Nick Quintero passed for two touchdowns and accounted for more than 400 yards of offense, DeSean Johnson ran for a pair of TDs, and
Edgar Baeza's career-long 46-yard field goal with 10 seconds left iced Wayland Baptist's 41-30 Sooner Athletic Conference victory over Texas Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium.
Wayland's defense recorded a dozen tackles for loss including four by
Andre Smith who tallied eight total stops.
JaQuavious Dean led the defense with nine tackles while
Manny Arguijo got seven with three TFLs and a half-sack in the homecoming victory.
In claiming their third straight triumph, the Pioneers (4-3, 3-3 SAC) took control of a back-and-forth game by outscoring the Rams (1-7, 1-5) 24-7 down the stretch. It was anybody's game until Baeza, who earlier kicked a 30-yard field goal then missed from 37 yards, was true on a 46-yarder that delivered the dagger.
Both teams scored on their opening possessions, the Rams on a 35-yard pass then the Pioneers on a 30-yard pass from Quintero to
Caleb O'Connor.
Baeza's first field goal put Wayland up 10-7 late in the first, but Texas Wesleyan put up the next nine points on a 54-yard TD toss (the PAT kick failed) followed by a 43-yard field goal with 2:34 left before halftime, giving the Rams a 16-10 lead.
The Pioneers regained the momentum before intermission with a quick 75-yard, 12-play drive that saw Wayland convert all three of its third-down conversions, once on an 18-yard completion to Kam Williams and twice on costly Wesleyan penalties. The payoff with 26 seconds left came when Quintero beat Wesleyan's pressure and found Johnson open at the 15-yard line. The determined junior from Austin fought his way into the end zone to complete the 30-yard play and, with Baeza's extra-point, give Wayland a one-point lead at the break.
The Rams pulled back in front, 23-17, with a 24-yard TD run to cap their second possession of the third, but Johnson again showed great heart on a 22-yard run that saw him carry a would-be tackler five yards into the end zone. Baeza's PAT put Wayland in front by one once again with just under five minutes left in the third.
The Pioneers began to distance themselves a bit when – on the third play of the fourth – Quintero hooked up with
Emanuel Reese on a 37-yard pass play. Running a crossing pattern, Reese reversed field after the catch and outran the Rams to the pylon. Baeza's PAT made it 31-23.
After the WBU defense forced the Rams to try, and miss, a 39-yard field goal,
Jerrell Peterson scored on a 30-yard run past a blitzing Wesleyan defense. The PAT gave Wayland a 38-23 lead midway through the period.
The 15-point lead didn't last long, though, as Wesleyan scored on a trick pass play. What appeared to be a wide receiver screen-play turned into a 75-yard reception from Eric Richards to Le'Mant Monroe, and just like that it was a one-possession game again.
After both offense went 3-and-out, Wayland's offense took the field with 5:20 on the clock. Six runs by Petersen produced a pair of first downs, then on 3
rd and 14 from the Rams' 45 Quintero completed a 15-yard pass to
Brayln Kirby for a new set of downs.
With both teams exhausting their timeouts, Peterson ran it three more times to the Wesleyan 27 where Baeza trotted onto the field with 14 ticks left and a chance to seal it. Baeza smoothly delivered on his 46-yard field goal.
In finding nine different receivers, Quintero completed 31-of-54 passes for 321 yards and three TDs while also rushing eight times for 92 yards. Peterson finished with 91 yards and a TD on 16 carries while Johnson chipped in 66 on 14 with a score along with 38 receiving yards. Reese snagged seven passes for 73 yards and a TD while O'Connor and Kirby both had 53 yards receiving.
Kamron Williams contributed six catches for 46 steps.
The Pioneers play their final road game of the season at 9 p.m. CDT Nov. 3 in Surprise, Ariz., against first-year Ottawa University, which is tied with Wayland for fifth in the SAC standings with identical 4-3, 3-3 records. Ottawa, which was idle this weekend, is coming off wins over then No. 19 Arizona Christian (73-28) and Texas College (63-14).
The Pioneers return home Nov. 10 for their final game against Arizona Christian.
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