The Wayland Baptist football team finally can see it: the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel…a very long tunnel that the Pioneers will exit on Saturday in Tyler. That's where Wayland plays the final game of a five-game road swing against the Texas College Steers.
"The kids have handled it very well," WBU coach
Butch Henderson said of traveling to Alpine and Waxahachie, Texas, and to Langston and Muskogee, Okla., over the past five weekends. "You kind of get in a routine."
That's not to say Henderson and the Pioneers aren't looking forward to playing their first home game since mid-September a week from Saturday on Nov. 8 against Oklahoma Panhandle State.
For now, though, Wayland (2-6 overall, 1-2 CSFL) is focused on one more bus trip, this one to Tyler's Rose Stadium where at 2 p.m. Saturday the Pioneers take on a struggling Texas College team in a Central States Football League matchup. No live coverage of the game is scheduled.
Knowing their first home game in 49 days is within sight has the Pioneers pumped, but nothing like last week's 26-14 victory over Bacone College has sparked the team. The win snapped WBU's six-game losing skid.
"The kids were excited," Henderson said.
Excited, yes, but not jubilant…at least not immediately after the hard-fought game.
"They were so worn out, No. 1 from the physicality of the game, but also from the pressure they had put on themselves to get this thing turned around and get a win."
Now comes the pressure to win again and put together the first back-to-back victories in the three-year history of the program.
Despite Texas College's 0-9 record and the fact the Steers have been outscored by an average of 60-7, Henderson said Texas College concerns him.
"They're really scary from the standpoint that they're really athletic," the coach said. "When they put stuff together it really happens for them."
The Steers, though, haven't really been able to put it and keep it together under first-year coach Rodney Blackshear, the standout receiver at Texas Tech in the early 1990s. During a September slump, Texas College allowed at least 70 points three consecutive games to Lamar, Houston Baptist and Oklahoma Panhandle State. It hasn't gotten much better since as the Steers have allowed at least 60 points three of their last four games, including 62-0 last week to Oklahoma Baptist.
One of Texas College's best defensive performances of the season in terms of points allowed was against the team Wayland beat last week, Bacone, when the Steers lost, 47-6.
Henderson isn't paying any attention to any of those scores. The only scores that interest him are the ones by which Texas College defeated Wayland the last two years.
In 2012 it was 26-0 during a driving rain storm in Tyler, and last year it was 36-29 as the Steers scored the winning points with 15 seconds left. With Wayland clinging to a one-point lead, Texas College converted a fourth-down-and 16 right before scoring on a 53-yard pass from a backup quarterback to deny the Pioneers their first victory of the season in their first-ever CSFL game.
"They've been a thorn in our side for two years," Henderson said. "They beat us in a rain storm two years ago then came back and beat us on a Hail Mary last year.
"They have some good athletes," he added.
A handful of them play quarterback as Texas College rotates three, sometimes four signal-callers. Henderson said it depends on how the Steers want to operate their offense as to which one plays. Statistically, the best passer is Milton Harper, who has thrown for more than half of the team's 1,212 passing yards. Phillip Callier, meanwhile, presents a legitimate running threat out of the wildcat formation as he averages more than six yards a carry. Callier also has 21 pass receptions on the season, second on the team.
"If he's not playing quarterback he's at wide receiver," Henderson said. "He's also their punt returner."
Overall, the Steers have thrown for almost twice as many yards (1,212) as they've rushed for (615).
"They're actually pretty balanced, even though yardage-wise it leans a lot more toward the pass," Henderson said.
Texas College boasts lots of depth in its 4-2-5 defense, with 10 players totaling between 29 and 38 tackles on the season.
"They play a lot of man-to-man and like to attack you and run to the football," Henderson said. "They have great team speed and play a lot of kids."
The coach said it's important that the Pioneers, like they did last week against Bacone, jump out to a good start against the Steers so as not to let them gain any confidence and momentum. Winning the turnover battle again would help, too, after Wayland won it last week, 6-1.
"Last week we did a really good job in every phase," Henderson said. "The defense did an excellent job, especially getting off the field on third down and creating turnovers and big plays like
Dontay Raglin's interception (return for a touchdown), and the offense controlled a lot of the game when we needed it.
"And Daniel (Martinez) started coming into his own" by kicking four field goals, which resulted in the freshman kicker being named NAIA Special Teams Player of the Week. Henderson credited deep snapper
Holt Henderson and holder
Josh Bailey for contributing to Martinez's success.
Now the task is finding a way to do it all over again.
