Determined to record what would be the second winning season in program history, the Wayland Baptist football team will need to win its remaining two games in order to make it happen. The first of those games is Saturday afternoon in Fort Worth where the Pioneers take on the Texas Wesleyan Rams beginning at 2 p.m.
Much like they did in last week's 35-14 homecoming victory over Oklahoma-Panhandle State, the Pioneers (4-4 overall, 3-3 Sooner Athletic Conference) would like to seize control of Saturday's contest right away.
"We've got to go in and do what we did last week and take control of the game early," said Wayland coach Butch Henderson, reiterating that early success breeds confidence and feeds motivation for his Pioneers. "You have to win the battles in order to win the war. You don't have to win all the battles, but one you'd really like to win is (a fast start)."
Henderson said the Rams (2-7, 2-5) – who will be playing their final game of the season (Wayland wraps up at home Nov. 16 against No. 22 Langston) – don't throw in the towel, pointing to a pair of multiple-overtime games: a 53-44, three-OT win over Southwestern Assemblies of God followed by a 34-28 double-overtime loss to Panhandle State.
"They know how to fight 'til the end. We don't want to do that. We want to control it early," Henderson said. "If we do what we did last week with the offense, combined with our defense and our (improving) kicking game, we should be able to get control of this game."
Texas Wesleyan is in its third season of competition, having gone 1-10 its inaugural year and 2-8 last season. The Rams have never beaten Wayland…on the field, at least. The Pioneers had to forfeit a 54-24 victory that gave Texas Wesleyan its only "W" in 2017, then last year in Plainview Wayland prevailed 41-30. In that game, 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 booted a 46-yard field goal with 10 seconds left.
Besides their thrilling win over SAGU, Texas Wesleyan's other victory this season was a 61-24 triumph over Texas College, a team Wayland defeated, 40-18. The Rams played their first four games on the road, falling to No. 4 Kansas Wesleyan (48-24), NCAA Division I FCS Houston Baptist (58-13), No. 19 Ottawa-Arizona (42-38) and Lyon, Ark. (53-45). The Rams' four-point loss to Ottawa was the Spirit's closest game until they were handed their first loss at home last week by Lyon, 18-14, which could result in a three-way tie for the conference title.
The Rams are coming off back-to-back losses to No. 22 Langston (69-7) and Arizona Christian (45-35). Wesleyan's humbling loss at Langston came a week after the fired-up Lions' fell to Ottawa in the NAIA National Game of the Week, 27-7.
Henderson called Texas Wesleyan "a talented team" with a variety of weapons, even a variety of quarterbacks who guide the Rams to be the second-highest scoring team in the SAC averaging 33.7 points a game.
"I can't tell exactly what's going on there, whether it's some injury things or what," Henderson said of Wesleyan's quarterback rotation. The No. 1 signal-caller on the Rams' two-deep is junior Avery Childs (6-0, 180), who has completed 74-of-158 passes (47 percent) for 1,021 yards with 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
"He does a really good job with reads and making people guess wrong. He sits in the pocket well and use him more in their total scheme," the coach said.
Childs' back-up is listed as freshman Dalton Dale, who has seen action in the Rams' last three games.
The Rams use a number of running backs, too, with four players averaging between 24-56 rushing yards per game.
"They use a variety of backs, and each has a particular skill set. Their coaching staff does a good job of getting them in position to do what each of them do well," Henderson said.
Leading the group is Jermarcus Jones (5-10, 215), a senior tailback who has rushed for 395 yards and eight TDs.
The same balance holds true of Texas Wesleyan's receiving corps, with five Rams getting between 16 and 33 catches on the year.
"You can't lock down on one," Henderson said. "They all have good size and good speed."
LeMant Monroe, a 5-6, 145-pound redshirt sophomore, leads the Rams in receptions with 33 while sophomore Brandon Rolfe (5-10, 185) is the team leading in yards and TDs with 668 and eight.
Texas Wesleyan's defense, which has produced 13 interceptions by 10 different players, is led in tackles by freshman linebacker Mark Seider (6-2, 230), who is averaging six stops a game and has 12 tackles for loss and 7½ sacks.
Henderson said the Rams have suffered some injuries to their defensive front, so they began playing linebackers as some of their down linemen.
Henderson added that Texas Wesleyan is solid in special teams with "good kicker and good punters," and kick returner Diamond Williams is the reigning SAC Special Teams Player of the Week after getting a 96 yards return and averaging 43.3 yards.
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