The Wayland Baptist offense is one that stresses getting the football out of the quarterback's hands quickly. This week against the Bacone College Warriors, that's not only a sound offensive philosophy, it's a necessity.
"Defensively, they're probably the most sic 'em team that we will face," WBU coach
Butch Henderson said. "There will be 8-9 men in the box, all coming, so we've got to be able to get the ball out quickly."
Wayland plays the next-to-last game of a grueling five-game road swing when it travels to Muskogee, Okla., to take on Bacone in a Central States Football League contest beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday. No live coverage of the game is provided.
While Wayland (1-6 overall, 0-2 CSFL) is looking to snap a six-game slide, the Warriors (3-4, 1-0) are trying to stay unbeaten in conference play after drilling Texas College – the team Wayland plays Nov. 1 in Tyler – two weeks ago, 47-6. Bacone took on CSFL alliance member Oklahoma Panhandle State last Saturday and lost, 37-27.
Those games followed an up-and-down first five games that saw Bacone win its first two contests over Northwestern College (41-33) and McPherson College (24-7) before dropping three straight to Hendrix College (24-14), Louisiana College (37-13) and Southeastern Oklahoma State (53-7).
"They've played well against some good competition," Henderson said of the Warriors. "As their defense has developed, they've become better and gotten stronger as a team."
The coach said Bacone's defense is based on speed.
"They have tremendous team speed defensively. Their kids are always moving," he said. "We've worked a lot of press man coverage with our receivers, just not as much of it as we're going to see this week, not down after down."
Henderson said Bacone's defense is often high-risk, high-reward.
"They're going to catch you some, but you also have a chance to take advantage of that aggressiveness."
The Warriors rank 11
th in the NAIA in rushing defense, allowing opponents just over 100 yards an outing, and 20
th in total defense, giving up 317 ypg. Leading that defense in tackles, by a wide margin, is senior linebacker Keshaun Malone (6-3, 240), who ranks second in the nation averaging 13.1 stops a game. Malone also has five interceptions on the season where he is tied for fourth in the NAIA.
"They put him in position to make plays, and he makes a lot of big plays for them," Henderson said. "He moves really well."
On offense, Henderson said Bacone likes to mix things up.
"They're pretty balanced in what they do," he said. "They would like to run the football and control the clock."
Three players average between 40 and 49 yards rushing a game.
At quarterback for the Warriors is Corey Ward (6-2, 220), who in Bacone's last four games has thrown for 335 yards with five touchdowns and six interceptions. Ward has completed 38 percent (29-of-77) of his passes.
Instead of worrying about Ward, Malone or any of Bacone's players, though, Henderson said the Pioneers need to focus more on what they do in order to pick up a much-needed win. The coach said that mainly means avoiding turnovers and other mistakes that cost Wayland points on the scoreboard.
"Going back and looking at the video from last week, we played well. We just made two or three critical mistakes that cost us points," he said. "As close as this conference is, we have to get those points every time."
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