendan Pegg. Both two-point conversions failed.
The third period ended with a 55-yard pass from Hudson to
Josh Amador that took the ball to Howard Payne's 19-yard line. Two plays later, Roberson scored, and after a PAT pass from Hudson to
Chris Acosta, the Pioneers were on top, 34-31.
The lead didn't last long, however, as the Yellow Jackets' Zarron Dove scored on a 78-yard fluke play. Dove caught a pass in the flat and was seemingly thrown to the ground by the Pioneers. But Dove bounced off a WBU player without being downed, then race to the endzone. The PAT kick made it 38-34.
Henderson, who was coaching the offense on the bench, said he did not see the play live, but was anxious to review it on film.
The Pioneers didn't have any more points in them, despite getting several chances on offense.
"I know we got down in the scoring zone twice and didn't get points," Henderson said.
The game saw 259 yards of penalties, with Wayland assessed 145 yards on 17 flags and Howard Payne 114 yards on 13 infractions.
Wayland put up 553 yards of offense compared to Howard Payne's 439. Hudson completed 21-of-38 passes for 224 yards with two interceptions. Acosta caught six passes for 68 yards while Amador had four grabs for 91 yards. The Pioneers had 317 yards passing, completing 27-of-50 with three picks.
WBU ended with four interceptions, including two in the first half by
Travis White.
David Hockenberry and
Josh Paul also had picks. The Pioneers had two more interceptions that were nullified by penalties.
Jon-Lucas Poe recorded a team-high 12 tackles, followed by
Tyler Smith with 11 and Hockenberry with nine.
Wayland plays its next three games at home, starting with its first Central States Football League contest against Texas College at 2 p.m. Sept. 28. The Steers also are 0-3, having dropped road games to Belhaven University, 36-26; Incarnate Word, 69-0; and on Saturday at home to Hardin-Simmons, 66-34.
Henderson said the Pioneers must quickly "deal with their emotions" after Saturday's loss and begin preparing for Texas College.
"We have to get back up to play," he said.
NOTE: Roberson's 213 yards rushing broke his own school record of 169 yards set last season also against Howard Payne.
