Box Score TYLER – The turnovers kept coming for the Wayland Baptist Pioneers, and so did the winning.
Wayland intercepted three passes and blocked a pair of punts on their way to posting a 34-8 Central States Football League victory over Texas College on Saturday afternoon at Rose Stadium as Wayland notched back-to-back wins for the first time since restarting the program three years ago.
"We need to start making that be a habit," Pioneer coach
Butch Henderson said.
The win came as the Pioneers, who were coming off a 26-14 victory over Bacone College, wrapped up a five-game road swing.
"The kids played hard," Henderson said. "We played extremely well defensively and created three turnovers and two blocked punts. We made a lot of big plays."
The Pioneers again proved extremely tough against the run, allowing just 65 yards on 36 carries. Wayland, meanwhile, rushed for 151 yards, led by
Evan Hearn's 53 yards on 10 totes. Wayland passed for 166 yards.
"Offensively we played good, consistent football. We moved the ball well and controlled the clock. Game management by (quarterback) Anthony (Campuzano) was great. He got us in good plays."
The Pioneers didn't have a turnover for the second time this season.
Following a scoreless first quarter, Wayland's
Daniel Martinez put the Pioneers (3-6 overall, 2-2 CSFL) on the board first with a 22-yard field goal early in the second period.
The Steers (0-10, 0-5) scored their only points of the afternoon next, taking advantage of a short field after a long kickoff return to assume an 8-3 lead just over two minutes into the second.
The lead didn't last long, however, as WBU fill-in quarterback
Payson Bain capped a 60-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run. That put the Pioneers up for good, 10-8, with 7:00 left before halftime.
On Texas College's next possession, Wayland linebacker
Jon-Lucas Poe returned an interception four yards for a score, making it 17-8 at halftime.
Another interception by a Pioneer linebacker, this one by
Quinton Shafer at midfield, led to a 30-yard field goal by Martinez as Wayland stretched its lead to 20-8 less than three minutes into the third.
Late in same period, WBU's
Brandon Sheppard blocked a punt and returned it 10 yards for a score and a 27-8 lead.
The Pioneers' final score came three minutes into the fourth quarter when Wayland was in punt formation.
Drew Dennis caught Texas College off guard and tossed a pass to freshman
Preston Woodard, who took it all the way for a 35-yard touchdown. Woodard finished with five catches for a team-high 73 yards.
Kaleen Jones picked off a third pass for the Pioneers late in the game.
It marks the most lopsided victory margin in WBU history, eclipsing a 21-point win in a 58-37 win two years ago over Southwestern Assemblies of God University.
Alden Mann turned in an exceptional game on defense, recording 17 tackles (9 solo, 8 assists) to break Poe's school record of 15 from a year ago. Poe wound up with 10 stops on Saturday.
The Pioneers return to Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium for the first time since Sept. 20 when they host Oklahoma Panhandle State at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, followed by the season finale against Oklahoma Baptist. OPSU (6-2), a CSFL alliance member, had won six straight games before falling to Langston, Okla., on Saturday, 38-17.
"It'll be fun to be back home," said Henderson, who credited Wayland fans for their support in Tyler on Saturday.
"We had a great crowd," he said. "At the beginning of the game we had more fans than they did. It was just really great."
