Box Score Considering they committed eight turnovers, muffed the opening kickoff, and had a blocked punt returned for a touchdown, the Wayland Baptist Pioneers did quite well to have a shot at defeating Sul Ross State on Saturday afternoon at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium.
In the end, though, the giveaways were a bit too much to overcome as the Pioneers fell to the Lobos in an action-packed, turnover-filled contest, 54-46.
Trailing at halftime 41-10, the Pioneers (2-2) outscored the Lobos (1-2) in the second half, 36-13. Wayland pulled to within eight points with more than five minutes left when freshman quarterback
Mitchell Parsley hooked up with senior
Chris Acosta on a 59-yard touchdown pass, then connected with
Devonte Hayden on the PAT to make it a one-possession contest.
But Sul Ross State never allowed the Pioneers to have the ball again. The Lobos chewed up the remaining 5:14 with a 10-play drive that ended inside Wayland's 5-yard line with two kneel-downs. SRSU overcame a holding penalty on the first play of the possession when Hasan Lipscomb ran for 45 yards on the next play. The Lobos then put the game on ice when Jordan Reyes completed a 12-yard pass to Williton Grear on fourth-down-and-eight with about 2:00 to go.
It was the most points scored by the Pioneers in a loss since Wayland restarted the program four years ago, and the second-most points scored in any game, behind only a 58-37 win over Southwestern Assemblies of God University in the Pioneers' inaugural season.
It took SRSU just 35 seconds to score its first points after the Pioneers muffed the opening kickoff and the Lobos recovered at the Wayland 24-yard line. A pass completion took it to the Pioneers 1, then the Lobos scored on the next play.
After the teams traded interceptions, with
James Battley III picking off a pass for the Pioneers, Wayland tied the score on the heels of a fumble recovery on a punt return by Ernesto Morneal at the SRSU 24-yard line. On the very next play,
Brenner Barnett – after a lateral from quarterback
Payson Bain – found
Preston Woodard for the score.
A 1-yard punt by Sul Ross helped Wayland to its next points, a 33-yard field goal by
Daniel Martinez midway through the first.
The Lobos proceeded to score the next 34 points, starting with a 48-yard interception return for a touchdown by Terrance Willie, followed by a blocked punt deep in Wayland territory that was returned for a score by Jermaine Stevens. The Lobos made it 27-10 after a WBU interception, then scored twice more before halftime on long passes of 53 and 39 yards, the latter with no time left on the clock to make it 41-10.
Seemingly out of it, Wayland mounted its comeback fueled by a 42-yard pass from Bain to
Trey Rowe. Bain took it in from two yards out.
After a three-and-out for the Pioneer defense, Wayland's offense began ripping off yards in chunks, including a 24-yard TD pass from Bain to Woodard.
The comeback was interrupted when Sul Ross quarterback Jordan Reyes hooked up with speedy Byron Jones for a 95-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the fourth quarter. Jones ended the day with 14 catches for 285 yards and three TDs.
Another interception by Battley, this one at the Wayland 10, led to Gamez ripping off an 81-yard touchdown run. A pick by
Ernesto Monreal gave the Pioneers the ball at midfield, and back-to-back pass plays from Parsley to Woodard for 30 yards and Parsley to
Josh Bailey for a 25-yard touchdown brought the Pioneers to within 10, 48-38, with 9½ minutes still remaining.
Wayland's defense came up with a clutch fourth-down stop deep inside Pioneer territory, but a fumble by WBU on the next play gave it right back to the Lobos, who took advantage by scoring on the next play.
Still unwilling to throw in the towel, the Pioneers cut it to eight on the 59-yard pass from Parsley to Acosta. But the worn-out WBU defense couldn't get the ball back, and the Lobos were able to escape with a victory.
Gamez ended the game with 93 yards rushing, while Woodard caught five passes for 118 yards. On defense, linebacker
Alden Mann was unstoppable, ending with 18 tackles – one off his own school record.
Quinton Shafer added 10 stops.
The game was the start of a three-game homestand for Wayland, which opens Central States Football League play on Oct. 3 by hosting league newcomer Arizona Christian at 2 p.m. Arizona Christian took an 0-2 record (losses to Webber International 48-21 and Western New Mexico 70-14) into a Saturday night game against George Fox University. WBU defeated Arizona Christian in a non-conference game last year in Phoenix to open the season, 28-21.
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