Things looked rather bleak for the Sul Ross State football team, trailing 28-0 in the second quarter against the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets on Saturday afternoon at Jackson Field.

The game then became a classic shootout.

Sul Ross got on the board with an 85-yard touchdown pass from Trent Graves to Vicente Luevano with 10:03 in the second quarter.

Howard Payne scored once more with a four-yard touchdown connection from Landon McKinney to Jordan Carroll with less than nine minutes to go until halftime.

With some trickery, Luevano found Graves in the end zone on a reverse pass from one yard away with 4:04 left to go in the first half.

Sul Ross trailed 35-14.

The comeback effort began as the Lobos scored with a four-yard run by Travell Lumpkin with 10:43 in the third quarter.

From that point on it was like two heavyweight boxers taking blow after blow.

McKinney threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Cheek with 10:43 to go in the third quarter.

Sul Ross answered with a one-yard score from Graves.

Otis Lanier then caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from McKinney making the score 49-28.

The Lobos wouldn't score again until the fourth quarter when Lumpkin scored on a seven-yard run to cut the deficit to two.

Ozias Wright made the score 49-42 with a 57-yard touchdown sprint with 11:31 to go.

Howard Payne added some insurance late in the contest when McKinney struck Lanier for a 42-yard touchdown pass with less than 40 seconds on the clock.

Graves completed 25 of 55 passes for 312 yards. Luevano hit the century mark with 107 yards on three catches.

Wright rushed for 123 yards on 11 carries while Lumpkin added with 79 yards on 15 carries.

>> RECORDS: Sul Ross 2-3 (2-1); Howard Payne 4-1 (3-0)

>> UP NEXT: Sul Ross travels to Hardin-Simmons for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, Oct. 8.