BELTON — For one quarter, the Sul Ross State football team was running alongside the defending national champions and current No. 4 ranked team.
The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders scored 21 unanswered points in the second quarter to eventually defeat the Lobos, 45-14, on Saturday afternoon at Crusader Stadium.
Anthony Avila put UMHB on top 3-0 with a 20-yard field goal with 13:10 in the opening quarter.
The Crusaders then extended their lead to 10-0 with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Kyle King to Brandon Jordan with eight minutes on the clock.
Travell Lumpkin capped off a nine-play, 61-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit with 31 seconds to go.
Early in the second quarter, Alphonso Thomas made the score 17-7 with a 15-yard touchdown scamper.
King then threw three touchdown passes to put the Crusaders ahead by 31 points. King tossed two touchdowns to Jerry Day from 57 and eight yards out.
The Lobos scored once more in the form of a 40-yard touchdown pass from
Trent Graves to
Eddie Sinegal with 45 seconds left in the third quarter.
Graves threw 22 of 33 passes for 236 yards while Lumpkin rushed for 26 yards on eight carries.
Sul Ross had more passing yards than the Crusaders, 251-250. The Lobos had 308 total yards of offense compared to 552 for UMHB.
Austin Ogunmakin led the receiving corps with three catches for 71 yards while Sinegal finished with 70 yards on three catches.
The Sul Ross secondary picked up two interceptions from
Jaylen Bussey and
Eli Gomez. The secondary had five pass breakups.
Ronin Williams led the way with nine total tackles and two tackles for loss.
>> WHAT THE COACH SAID:
"Today was a tough one for our guys. We showed improvement in some areas, made less mistakes but we need to take the next step and finish when we are in spots to make plays. We had too many miscues on offense and that's hard to overcome against the No. 4 team in the nation. However, the conference is recognizing the talent and fight we have on our team, so now we'll need that laser-like focus to finish strong, win homecoming and the I-20 trophy."
>> RECORDS: UMHB 7-1 (6-0); Sul Ross 2-5 (2-3)
>> UP NEXT: Sul Ross hosts rival McMurry for homecoming with a 1 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, Oct. 29 at Jackson Field.
