Box Score TYLER –
Jerrell Peterson ran for two touchdowns and
Trey Rowe caught two of
Mitchell Parsley's three touchdown passes as the Wayland Baptist Pioneers won their fifth straight game here Saturday afternoon over Texas College, 41-14.
"The guys played real hard and played well," Wayland coach
Butch Henderson said after the Central States Football League game. "Early on, Texas College was getting after it, but our kids kept looking for something to happen and broke it loose right before halftime.
"That's what this group knows how to do: find a little break and take advantage," Henderson continued. "They're real good about staying in there and working and not making mistakes and playing hard. You give them a break then, boom, there they go. They did that well today."
The win guarantees Wayland (6-1, 3-0 CSFL) its first winning season since the football program was restarted in 2012.
Amped up playing on its homecoming day, Texas College (0-7, 0-4 Central States Football League) got on the scoreboard first, scoring on a 29-yard run by Carlos Mosby. Wayland answered when Peterson scored on a one-yard run with 2:30 left in the first quarter.
The Steers regained the lead in the second period on a 42-yard scoring pass from Sean Stell to Phillip Callier.
WBU kicker
Renato Dos Anjos booted a 22-yard field goal that got the Pioneers to within 14-10 with 2:39 left in the first half.
The Pioneer defense came up with a big stop to give Wayland's offense one more crack at it before intermission with 1:06 showing. That resulted in Parlsey and Rowe hooking up for their first scoring toss of the day, a 17-yarder on the last play of the first half to put the Pioneers up at the break, 17-14.
"We got a good defensive stop then went down and scored to take the lead," Henderson said. "We were able to cover the field fast and make some big plays."
Just as it did last week in coming from behind to defeat Southwestern Assemblies of God, the Pioneer defense threw another shutout in the second half. The WBU offense, meanwhile, kept piling on points.
Peterson got it started with a six-yard TD run a little over three minutes into the third quarter, then with 37 seconds left in the period Dos Anjos kicked a 26-yard field goal to take Wayland's lead to 27-14.
Parsley found Rowe over the middle for a 28-yard touchdown less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. Some two minutes later the Pioneers' final points came on an 18-yard scoring toss from Parsley to
Preston Woodard.
"We played well the second half," Henderson said. "The kids kept battling and fighting."
Texas College's biggest second-half scoring threat was turned away late in the game by the Pioneers after the Steers had it first-and-goal at the 3. After two runs, including a quarterback sneak, resulted in no gains, Pioneer senior cornerback
Brandon Sheppard tackled the ball carrier for a 5-yard loss on third down, then on fourth WBU linebacker
Alden Mann made a tackle at about the line of scrimmage to complete the goal line stand.
Statistics were not immediately available, but Wayland play-by-play broadcaster Danny Andrews figured Mann likely ended with close to 20 tackles.
It was Wayland's third straight win over Texas College and kept the Pioneers at the top of the CSFL standings with Arizona Christian (4-2, 3-0), which hosted Lyon College, Ark. (3-4, 2-1) on Saturday night.
The Pioneers return home next Saturday, Oct. 29, to host Lyon for the second time this season. The teams met in the season-opener in Batesville, Ark., in a non-conference contest which Wayland won 37-14.
"They come to Wayland and to Plainview, Texas, and we'll have all of our people lined up and it will be exciting," Henderson said. "We'll have our hands full."
After that on Nov. 5, the Pioneers head to Arizona in what could be a showdown for the CSFL crown against Arizona Christian before hosting Langston in the regular-season finale Nov. 12. Third-place Langston (4-2, 2-1) ran over Southwestern Assemblies of God on Saturday, 63-10.
