Sul Ross is back home this Saturday, September 28
th for the 19
th meeting between the Lobos and East Texas Baptist Tigers. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. at Jackson Field.
Media Information
Radio…... KVLF AM 1240
Web…….. bigbendradio.com
Watch Live…… https://livestream.com/srsumedia/football
Live Stats…... https://srlobos.com/sidearmstats/football/summary
Quick Hits and Recap
- Sul Ross picked up its first win of the season and reclaimed the Battle of I-20 trophy with a 21-7 win over the McMurry War Hawks in Abilene.
- The Lobos outgained with War Hawks 293-290.
- Quarterbacks Clayton Maxwell and Trey Johns both had rushing touchdowns.
- Sully's defense caused five turnovers (two fumble recoveries and three interceptions)
- Cory McMahan earned ASC Defensive Player of the Week honors with a 76-yard interception for a touchdown, a blocked punt, three total tackles and a break up.
Scouting the Tigers
- First-year head coach Brian Mayper led the Tigers to a 6-4 season in 2018.
- ETBU is currently 0-2 with a 38-30 loss to Wisconsin-Platteville and a 31-21 loss to Texas Lutheran.
- They are scoring 25.5 points per game while surrendering 34.5 per game to opponents.
- Senior quarterback Brian Baca comes into this game with a 135.18 rating on 44-68 passing, 461 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. He's completing 64.7% of his passes and averages 230.5 yards per game.
- Senior running back Jeremiah Robertson is averaging 94.5 yards per game and an average of 6.1 yards per carry. He's totaled 189 yards on 31 rushes and two touchdowns.
- Junior wide receiver Jalen Blanton leads the Tigers in receptions (10), yards (144), yards per reception (14.4), yards per game (72), touchdowns (2), and longest reception (37 yards).
Series History
- The Tigers lead the all-time series 14-4 and currently hold a winning streak of two games.
- ETBU defeated the Lobos 60-14 in last year's meeting.
Around the ASC (Sept. 21, 2019)
Hardin-Simmons at Louisiana College, 12:00 p.m.
McMurry at Belhaven, 1:00 p.m.
Southwestern at Texas Lutheran, 6:00 p.m.
Howard Payne at Mary Hardin-Baylor, 6:00 p.m.
Conference Rewind
Hardin-Simmons 63 – Howard Payne 20 (Saturday, September 21st)
BROWNWOOD, Texas – Howard Payne held a first quarter lead for a minute and five seconds before Brennen Wooten's first of five touchdown passes tied the game 7-7. Jaquan Hemphill added two first half rushing touchdowns as HSU scored 21 in each of the first two quarters for a 42-13 halftime lead. HSU totaled 21 in the second half for a 63-20 win over the Yellow Jackets. Five different receivers caught a touchdown pass from Wooten as he totaled 291 yards for the game. The Cowboys rushed for 332 yards with 198 from Hemphill. HSU moves to 3-0 while the Yellow Jackets fall to 2-1.
Southwestern 50 – Louisiana College 3 (Saturday, September 21st)
GEORGETOWN, Texas – Landry Gilpin rushed for two of the three touchdowns on the ground in the first half as 30 unanswered helped the Pirates take a 37-3 lead to the half. Southwestern outscored the Wildcats 13-0 in the second half for the 50-3 win. The Pirates outgained Louisiana College 514-332. Southwestern is 2-0 while the Wildcats are 1-2.
Texas Lutheran 31 – East Texas Baptist 21 (Saturday, September 21st)
MARSHALL, Texas – ETBU erased a 14-0 first quarter deficit on an 85-yard run by Jeremiah Robertson and a 1-yard run by Brian Baca to tie the game 14-14 in the second quarter. Wade Freeman's 13-yard touchdown strike to Mason Perkins with 15 seconds left in the second quarter gave the Bulldogs a 21-14 lead at the half. TLU outscored ETBU 10-7 in the fourth quarter for the win. Freeman of the Bulldogs threw for 151 yards and three touchdowns on 10-14 passing. TLU improves to 1-1 while the Tigers fall to 0-2.
Mary Hardin-Baylor 23 – Belhaven 13 (Saturday, September 21st)
SEGUIN, Texas – The defending champs jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead on a Jo'Vel McDaniel 2-yard touchdown run before Luke Poorman connected with Jonel Reed for a 14-yard touchdown. Belhaven answered back with a Kolbe Blunt 1-yard touchdown run to cut it to 8 in the first quarter. UMHB's Anthony Avila connected on three field goals (44/27/20) for a 23-6 lead at the half. The Blazers cut it to 10 in the fourth on Hunter McEachern's 22-yard touchdown pass to Tyrus Black. The Cru held on defensively the rest of the way for the 23-13 victory. McDaniel rushed for 137 yards on the ground and averaged 6.5 yards per carry. UMHB moves to 2-0 and the Blazers fall to 0-3.
CONFERENCE STANDINGS
1 Hardin-Simmons 3-0 (2-0 ASC)
2 Mary Hardin-Baylor 2-0 (1-0 ASC)
2 Southwestern 2-0 (1-0 ASC)
2 Texas Lutheran 1-1 (1-0 ASC)
5 Howard Payne 2-1 (1-1 ASC)
5 Louisiana College 1-2 (1-1 ASC)
5 Sul Ross St. 1-2 (1-1 ASC)
8 East Texas Baptist 0-2 (0-1 ASC)
9 Belhaven 0-3 (0-2 ASC)
9 McMurry 0-3 (0-2 ASC)
Quotes from Coach John Pearce: September 25
Thoughts on first win of season (21-7 over McMurry)
It was good for the morale of the team. They've been working really hard. This groups pretty special. We've talked in the past interviews that we're young. You can look on our roster, there's a lot of freshmen and sophomores. It's just a process, but I think it kind of validates what we're preaching and what we're doing. I think our guys do work hard in practice, just sometimes our checkers don't match up with our opponent. But we're heading in the right direction.
On reclaiming the Battle of I-20 trophy
It's good. The two universities have been playing about 89 times. It's a big rival. When I first got here there was no trophy between two schools in any of our conference or maybe non-conference teams. So, I looked into it. Other places in Texas we've always had a trophy game. With the previous coach, coach Henson, I presented the idea to him, got PhyTEx on board, they created the trophy. I never wanted to lose it. We won the first three and lost the fourth one. The only bright side of last year losing it was watching the War Hawks run and get the trophy. Well, out of this loss at least we know this trophy means something and that's the way it should be. I'm excited for the next 89 games. I won't be the head coach of all 89 games, but at least hopefully that trophy keeps going back and forth.
On defense causing five turnovers
They stepped up. We've been preaching turnovers. We've got our little version of the turnover chain with our Bar-SR on it all glammed up. Any time you can give our offense extra opportunities to put the ball in the end zone it's going to help or even in our situation just burn off game clock in a tight game. It was all a team effort. Defense played a lot better and the offense moved the ball and get a couple touchdowns. Special teams we played field position game and then we had the blocked punt to setup our second touchdown. It was a good all-around game.
On using first win of season as catapult for future games
It's still business as usual. We watched the film on Sunday to point out the good, the bad, and the ugly and what we have to improve on. One thing I talked to the team about last night was that we have to still clean up our penalties. We've got to do a better job there. The spirit last night, we had lightning so our practice was delayed until after dinner. I think our guys with just cooler temperatures, but we had a very spirited and enthusiastic practice last night and I think the win helps contribute to that.
On preparing/bouncing back from 60-14 loss to ETBU last season
They're a different team and we're a totally different team than last year. Last year was almost a wash for the program. You can't compare last year to this year. They're a very good 0-2 team. They played two really good opponents just like we did in our first two games. I think they're quarterback, I voted him offensive preseason player of the year. They have very talented running backs. They have a lot of kids that are fast and can run. Defensively they like to blitz. We know what we have to do and just hopefully we can execute.
On strategic changes when seeing a different team
We stick to our game plan and our philosophy. They're not a big team, they're just a fast team. Hardin-Simmons and Kingsville are big and fast teams. ETBU is not a real big team. They do have speed and we have to be able to tackle up front defensively. Offensively we have to pick up the blitz and try and get a little run game going.
On what it would mean to get to 2-2 and win two in a row
It's awesome and it's good for the program. We're heading in the right direction. Everybody wants to win and that's why you're in this business. It's a good thing.
