Box Score PHOENIX – When the Wayland Baptist football team rode out of Phoenix shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday, it purposely left something behind. The Pioneers said a fond farewell to the road monkey that's been shadowing them the past two years.
"We got that monkey off our back about winning one on the road," Wayland head coach
Butch Henderson said after the Pioneers recorded a 28-21 season-opening victory over Arizona Christian University. "It feels really good."
Anthony Campuzano threw three touchdown passes, including two to
Josh Bailey, to lead Wayland to its first-ever on-the-field road win after 10 losses. While the Pioneers wound up with a forfeit victory of their 33-0 season-ending loss at Langston last year, they without doubt earned this victory.
"We wanted to win it any way we could, but to win it the way we did – by continually having to come back, especially late in the game – and making play after play on offense and defense, that really means something," Henderson said.
It also was Wayland's first season-opening win since the school restarted its football program three years ago, and it was WBU's first earned win since the third-to-last game of that initial season. Save for the forfeit from Langston, the Pioneers were winless in 2013.
"Now we can start to have that feeling that good things are going to happen," Henderson said.
Campuzano, who completed 25-of-51 passes for 312 yards and no interceptions, threw touchdown passes of seven and six yards to Bailey. The latter came with 13:29 left in the game and broke a 21-21 tie.
The first Campuzano-to-Bailey score came on Wayland's second possession of the game and answered a 56-yard touchdown pass by Arizona Christian on the third play of the game, which started at 9:15 p.m. CDT Saturday.
The Pioneers took a 14-7 lead on a 39-yard pass from Campuzano to
Trey Rowe with 4:33 left in the first quarter.
Arizona Christian (0-2), in its first football season, came back with a four-yard touchdown pass midway through the second period, but a botched PAT left Wayland in the lead, 14-13.
The Pioneers made it 21-13 with 2:02 to go in the third quarter on a 2-yard run by
Payson Bain.
After the Firestorm scored on a 5-yard touchdown pass and two-point conversion toss, the Pioneers put together a nine-play, 81-yard drive that featured a clutch fourth-down completion. Facing fourth-and-8 from the ACU 38-yard line, Campuzano hooked up with Rowe on a long pass that saw Rowe knocked out of bounds at the 1. A false start penalty moved the ball back to the 6, but on the next play Campuzano found Bailey for the winning points.
Daniel Martinez booted his fourth PAT to end the scoring.
Arizona Christian got three cracks on offense after that, but the Pioneers limited the Firestorm to a three-and-out while two of ACU possessions ended on interceptions – by
Jon-Lucas Poe and, to end the game, by
Alden Mann at the Wayland 31-yard line.
"Our defense played really well, especially late," Henderson said. "When we needed them to rise up, they did it."
Poe led the Pioneers with eight tackles while Mann had seven.
Travis White and
Wisdom McIntyre also came up with interceptions, giving Wayland four takeaways.
What's more, the WBU defense allowed Arizona Christian a mere seven yards rushing on attempts, and the Firestorm managed only 12 first downs compared to 27 for Wayland. The Pioneers racked up 207 yards on the ground, led by senior transfer
Evan Hearn with 18 carries for 78 yards and freshmen
Mikorban Fields with 11 carries for 75 yards and
Branden Valle with eight totes for 71 yards.
Campuzano completed passes to eight receivers, led by Bailey who had seven catches for 104 yards and Rowe who made five grabs for a school-record 108 yards.
"Rowe really came into his own," Henderson said. "And the offensive line gave Anthony time to throw. Overall, I thought we did a good job of moving the football."
Wayland plays its home-opener at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6 against Western State Colorado, an NCAA Division II team that will be making its season debut.
Henderson said Western State Colorado will be a tremendous challenge for the Pioneers.
"They're very solid," he said. "We'll have to line up and try to do it again."
