Pioneers put up record 65 points in rout of Texas College

Nine different Pioneers scored points as Wayland Baptist erupted for a school-record point total in a 65-31 Sooner Athletic Conference rout of Texas College on Saturday afternoon at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium.

Multiple defensive records also were established in the contest that featured six touchdowns in the game's first 10 minutes. The Pioneers ultimately scored 34 unanswered points and put away the Steers to even their season record to 2-2 and improve to 2-1 in the SAC. Texas College fell to 0-4 overall and 0-3 in the league.

Wayland's final touchdown came with 56 seconds left in the game when reserve running back Willie Phillips scored on a 4-yard run to break the program record for points scored. The old mark of 58 – in a 58-37 win over Southwestern Assemblies of God University – had stood since 2012 when WBU restarted its program after a 72-year hiatus.

Pioneer quarterback Bryan Ponder threw three touchdown passes, the first a 52-yarder to Isaiah Baker that came 44 seconds after the Steers scored the first points of the afternoon on a 45-yard pass play. Just 24 seconds after WBU tied it, the Steers took a 13-7 lead on a 76-yard pass play.

It took Wayland less than two minutes to find the end zone as Damon Ford ran in from 11 yard out, giving the Pioneers the lead for good with 9:41 still left in the first quarter. Some 2½ minutes after that after the WBU defense got a stop, Ponder hooked up with Skyler Whitten on a 31-yard TD pass on the first play after the Texas College punter failed to gain a first down when he ran to avoid a blocked kick.

The Steers scored the sixth and final first-quarter touchdown on a 53-yard pass to pull to within 21-19, but Wayland logged the next six scores, including a pair of field goals by Brayden Welch from 26 and 49 yards. Four TDs during that stretch came from Naaji Gadsden on a 3-yard run, Ponder on a 9-yard scamper, Sean Rodriguez for recovering Judge Thomason's blocked punt in the end zone, and Jacoby Hunt on an 18-yard pass from Ponder.

That made it 55-19 less than four minutes into the second half.

The scoring pace slowed considerably after that. The next points came for Texas College on a 15-yard blocked punt return for a TD with 31 ticks left in the third.

Jeffery Lucido booted a 37-yard field goal that tied the record for most points with 11:48 left in the game. Texas College scored its final points less than a minute after that on a 28-yard pass. WBU ended the scoring with Phillips' 4-yard record-setting run with just under a minute to play.

Texas College's air-raid offense produced 350 yards in the air (on 17-of-46 passing) but was saddled with negative-72 yards on the ground on 27 carries, in large part due to 10 sacks for 76 yards of loss. That includes a pair of quarterback tackles that resulted in lost fumbles. One of those was a 59-yard scoop-and-score for Manny Arguijo, but that TD was nullified by penalty.

Texas College's negative-79 yards rushing shattered the old school record for a Wayland defense of seven yards by Arizona Christian in 2014. The 10 sacks also is a record, breaking the mark of five against Ottawa (Ariz.) in 2018.

Both William Humphrey and Gabriel Tito tied the school record for sacks in a game with three each. Humphrey wound up with 4 1/2 tackles for loss plus forced a fumlble while Tito had 3 1/2 TFLs and recovered a fumble. 

Wayland plays its fourth game in the season's first five weeks at 2 p.m. next Saturday against Texas Wesleyan (3-1, 2-1). The Rams won their first three against Arkansas State University Campus Queretaro (54-0), No. 20 Arizona Christian (48-21) and Oklahoma-Panhandle State (52-0) before falling last week at home to Ottawa (Ariz.) (27-22). The Rams were idle this weekend.