Inspired defensive effort paves way for 10-0 shutout victory over Lyon's Scots

Led by a shutdown defense that gave up less than 200 yards of offense, Wayland Baptist secured its first Sooner Athletic Conference win of the season on Saturday afternoon at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium as the Pioneers blanked Lyon College (Ark.), 10-0.

Wayland (2-2, 1-1 SAC) got a 3-yard touchdown run from Christian Vaughn late in the second quarter and a 26-yard field goal by Jeffery Lucido early in the fourth. That was enough scoring to pull out a win thank to a Pioneer defense that recorded the program's second shutout since WBU restarted football in 2012. The first was a 24-0 victory over Texas College in 2015.

Playing its first game of the season after cancelling the entirety of its fall schedule due to COVID-19, Lyon College (0-1, 0-1 SAC) actually got on the scoreboard with a 39-yard field goal in the third period. But a roughing-the-kicker penalty gave the Scots a first down at the Pioneer 11-yard line, so they took the points off.

But the WBU defense stiffened, with Andrew Villa recording a first-down sack and Samuel Daily and Justin Wheeler combining on a tackle for a two-yard loss on second down. An incomplete pass on third prompted Lyon to attempt a 31-yard field goal, but this attempt was no good.

The Scots got the ball back almost immediately when Wayland fumbled on the next play and Lyon recovered at the Pioneer 20. But once again the Pioneer stopper unit came through, allowing a short completion on first down before Jaren Baltazar got a tackle behind the line on second. After an incomplete pass on third, a 25-yard field goal was missed left. WBU junior Skyler Whitten was credited with knocking the kick off course at the line of scrimmage.

It was the Scots' third errant field goal of the quarter as they doinked a 36-yarder to cap the second half's opening drive.

The Pioneers put together one of their best drives of the day after the final missed field goal. Starting at their own 20, Wayland drove the ball to the Lyon 9 before settling for Lucido's field goal. A 17-yard run by Vaughn and a trio of nice completions from Brook Quinones to Evan Gonzales, Elijah Boyd and Carson Ritter spurred the march.

The lone touchdown of the day capped a 63-yard, 12-play drive that included a 20-yard pass from Quinones to Whitten, a 17-yard completion to Jasiah Barron, and a 19-yard run by Jaden Miles.

Vaughn ended the day with 95 rushing yards on 19 carries, with Miles adding 53 steps on 13 totes. Quinones completed 14 passes to eight different receivers for 138 yards, with Whitten hauling in four for 34 and Boyd three for 52.

On defense, three Pioneers – Caleb Howard, Casey Buck and Andrew Villa – ended with six tackles each, with Villa credited with 1.5 sacks among his two tackles for loss and Buck getting a nine-yard sack. Wayland logged an impressive 14 tackles behind the line. Kaleb Thornton picked off a pass in the fourth quarter that began closing the door on the Scots. A sack by Dominique Taylor later in the period, followed by three straight incompletions, helped close it the rest of the way, allowing the Wayland offense a chance to run out the final 2:19 of the game.

Wayland's March 6 game against Texas Wesleyan has been cancelled due to COVID-19 issues. The Pioneers are looking to pick up a contest over the next couple of weeks, prior to what would be their next scheduled game on March 27 in Arizona against Ottawa. WBU's final three games – at No. 16 Ottawa and at Langston (ranked the equivalent of No. 33) then at home against No. 24 Arizona Christian – are all against teams either ranked or receiving Top 25 votes.