Sul Ross travels east to Jackson, Mississippi this Saturday for the fourth-ever matchup with the Belhaven Blazers. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. from Belhaven Bowl Stadium.


Media Information

Radio…... KVLF AM 1240
Web…….. bigbendradio.com
Watch Live…… https://blazers.belhaven.edu/watch/?Live=40&type=Live
Live Stats…... https://blazers.belhaven.edu/sidearmstats/football/summary


Quick Hits and Recap

• The Lobos slipped to 3-5 on the season and 3-4 in the ASC after a 31-20 loss to Howard Payne on November 2.
• Starting quarterback Trey Johns completed 10 of 27 passing for 145 yards and an interception.
• Fabian Baeza completed one of two for 14 yards and a touchdown.
• Williton Grear led Sul Ross rushers with 64 yards and a touchdown.
• The Lobos rushed for a game-high 138 yards and allowed 94 on defense.
• Tight end Logan Schnautz led all receivers with 72 yards and a reception long of 55.
• Dre'Chon Moody scored his third touchdown of the season on a 14-yard pass from Baeza. Moody totaled 52 yards in the game on four catches.

Scouting the Blazers

• Head coach Blaine McCorkle is in his second season as head coach of the Blazers. He led them to a 2-8 season in 2018.
• Belhaven is currently 1-7 on the year. They started their season 0-3 with a 28-14 loss to Millsaps, 20-14 to Louisiana College, and 23-13 to Mary Hardin-Baylor. The Blazers first win was a 46-18 rout of McMurry. They proceeded to drop the next four with a 28-17 loss to East Texas Baptist, 31-21 to Southwestern, 63-7 to Hardin-Simmons, and 34-14 to Texas Lutheran.
• Belhaven averages just over 18 points per game and gives up just under 31.
• They average 210.1 yards per game in the air and 117.9 on the ground.
• The Blazers allow 227.8 passing yards per game and 160.1 rushing.
• Senior quarterback Hunter McEachern has completed just under 60% of his passes for eight touchdowns and four interceptions. He averages 203 passing yards per game.
• Junior running back Brad Foley leads the team with 90 attempts, 433 yards, 54.13 yards per game, an average of 4.8 yards per rush, six touchdowns, and a long of 57. He is also third on the team in receiving yards with 242 and has caught two touchdowns.
• Belhaven has three rushers over 200 yards on the ground. Foley, and quarterbacks Mario Asagunla and McEachern with 262 and 261 respectively.
• Senior wide receiver LaMarcus Caradine leads all receivers with 33 yards and three touchdowns. 
• Senior tight end Tyrus Black is second on the team in yards and touchdowns with 244 and two.

 
 Series History

• The Lobos and Blazers all-time series is tied 2-2. All games have taken place under John Pearce.
• Belhaven defeated the Lobos 8-0 in their most recent matchup in 2018.

 
Around the ASC (November 9, 2019)

Howard Payne at Southwestern, 1:00 p.m.
Texas Lutheran at Mary Hardin-Baylor, 1:00 p.m.
Louisiana College at McMurry, 1:00 p.m.
Hardin-Simmons at East Texas Baptist, 2:00 p.m.


Conference Rewind

#1 Mary Hardin-Baylor 82 – Louisiana College 0 (Saturday, November 2)
PINEVILLE, Louisiana – Jefferson Fritz's 42-yard interception return for a touchdown put the Cru on the board 36 seconds into the game. Jase Hammack hit Jonel Reed on a 47-yard touchdown and a Tommy Bowden four-yard touchdown run put UMHB up 21-0 going to the second quarter. The Cru started second quarter scoring with a 45-yard interception return for a touchdown by Drake Johnson. Bowden later scored on a one-yard touchdown run. Luke Poorman hit Jo'Vel McDaniel on a 25-yard touchdown strike and a 33-yard field goal by Anthony Avila made it 44-0 at the half. In the second half, Avila kicked a 35-yard field goal, Hammack connected with Reed from nine yards out, and Justin Theriot had a 1-yard rushing touchdown all in the third quarter to make it 61-0 going to the fourth. UMHB scored three times on the ground in the fourth with an eight-yard score by Tommy Bowden, a 13-yarder from Tevin Pipkin, and a five-yard scamper by Justin Gipson for the 82-0 shutout of LC. The Cru remain perfect at 8-0 and the Wildcats fall to 2-6.

Texas Lutheran 34 – Belhaven 14 (Saturday, November 2)
SEGUIN, Texas – Belhaven's Hunter McEachern connected with Mario Asagunla for a 17-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter. The Bulldogs answered back 1:08 later on a 57- yard strike from Wade Freeman to CJ Romero for a 7-7 tie in the first. TLU took their first lead on their next possession with a one-yard touchdown run by Ian Leslie for a 14-7 lead. They'd extend their lead to 20-7 when Freeman hit Romero from 49 yards with 45 seconds left in the first quarter. Midway through the third quarter, Chris Monroe scored on a one-yard rush for a 27-7 lead. The Blazers ended the third quarter with a seven-yard touchdown pass from McEachern to Nick Lauderdale to cut the deficit to 27-14 entering the third quarter. After a scoreless third for each side, Austin Mathews scored on a one-yard touchdown run for a 31-14 lead and eventual victory. The Bulldogs improve to 7-1 on the year. Belhaven drops to 1-7.

East Texas Baptist 49 – Southwestern 23 (Saturday, November 2)
GEORGETOWN, Texas – ETBU took a 14-0 lead to the second quarter after Jeremiah Robertson scored 28 and 13-yard rushing touchdowns in the first quarter. The Pirates got on the board in the second with a 27-yard field goal by Wil Herbst. David Brandenbu scored 2:34 later on a 20-yard touchdown run. Late in the second, Austin Emery connected with Brandenbu from 23-yards for a 16-14 Southwestern lead going to the half. The Tigers took control in the second half by outscoring the Pirates 38-7. Justin Ward and Keshoyn Alexander each had a rushing touchdown in the third and Alexander also took a 90-yard kick return back to the end zone. In the fourth, Brian Baca threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Jake Smith and Bailey Badeaux had a 43-yard touchdown run for a 49-23 win over Southwestern. ETBU improves to 5-3 and the Pirates fall to 4-4.
 
Hardin Simmons 91 – Louisiana College 29 (Saturday, November 2)
ABILENE, Texas – Kyle Jones found Rae Millsap on a 45-yard strike for the first score of the game. Jaquan Hemphill led the HSU attack in the first half with two rushing touchdowns and a reception from Jones. Jones, Marc Reed, and Hayden Day each had a rushing touchdown in the first half for a 49-0 lead at the break. The Cowboys rolled in the second half with two more touchdown passes from Jones, one from backup Quay Stokes, a 51-yard interception return for a touchdown by David Wilson, and rushing touchdowns from Bryson Hammonds and Kolby Youngblood for a 91-29 rout of the War Hawks. HSU moves to 6-2 and McMurry falls to 0-8.


CONFERENCE STANDINGS
1    Mary Hardin-Baylor            8-0 (7-0 ASC)
1    Texas Lutheran                  7-1 (7-0 ASC)
3    Hardin-Simmons                6-2 (5-2 ASC)
3    East Texas Baptist             5-3 (5-2 ASC)
5    Southwestern                     4-4 (3-4 ASC)
5    Sul Ross St.                       3-5 (3-4 ASC)
7    Howard Payne                   3-5 (2-5 ASC)
7    Louisiana College              2-5 (2-5 ASC)
9    Belhaven                            1-7 (1-6 ASC)
10  McMurry                             0-8 (0-7 ASC)


Quotes from Coach John Pearce: November 6

Thoughts after 31-20 loss to Howard Payne
We didn't get the win. We played a good game at times. They just, you go back and look at the film, about five plays on offense, five plays on defense, and two on special teams cost us the win. It's cliché, it comes down to a couple plays here and there, it really did. Not taking anything away from Howard Payne. As you know, we had to play with a new free safety because our guy was injured. I think they found that out in the third quarter. Some of it was some blown coverage with new guys back there and not use to playing that position that we tried to put a band-aid on it. We gave up a couple big plays, they got in the end zone. I still thought we battled and tried to come back. Our guys kept fighting in the fourth quarter. Offensively, I think some of the wind fell out of their mojo when Will Grear got a little banged up. He's fine, long-term wise, he'll be fine this week. It's going into week nine, everybody's beat up. Obviously playing in this league and being our alpha lobo running back, he's going to take some shots. Take your hat off to coach Braxton at Howard Payne. He took over a program that was a hot mess I guess. Similar to the way we were to when I got here. He's built it up and done a good job and he has some leadership guys that have been in the program three or four years. They kept fighting and they got the win.
 
On giving up 358 passing yards, banged up defense, and message to team about that going into Belhaven
This week we got healthy again, so that helps. We got our healthy guys back and that's it. Just trying to put our best checkers on the field.

Second two-game losing streak of the year and message last time that happened
We had a break, so that helped us. We just have to keep working. We're at a point of the season when you're playing a bunch of freshmen and sophomores and they're going to hit the wall. Especially in this league and how physical this league is. I just hope they keep fighting, which we've done. We fought even against TLU. We scored late in that game. We kept fighting against Howard Payne. Hopefully we'll come out and fight for four quarters against Belhaven this week and whoever we play in week 10. That's all we have to do is keep competing, stay positive and hopefully the ball goes our way and some of the bounces go our way and we can capitalize on it. 
 
On scouting Belhaven
I know Belhaven, they're probably excited to play us right now, especially how we looked on film at times last week. They're struggling too, I think they have one win. They are a talented football team. They played Mary Hardin-Baylor as tough as anyone in this league this year. They have a talented running back, talented quarterback, they have two of them that can go. They are unexperienced on the offensive line. Hopefully we can capitalize on that with our young defensive line. We've got to make good, aggressive tackles. What they try to do is run a lot of formations and shifting and try to get your eyes off the football, off your keys and try to trick you. It's kind of what we do offensively. We have to be disciplined, play sound, play base defense and tackle when we have to.

8-0 loss to Belhaven last year and what differences go into planning this year
Nothing. We still have our scheme, our base defense. I guess they're similar to last year. They still use a lot of formations. I know they tried to throw the tackle screen last year. They throw a tight end screen just as similar to it. They put trips on the field, put the tight end in the boundary and it's almost just like that. They are a good screen team as well. We try to run a lot of screens because of the pressure we get faced with. We just have to be disciplined. Eye discipline on defense. Offensively, those clichés again, you have to run the ball. I think our receivers last week struggled for the first time. I know it's been inconsistent, but that's with young guys. We had several drops last week. I think if we made those catches we could have stayed in the game a little longer. I think we need to capitalize on that. Trey Johns just needs to throw the ball to the right receiver as well. He needs to hit his reads right. Give them catchable passes. We just have to keep producing.  
 
On Belhaven staying close with TLU and UMHB and if that changes anything when planning
No. We still just look at their breakdowns. I take my hat off to coach McCorkle for playing those type teams really tough. They got up on TLU. We just have to keep battling for four quarters. I think when you look at those programs or where their program is, they don't know how to win yet. Kind of like Howard Payne and Sul Ross. Sometimes you shoot yourself in the foot until you start getting success and playing with that swagger and that confidence. I've been at programs like at Shepherd University, who is one of the top Division II programs. They played in the national title game about 5-6 years ago. We knew when we got off the bus we were going to win. When I was there, we lost a few games and it was really a sad feeling because those guys were not used to it. That's what it is. You have to have that swagger and play with confidence. It's just like academics. If you go into the test feeling like you're going to fail, then you're probably going to fail. You've got to have confidence. We're trying to change and get that culture away from us. We experienced it again last year. We had it gone and got away from that losing culture with the James Davis and Steven Savedra class and we're just bringing it back. The good thing this year is we've got three wins. I think we're ahead of the program of where I want it to be. Last week if we got that W, 4-4 sounds a lot better than 3-5. We've got a chance to get our fourth win this year and 4-5 sounds a lot better than 3-6. That's what our goal is.
 
Feeling in locker room with two games to go compared to last year
Last year we were fighting to get guys to come to meetings on time. Going to weight room or study hall, get their progress reports. We still have a couple yahoos, don't get me wrong. We don't have people missing. We've got guys working. The hard part is trying to get them to practice physical. That's really it, that's the hard part. Especially now because we're beat up. You don't have the depth like you normally want. That's the only thing that we've got to coach up and try to make them do.