Game NotesBelton, Texas – For the first time in more than six years, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team will look to bounce back from a regular season loss when the Cru takes on Howard Payne University this Saturday. UMHB will host the Yellow Jackets for a 1:00 PM kickoff at Crusader Stadium in an American Southwest Conference matchup.
The Cru is coming off a 29-26 loss to nationally-ranked Hardin-Simmons last Saturday in Abilene. That was the first regular season defeat for UMHB since October 17, 2009 and snapped a 61-game regular season winning streak and a 39-game ASC win streak for the Cru. The loss also makes every game from here on out a must-win for UMHB to keep the Cru's postseason hopes alive. Since no player on the current roster had even lost a game in the regular season, the UMHB coaches are anxious to see how the team responds to having its back to the wall.
"Our leaders really rallied this team when we got back to the field house," Cru Head Coach
Pete Fredenburg said. "It is an unfortunate thing to lose a football game, but we need to find a way to turn a setback into a comeback. I expect our players to dust themselves off and bounce back. We have to because this program has too much pride not to and our guys have so much invested in this season."
Howard Payne enters the game with a 1-7 overall record and a 1-2 mark in ASC play. The Yellow Jackets picked up their first win of the season when a last-second field goal gave HPU an 18-16 win over Louisiana College last Saturday. UMHB leads the all-time series between the two teams 15-2 and has won ten straight over the Yellow Jackets since HPU posted a 24-20 victory over the Cru in the 2005 regular season.
UMHB will enter the contest ranked #11 in the country by the AFCA and #10 in the nation by D3football.com. The Cru has won 45 straight regular season home contests and has never lost a regular season game at Crusader Stadium.
For more information on parking, traffic flow and game day events, please visit the following link:
http://www.umhb.edu/stadium/game-day-information/#directions-parking. There will be parking reserved for Howard Payne University fans in the parking lot at the corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and College Drive. Yellow Jackets fans are encouraged to enter the stadium through ticket window #3 at the southeast corner of Crusader Stadium.
Saturday's game will also be broadcast live on K101.7 FM and through the station's web site with the pre-game show starting at 12:30 PM. UMHB will provide live video streaming and live statistics for the game with links to both available by clicking here:
http://portal.stretchinternet.com/umhb/. Tickets are still available and the ticket windows are scheduled to open at 11:00 PM on Saturday. Reserved tickets are $12. General admission tickets are $10 for adults and $6 for students. The stadium gates will open at 11:30 PM on Saturday. Tickets left at Will Call will be available for pickup at Ticket Window #2 on the home side.
