Butch Henderson knows the Wayland Baptist Pioneers have what it takes to be a formidable football team, and he's pretty sure the Texas College Steers do, too. Henderson just hopes his Pioneers figure it out faster Saturday afternoon than do the Steers.
"They're playing a lot better than their record indicates," Henderson said of the Steers, "and at times so are we."
Wayland and Texas College bring identical 0-3 records into their Central States Football League contest Saturday afternoon. The Pioneers' home-opener and homecoming game at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium begins at 2 p.m. Coverage (links at
www.wbuathletics.com) begins with Danny Andrews' pregame, also available locally on 1090-AM, at 1:30.
Free food, while it lasts, will be available at a tailgate hosted by VistaBank beginning around 12:45 p.m. in the southeast corner of the home parking lot. Also available near the tailgate area will be a bounce house and other games hosted by WBU Institutional Advancement.
Parents and other fans are invited to greet the Pioneers on their way to the field for warm-ups beginning around 12:45 in the tailgate area.
While the season hasn't started the way Henderson envisioned for the Pioneers, who were 7-3 last year, the coach said his squad is still focused on achieving all of its goals.
"We have a chance to challenge or at least be in the picture (for a conference championship). With eight conference ballgames, lots can happen," Henderson said. "All we're really after is getting to where we play every week, and all that other stuff will take care of itself."
Combined, Wayland and Texas College have gone 18 games since experiencing a victory. The Pioneers are trying to snap a five-game skid that dates back to the last two games last season while the Steers are mired in a 13-game losing stretch that goes back to Nov. 7, 2015.
In fact, it's been 11 years – 2005 – since Texas College last posted a winning record. Since then, the Steers are 17-97.
In February Texas College hired a new coach, Charles Moss, to turn its football program around. Moss, of Dallas, is a former standout linebacker at the University of New Mexico who previously coached linebackers at West Texas A&M.
After falling to Texas College the first two seasons after restarting football, Wayland has won the last three outings against the Steers: 34-8, 24-0 and 41-14 last season in Tyler. In that 2016 contest,
Jerrell Peterson ran for two touchdowns and
Trey Rowe caught two of
Mitchell Parsley's three TD passes. The Pioneers went on to defeat Texas Wesleyan the next week for a six-game winning streak before WBU dropped its last two contests of the season.
Henderson said Wayland, quite simply, needs to taste victory again.
"We need to win. That would help us establish that belief system of what all the hard work has gone into building. It's there, we just have to get it out and do it consistently," he said.
In fact, Henderson said the Pioneers played some of the best football he's experienced last week against Arizona Christian. It included sophomore
Malik Sims catching a school-record 13 passes for 130 yards and solid kicking games from
Daniel Martinez and punter
Caleb O'Connor.
"For a quarter-and-a-half we played as well as I've seen us play. It was as good of football as I've been involved in," he said. "We were playing well, Arizona Christian was playing well. Defensively, we were playing lights out. It was a true war from the middle of the first quarter up to halftime."
Henderson called it "championship-level football."
The trick is doing it for four quarters.
"We have to know that's in us, that's who we can be. But we have to do it for an entire ballgame. We came out in the second half last week (after trailing 14-6 at halftime) and just didn't get cranked into that same mode. We didn't play bad, just not to that same level."
While Wayland was in the desert, Texas College was at home suffering a 54-7 CSFL-opening setback to Southwestern Assemblies of God University. That came a week after a crushing 74-0 road loss to Hardin-Simmons which followed a season-opening 40-20 home defeat to Lane College (Tenn.).
Much like the Pioneers, Henderson said the Steers have been hurt by penalties and "red-zone mistakes." Through three games, Texas College has been flagged an average 10 times a game for 114 yards, while Wayland is at 12 times for 112 yards. Meanwhile, the Pioneers are negative-five in turnovers compared to Texas College's plus-four.
"Offensively they're moving the ball," said Henderson, who singled out 6-0, 240-pound senior quarterback Sean Stell of Fresno, Calif. Stell has completed less than half (34-of-74) of his passes for 330 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. "He's really good and very accurate. They're not catching everything he throws. If they get to the point they catch everything he throws…"
On the ground the Steers mostly give it to 6-foot, 225-pound sophomore running back Carlos Mosby of Lake Providence, Ga. Mosby has rushed for 148 yards, averaging 3½ yards a carry.
Defensively, Texas College is led by freshman back Jason Parker of Carrollton, who has logged 19 solo and 22 total tackles, including two sacks and 3½ tackles for loss.
Leading the CSFL in tackles is Wayland linebacker
Michael Nealy, last week's conference defensive player of the week averaging 9.0 tackles per game. Henderson praised Nealy, a safety last season, along with another senior linebacker,
Zac Hollingsworth, and the Pioneers' defensive front. "Those guys up front are keeping blockers off our linebackers so they can make plays," the coach said.
That's the kind of unselfish attitude Henderson said is prevalent on the Wayland roster.
"This continues to be one of the best teams I've ever been around as far as pulling for each other."
Â
