LANGSTON, Okla. – Hoping to string together back-to-back wins, the Wayland Baptist football team was denied by Langston University (Okla.) as the unbeaten Lions prevailed in Sooner Athletic Conference play here Saturday evening, 56-24.
Four turnovers proved costly for the Pioneers, who gave up 17 points in the final four minutes of the first half. That helped Langston – which scored all six of its touchdowns on plays ranging from 20 to 85 yards – turn a 7-7 tie game into a 20-7 halftime lead that grew to 42-7 before Wayland got on the board again.
The Pioneers (1-2, 1-1 SAC) went on top early thanks to a 44-yard touchdown pass from Bryan Ponder to Kamron Williams to cap the first drive of the game. Langston (3-0, 3-0 SAC) answered on its first possession, scoring on a 20-yard pass.
The score remained 7-7 until the 3:47 mark of the second period when Langston booted a 27-yard field goal. The Lions scored again less than two minutes later after an interception gave Langston the ball at its own 42-yard line. Three plays later the Lions were in the end zone with a 55-yard pass to Bryon Hanspard.
Three plays into the Pioneers' next offensive series, a fumble set up the Lions at the WBU 24. The WBU defense held and forced the Lions to kick a 30-yard field goal with five seconds left before intermission.
Langston got the ball to start the third and scored on its first two drives. All 65 yards of the first TD drive came from two long pass completions, and the second was a 10-play, 77-yard march culminated by a 23-yard TD toss that made it 35-7.
The Lions got another quick TD, an 85-yard pass play, but the Pioneers came back with a 72-yard return for a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff by Skyler Whitten, and it was 42-14.
After WBU's defense denied Langston on 4th-and-1 from near midfield, the Pioneer offense put together a 38-yard, 11-play drive that ended with a 30-yard field goal from Jeffery Lucido.
WBU strung together its most impressive drove of the game on its next series, capping an 80-yard, 11-play march with another TD toss from Ponder to Williams, this one from seven yards out.
The Pioneers couldn't pull off the onside kick, and five plays later Langston was in the end zone with a 32-yard pass.
After Wayland couldn't convert 4th-and-10 from near midfield, it took the Lions just two plays to find paydirt for the final time on a 40-yard run.
Langston quarterback Larry Harrington threw for 420 yards and six TDs.
The Pioneer defense was led by Casey Buck, who had 10 tackles, 1½ tackles for loss and a pass break-up, and Andrew Villa, who had eight stops.
WBU is back home the next two weeks, first hosting Texas College (0-2, 0-2) at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Steers fell to Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Saturday, 53-6, after bowing to Langston a week earlier, 55-24.
