Before the end of the season, Wayland Baptist football coach
Butch Henderson would like to break the alternating, week-to-week cycle of losing then winning, losing then winning. But not this week. That's because this is a "win" weekend for Henderson and the Pioneers.
Wayland will look to add a "W" to the tail end of its current weekly results chain of L-W-L-W-L when the Pioneers host Oklahoma-Panhandle State University in a Sooner Athletic Conference contest set for 2 p.m. Saturday in Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium.
"If you go win this week and keep winning one at a time, then you could be in that (conference championship) race at the end," Henderson said.
Tickets to the game between the Pioneers (2-3, 2-2 SAC) and Aggies (2-4, 2-3) are $10 for adults and $5 for students, available at the gate. With proper ID, all Wayland students and staff/faculty are admitted free to all WBU home athletics events.
The Aggies are coming off a tight 41-35 loss to SAC newcomer Louisiana College, which came on the heels of wins over Lyon College (Ark.), 35-6, and Texas College (68-0). Those victories follow OPSU's season-opening losses to Ottawa (Ariz.), 42-7, Langston (Okla.), 10-7 and Texas Wesleyan (49-20).
Wayland and OPSU have had identical outcomes against common opponents: wins over Lyon and Texas College and losses to Langston and Texas Wesleyan.
The Pioneers are coming off a stinging 63-7 setback against TXWES, and Henderson said the biggest reason not only for that lopsided loss but all three WBU setbacks is quite simple: the inability of the offense to put points on the board.
"We've played really strong defense that keeps us in ballgames. The coaches have done a good job with a young secondary, which has helped solidify things with our defense that's always been able to stop the run. And other than a couple of slip-ups, our kicking game has been real strong," Henderson said.
"(But) we have to go put points on the board. When we put points on the board, especially early in the ballgame, that helps everything. We have to go score. That's where the emphasis has gone."
The coach said the Pioneers are executing well at times, it's simply a matter of doing it more often.
"The young kids are starting to grasp and get a hold of things. You start to grow from there. We just have to be consistent."
Henderson said consistency is achieved by getting in a rhythm.
"It's a matter of making some plays that create that rhythm and me putting them in that rhythm. Our possession time has been strong, but possession time without points is not good. If we can score it will make a big difference for us.
"We have to get where we're putting points on the board."
The Aggies would like to prevent that from happening, and they have an impressive linebacking corps to give it a shot. Middle linebacker Charles D'Quan leads OPSU averaging eight tackles a game plus has two interceptions, while outside backers Cameron Dickerson and Anthony Taylor are getting 6.0 and 4.6 stops per contest. Combined, the trio has a dozen tackles for loss and four sacks.
Henderson said D'Quan, an All-SAC Second Teamer last season, is the key to OPSU's defense. "We have to block him. Another guy people don't see all the time but who does a good job is the Aggies' free safety (#10 Warren Dillon, OPSU's third-leading tackler). He fills a lot of running game gaps and makes a lot of stops."
As a unit, the Aggies' defense is "pretty simple from the standpoint of saying here's what they do but complex enough to where it fouls up your blocking scheme. Normally they make you fight to go down the field and get the ball in the end zone."
On offense, Henderson said OPSU does a good job of mixing the run and the pass. He added that the Aggies also do a good job of fixing mistakes and sticking with the game plan.
"Their offensive coordinator is deliberate in that he'll go back to plays after they don't work and you feel like you've stopped them. But they'll bring some things back very quickly that they've fixed and make it work."
The game will mark the third time the Pioneers and Aggies have faced off in less than a year. The teams met twice during the COVID-affected 2020 season, with Wayland winning on Oct. 31 in Plainview, 29-24, then falling last spring in Goodwell, Okla., 25-18.
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