Box Score Box Score
Photo Gallery
Click
here to watch
Darius Wilson talk about his kickoff return and the win.
Abilene, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team dominated the first quarter and then won the fourth quarter to overcome a terrible stretch in the middle of the game and the 5
th-ranked Cru escaped with a 43-31 victory over McMurry University Saturday in Abilene. UMHB improves to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops McMurry to 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the ASC. UMHB has also won ten straight over McMurry.
The Cru jumped out to a 22-0 first quarter lead, scoring the game's first points on the opening kickoff. McMurry's Eric Shaffer fumbled the ball into the end zone and
Chad Cannon recovered for a Cru touchdown and a 7-0 lead just 11 seconds into the game. The lead would grow to 10-0 when
Alan Munoz hit a 31-yard field goal on UMHB's opening drive. A bad snap over the McMurry punter's head would give the Cru a safety and a 12-0 lead with 8:04 left in the first half.
LiDarral Bailey would then break a 39-yard touchdown run to stretch the Cru lead to 19-0. Munoz would add a 47-yard field goal to make it 22-0 Cru at the end of the first quarter.
McMurry would storm back with 25 consecutive points. Jake Mullin sandwiched touchdown passes to Shaffer and Courteland Gilbert around a pair of TD tosses to R.J. Long and McMurry would grab a 25-22 lead with 2:21 to go in the third quarter. UMHB would retake the lead when
Darius Wilson took the ensuing kickoff back 90 yards for a touchdown to put UMHB back on top 29-25 with 2:06 left in the third.
Quincy Daniels would add an eight-yard TD run on the next Cru possession to give UMHB a 36-25 lead and
Chad Morales provided some insurance when he picked off a Mullin pass and returned it 32-yards for a score and 43-25 lead. Mullin would find Marcus Franklin with a 35-yard TD pass with 5:17 remaining to cut the lead to 43-31. McMurry would successfully execute an onside kick, but the Cru defense held on downs and would force another turnover on downs on the final McMurry possession to clinch the victory.
UMHB was outgained 512 to 240 in the game and the Cru was just 2-15 passing for 25 yards. UMHB sacked Mullin six times, blocked two field goals and an extra point and forced two turnovers. But the Cru also gave the ball away once and was penalized 11 times for 163 yards.
Daniels finished with 99 rushing yards on 27 carries and he became just the third player in UMHB history to go over 3,000 yards career rushing, Bailey ran for 85 yards and a score and Wilson had 179 all-purpose yards. Mullin finished 39-61 for 498 yards and five touchdowns for McMurry and Franklin caught 11 passes for 185 yards.
Javicz Jones led the Cru defense with 13 tackles and
Ty Dooley added 11 more. Eight different players had at least a half sack for UMHB. Ricky Jimenez had 11 tackles to top McMurry and Corey Hall added 10 total tackles.
The Cru will now return home for the 2010 home opener next Saturday. UMHB will welcome Hardin-Simmons University to Tiger Field for a 6:00 PM kickoff in a match-up of top ten teams. The Cowboys were ranked 9th in the country this week and moved to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in ASC play with a 45-10 victory over Mississippi College.
