Little Rock, Ark. – The Wayland Baptist football team raced out to a 22-0 lead in the first quarter en route to a 32-7 victory over Arkansas Baptist Saturday afternoon in Little Rock, Ark. The win gave the Pioneers their first win the Sooner Athletic Conference for the year.
The Pioneers grabbed an early lead just two minutes into the contest as
Bryan Ponder hit
Dylan Jerden on a 16-yard pitch and catch to give Wayland a 6-0 lead after the PAT was blocked.
Wayland took advantage of a poor punt by Arkansas Baptist that gave them a great field position as
Leo Marini hit a 41-yard field goal to extend the lead the Pioneer lead to 9-0 in the first quarter. The Wayland defense came up big in the next Buffalos' possession as
Donovan Henry recovered a fumble on the second play of the ABC drive to give the Pioneers a short field.
On the sixth play of the ensuing drive,
Sheldon Bass Jr. hit paydirt from a yard out to give Wayland a 15-0 lead.
The Pioneers' defense came up big again late in the first quarter as Henry recovered another fumble and rumbled for 48 yards to score to give the Pioneers a 22-0 lead.
After a scoreless second quarter, the Pioneers took advantage of a 12-play, 75-yard drive as
Leo Marini hit a 23-yard field goal on the first drive of the third quarter to give Wayland a 25-0 lead.
Arkansas Baptist finally cracked the scoreboard late in the third quarter on a 32-yard touchdown pass to cut the Wayland advantage to 25-7.
The Pioneers put the game out of reach as Deleon Madria recovered a fumble to give Wayland a short field as Bass Jr. scored his second score of the day from a yard out to give Wayland a 32-7 lead. That is all that Wayland would need as their defense would stand tall over the last seven minutes to give the Pioneers the win.
