Box Score PINEVILLE, La. –
Butch Henderson said the Wayland Baptist football team was not "emotionally ready to play" when the Pioneers opened their season against Louisiana College here Saturday night.
He also said it won't happen again.
Wayland gave the ball away six times and committed a dozen turnovers as the Pioneers lost a mistake-filled debut to the Wildcats, 59-20.
"When didn't come with the emotion that we usually do, and that comes back on me," Henderson said. "We had more emotion (in our intrasquad scrimmage) than we did tonight. Physically we were ready, but emotionally we weren't."
The Pioneers lost five fumbles – two of which were returned for touchdowns – and threw one interception. The Wildcats also recorded three sacks and 10 tackles for loss.
Wayland ended with 397 yards of total offense but only mustered 20 points due to the turnovers.
Louisiana College jumped out to a 17-0 lead before the Pioneers tallied their first points on a 29-yard field goal by
Daniel Martinez early in the second quarter.
"We were draggy when we started," Henderson said of his team not being pumped for their first game of the season. "We hit spurts and I would think, 'OK, we're fixing to get it going.' But we couldn't sustain any emotion."
Wayland pulled to within 17-10 on its next possession when
Jeremiah Eaton scored on a 64-yard pass from
Mitchell Parsley.
The Wildcats regained momentum when they put up seven points on a short pass with 14 seconds left before halftime.
LC added two more TD passes in the third quarter to assume a 38-10 lead. Martinez then booted a 46-yard field goal, and
De'Sean Johnson scored on a 4-yard run early in the fourth to make it 38-20.
While those were the final scores for Wayland, the Wildcats added three more TDs, the last two on fumble returns from 37 and 1 yard.
"At the end we were making too many mistakes," Henderson said.
Parlsey completed 29-of-51 passes to 11 different receivers for 343 yards with one TD and one interception. Tight end
Ben Owen caught seven passes for 100 yards while
Devonte Hayden hauled in eight for 69.
Wayland ended with 35 yards rushing on 29 carries, with Johnson getting 31 of it on 12 attempts.
Weston McIntire,
Dallas Cervantes and
Michael Nealy had six tackles apiece to led the WBU defense.
Coby Serbantez came up with an interception.
The Pioneers continue their season-opening three-game road swing in Sherman on Sept. 9, taking on Austin College at 1 p.m. in their final tune-up before the start of Central States Football League play. The Kangaroos won their season debut Saturday in Muskogee, Okla., against Bacone, 31-18.
"Hopefully this will be a wake-up call and we can get it rolling," Henderson said. "I know not being emotionally ready won't happen again. We have to be who we are."
