ABILENE, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' football team took sole possession of first place in the American Southwest Conference with a 24-14 win over Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday afternoon at Shelton Stadium.
Mary Hardin-Baylor came out and forced a three-and-out on the first possession and turned around and drove 10 plays before settling for a field goal that was no good. HSU went three-and-out on the next series and the Cru drove 70 yards in 10 plays and Isaac Phe capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run with 3:38 remaining in the first quarter.
The Cowboys responded with a drive of their own and Andy Prazak nailed a 32-yard field goal on the second play of the second quarter to cut the deficit to 7-3. The score remained that way through half. UMHB outgained the Cowboys 259-103 in the first half. HSU came away with momentum though when the Cru drove 80 yards in 16 plays but settled for a field goal attempt the Braden Hargrove blocked. It was Hargrove's fourth block of the season and fifth of his career. Both are school records.
HSU turned the page in the second half on both sides of the ball. The defense came out and immediately forced a punt. The Cowboys then picked up a couple of first downs before having to punt. It was the play of the game as Cody Harral's high punt was muffed by Kenneth Miller and the Cowboys' DeKeidris Bedford recovered it at the 2-yard line. Colton Marshall ran it in and the Cowboys had their first lead of the game at 10-7 with 8:50 to play in the third quarter.
The defense forced another three-and-out and HSU took the ball 52 yards in six plays and Noah Gacia scored from five yards out to push the lead to 17-7. The defense then forced another punt. Zach Wilkerson's crew limited UMHB to 22 yards in the third quarter. The offense had 125 yards in the quarter.
Marshall gave the Cowboys a 24-7 lead with another short touchdown run with 14:35 to go in the game.
The Cru responded with a quick 75-yard, nine-play drive with Phe scoring from four yards out to cut the deficit to 24-14. HSU then had to punt on its next possession.
UMHB was driving when Brock Bujnoch recorded his first interception of the season when he stepped in front of a Phe pass to essentially seal the game.
Matt Mitchell and Cade Michna, two Cowboy senior linebackers who had been out four games with injuries before last week's game at Sul Ross State, were both back in form on Saturday. Mitchell had 12 tackles, three tackles for loss, a half-sack, two pass break ups and a quarterback hurry. Michna also had 12 tackles, 3.5 for loss, two sacks and a pass break up.
Garcia led the Cowboys with 124 rushing yards. Tailon Garrett had five catches for 62 yards and Glynn was 10-for-18 for 130 yards.
Phe was 25-of-36 for 233 yards but the Cowboys sacked him five times and picked him off once. Kenneth Cormier had 100 yards rushing and Jerry Day had nine catches for 116 yards. Omari Frazier led the Cru with 10 tackles. UMHB had 14 penalties in the contest for 113 yards.
HSU is now 7-1 on the year and 4-0 in ASC play. UMHB fell to 4-4 on the year and to 3-1 in conference play. The Cowboys will travel to Sherman, Texas to play Austin College next week at 1 p.m.
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