The Wayland Baptist football team can take a lot of satisfaction from the 2014 season. Winning back-to-back games for the first time since the program was restarted three years ago, and posting three victories – especially after going winless on the field last year – are two of the biggest achievements.
Another big one could be realized with a win in the season-finale Saturday afternoon against Oklahoma Baptist. With a victory, the Pioneers would finish no worse than third place in the Central States Football League, and they could finish tied for second.
So while the Pioneers won't realize their goal of winning the CSFL title, there's still lots to play for this weekend.
"We have a chance to finish second or third in the conference, and for them to come from the team picked to finish at the very bottom of the conference to finish second or third would be a great takeoff and a great finish," Wayland coach
Butch Henderson said.
Kickoff between the Pioneers (3-7 overall, 2-2 CSFL) and Bison (7-3, 2-2) is at 2 p.m. at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium. Coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. on KKYN (106.9-FM) with streaming video and statistics available on www.wbuathletics.com.
Free food, while it lasts, will be provided at a tailgate party hosted by Xcel Energy in the home parking lot beginning around 12:30. Fans are encouraged to greet players in the tailgate area a little before 1 p.m. A car caravan will leave from the Laney Center around 11:45 a.m., with prizes for best decorated vehicle (decorations provided).
The winner of Saturday's OBU-WBU game will be the unofficial winner of most improved team in the CSFL. While the Pioneers thus far have made a three-win improvement (not counting their forfeit victory) from a year ago, the Bison also have bettered their 4-7 record from 2013 by three W's.
Henderson said the Bison, ranked the equivalent of 29th in the NAIA, are "a lot better" than they were last season when, in their first season of football, they defeated Wayland in Shawnee, Okla., 37-10.
"They are sitting at the top of the conference in a lot of things," Henderson said.
Among the Bison's top statistical ratings within the CSFL are most average points (41.6), total average yards (473), average rushing yards (287), total scoring defense (18.8 pts.) and total defense (325 yds.).
Individually, OBU sports the conference's top two rushers in Jordan Barnes (93.8 ypg) and Dawson Myers (71.2). Myers has scored 13 touchdowns while Barnes has nine, and both are averaging more than five yards a carry.
Quarterback Blake Woodard also is a competent runner in OBU's spread attack, Henderson said.
"They really have a three-back offense," he said.
Woodard leads the CSFL in total offense, having passed for 1,725 yards and rushed for 354 more.
"They are a run-based offense, but you get up there to stop the run and he throws it," Henderson said of Woodard, who has passed for 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. "But they'll run it first and foremost."
The coach has confidence in his defense's ability to stop the run.
"We're one of the best rush defenses in the conference, so we just need to do what we do," he said. "We've got to get them stopped and not let them get points."
Henderson said the Bison, with a series of short gains, ran 91 plays in last week's 26-7 win over Bacone. He noted that's one reason why OBU's defense has such solid team stats.
"Their defense is never on the field," he said, adding that that's also why no Bison player is averaging more than six tackles a game. "No. 50 (sophomore lineman Kimes Gilbert) was a second-team all-American last year, but none of their stats are very high this year because they're not playing as much."
OBU comes to town having won its last three games, all at home. Besides Bacone, the Bison blanked Texas College, 62-0, and Haskell Indian Nations, 47-6. Prior to that, OBU dropped its first two CSFL games to Southwestern Assemblies of God University, 30-20, and Langston, 28-21.
OBU's other loss was to Oklahoma Panhandle State, 49-21.
Henderson would like nothing better than to end the season with Wayland's first home win of the season. To get it, he said the Pioneers must be solid in all three phases of the game.
"We've played extremely well the last month offensively, defensively and in the kicking game, although last week we didn't play well offensively," he said. "If we get all three phases playing well, we have a chance to go win."
