Box Score
Wayland Baptist made a game of it, but in the end the No. 8 Langston Lions won out, claiming a 38-19 Central States Football League victory over the Pioneers on Saturday afternoon at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium.
"We played defensive extremely well; the best we've played all year," Wayland coach
Butch Henderson said. "But we didn't capitalize on some situations we had in the first half offensively. We got down in the red zone and didn't come out with touchdowns. If we had, I feel it would have given us the energy to continue on to get a win."
While Langston (10-0, 8-0 CSFL) completed its first perfect regular season since 1973 and looks forward to hosting its first playoff game in the 100-plus year history of the Oklahoma school, the Pioneers (4-6, 4-4) came up just short of finishing with a break-even record as Wayland put the wraps on its sixth season on the gridiron.
The Pioneers obviously came to play Saturday, owning a 6-3 lead late into the second quarter after senior kicker
Daniel Martinez booted field goals of 24 and 56 yards to tie his own school record.
But Langston stole the momentum with two touchdowns – on passes from Jaylen Lowe to Cedric Jackson – in the final 2:46 of the first half. After the pair hooked up for a 27-yard score, Langston made the Pioneers pay for an interception with an 18-yard hookup that made it 17-6 at the break.
The teams traded possessions to start the third period before the Lions put together a long drive that ended with a 7-yard touchdown run by Tim Whitfield for a 24-6 lead midway through the third.
The Pioneers immediately responded when
Mitchell Parsley lofted a 38-yard scoring pass to
Ben Owen to get Wayland to within 11 points, 24-13.
Neither offense could muster any points until an interception set up the Lions near midfield. For the third time, Lowe and Jackson connected on a score, this one a 43-yard seam route that made it 31-13 with 8:36 left.
De'Sean Johnson ripped off a 70-yard TD run with four minutes to go, and after a high, short Wayland kickoff didn't get the ball back for the Pioneers, Langston ended the scoring on a 16-yard scoring run by Whitfield.
"They're a good football team," Henderson said of Langston. "Our kids played hard all day long. We played well defensively and in the kicking units, we just didn't capitalize on some things offensively."
Johnson, a sophomore, ended with 14 carries for 139 yards, while freshman JyUius Bumpus produced 92 steps on 10 carries. Parsley completed 9-of-31 passes for 127 yards.
For Langston, Jackson wound up with 10 catches for 193 yards to lead the Lions, while Lowe completed 21-of-34 for 291 yards.
On defense for Wayland, linebacker
Michael Nealy was in on 16 tackles while
Zac Hollingsworth contributed to 10.
Nealy and Hollingsworth were two of 10 seniors recognized before the game. Others were Martinez,
Denzel Bradford,
Jeremiah Eaton,
Anthony Garcia,
Devonte Hayden,
Elbert Holmes, Brian Johnson and
Tim McCutcheon.
Looking back on the season, Henderson said it was an enjoyable experience even if the Pioneers fell short of their goals.
"We didn't do what we set out to do win-wise, but we need to grow from what that senior group taught us," the coach said. "Those kids worked hard the last two weeks when it would have been easy to say, 'Let's just finish this out.'"
He added that he was impressed all season how the Pioneers, even after dropping three road games to start the season, stayed together.
"I've never had a group pull for each other the way this group does. They looked out for each other and picked each other up. That part was really fun. Learning to win is what we need to go on and do."
Looking ahead to 2018, Henderson is optimistic.
"We played a lot of young kids this year. If we can hold them all together, we'll have most of the offense back and much of the defense back.
"We should be a lot stronger."
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