Langston stays unbeaten with win over WBU

Langston turned a close game in the second quarter into a lopsided affair in the second half as the unbeaten Lions denied Wayland Baptist in Sooner Athletic Conference play Saturday afternoon at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium, 50-0.
 
It took the opportunistic Lions (3-0, 3-0 SAC) less than two minutes to put up their first points, four plays after a 45-yard rushing on the game's opening snap.
 
Langston added a field goal to lead 9-0 after the first period. The scored stayed the same with Wayland facing fourth-down-and-2 from the Langston 41-yard line with under 5 minutes to play before halftime. That's when Langston's Malcolm Johnson returned an interception 60 yards for a pick-six.
 
Then, after WBU went three-and-out, Langston scored on a 24-yard pass with just over a minute left before halftime to take a 22-0 intermission lead.
 
Before the break, Wayland quickly put together a nice drive, moving from its own 25 to the Langston 27 where a fumble on fourth down ended the threat.
 
Much like the first half, Langston struck quickly in the second half with Isaiah Hall grabbing an interception on the first snap after halftime and returning it 30 yards to the WBU 17. Three plays later the Lions scored to take a 29-0 lead.
 
A blocked punt led to Langston's next TD as Trevon Billington smothered the boot and took it back 40 yards to WBU's end zone. The Lions put together a 9-play drive for their next score, a 5-yard pass that made it 43-0 with 5:42 left in the third.
 
The Lions' final TD – with both teams substituting liberally – came after a 70-yard punt by Wayland's Andre Harmon that was killed at the Langston 7. WBU's defense couldn't hold, though, and the Lions set out on an 11-play, 93-yard drive that completed the scoring with 5:03 to go.
 
In an attempt to avoid the shutout, Wayland pieced together an impressive 17-play drive that ended after three straight incompletions at the Langston 8 with 26 seconds left.
 
The Lions rushed for 312 yards on 50 carries, with quarterback RaQuon Washington accounting for 92 yards and a TD on 10 carries while also throwing for 98 yards and three scores.
 
Wayland ended with 168 passing yards and 52 on the ground. Skyler Whitten had nine catches for 70 yards.
 
Leading the Pioneer defense were Keondre Vasser and Andrew Villa with nine tackles apiece. Tyrelle Lewis recorded an interception and had three pass break-ups.
 
The home game split up WBU's season-opening four road contests. The Pioneers are in Tyler next Saturday to take on Texas College (1-2, 1-1), which fell to Langston last week, 44-6. The Steers, who lost to West Texas A&M in their opener, 73-0, were shut out by Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Saturday, 68-0.