Gallery: (9-3-2022) Football vs Hardin-Simmons University
Wayland Baptist's 2022 football season got off to a rocky start Saturday at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium as sixth-ranked Hardin-Simmons rolled to a 79-14 victory.
The NCAA Division III Cowboys scored 28 first-quarter points and never allowed the Pioneers to gain any traction, save for a pair of second-half touchdowns.
With Wayland trailing 59-0, freshman
Damon Ford scored the Pioneers' first points on a 32-yard run midway through the third. Wayland's other touchdown came on a 28-yard pass from
Bryan Ponder to
Kamron Williams early in the fourth.
It took HSU just 69 seconds to score its first points, which came when Wayland punter
Brayden Welch lost control of the ball and the Cowboys pulled off a 20-yard scoop-and-score.
HSU scored on a series of big plays: rushes of 89, 7, 22, 40, 6, and 54 yards, and passes of 37, 39, 22 and 7 yards.
It was the second-most points allowed in WBU's modern era football history, behind an 80-21 loss to No. 21 Ottawa (Ariz.) in 2019. Coincidentally, that game saw Wayland's opponent score its first touchdown on a botched Pioneer punt on the game's opening possession.
The 65-point loss is the largest margin of defeat in WBU's 11-year modern-era history, surpassing a 76-13 (63 points) setback to McMurry in 2012 when WBU restarted its program following a 72-year hiatus. The record Saturday was broken on the final play of the game when the Cowboys scored on a 54-yard run. There was no PAT attempt.
Wayland will be back in action at home next Saturday against Lyon (Ark.). The Scots fell to No. 10 Ottawa on Saturday in Arkansas, 70-0, after winning their season-opener a week earlier against Missouri Baptist, 24-12. The Pioneers defeated Lyon last season in Arkansas, 31-7.
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