MARSHALL, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team mounted a big drive when it had to and held off a late rally as the Cru edged East Texas Baptist 30-28 Saturday in Marshall. UMHB improves to 3-0 overall and in American Southwest Conference play with the win and the Cru also clinches at least a share of the ASC East Division title. The loss drops the Tigers to 2-2 overall and in the ASC on the year.
 
UMHB missed field goals on two of its first three possessions and ETBU grabbed the lead on a 72-yard touchdown pass from Troy Yowman to Cornelius Merchant with 5:16 left in the opening period. The Cru missed another field goal, but a big punt return by Jefferson Fritz set up Montana Miller's 26-yard scoring run to cut the lead to 7-6 with 8:42 to go in the first half. Jacob Mueller recovered an ETBU fumble two plays later and Kyle King cashed it in for a 10-yard touchdown run to give UMHB its first lead of the game at 13-7 with 7:09 remaining in the second quarter. The Tigers put together another good drive, but Fritz intercepted a pass at the goal line to end that scoring threat and it would stay 13-7 at halftime. That was one of four first half turnovers forced by the Cru defense in the opening half.
 
The Cru would get some breathing room on Tommy Bowden's 24-yard scoring strike to Kadarius Daniels with 7:27 left in the third quarter to stretch it out to 20-7. A Titus Dunk interception on the next possession set up another short field for the Cru and Melek Hamilton would score on an 11-yard run to give UMHB a 27-7 advantage with 5:47 left in the third. East Texas Baptist answered followed with Yowman's 27-yard touchdown pass to Decarlos Frazier after the Tigers picked off a Bowden pass to close the gap to 27-14 with 1:19 left to play in the third. ETBU pulled to within 27-21 when Yowman hit Tariq Gray with a four-yard scoring pass to close out a six-play, 68-yard drive with 11:57 left to play. ETBU took a 28-27 lead on Bailey Badeaux's one-yard run on fourth and goal with 7:26 on the clock. UMHB answered with Avila's 37-yard field goal with 2:12 remaining to take the lead back at 30-28. The Cru defense then came up with a huge stop to force a turnover on downs at the UMHB 48-yard line to preserve the win.
 
The Cru was held to just 240 yards of total offense on the day, but part of that was due to playing on short fields most of the first half. UMHB allowed a team to score more than 20 points in the regular season for the first time since ETBU put 21 on the board in the 2017 regular season finale. The Tigers rolled up 384 yards of total offense, but the Cru defense forced six turnovers on the day.
 
Montana Miller led UMHB with 50 rushing yards on 11 carries and King had 33 yards on nine attempts. Bowden was 7-19 passing for 58 yards and a score and King hit 5-13 for 81 yards. Brenton Martin had four catches for 68 yards. Mikkah Hackett had 12 tackles to lead the Cru defense and Fritz added two interceptions to add to his UMHB and ASC career record.
 
Yowman was 24-46 passing for ETBU for 354 yards and three touchdowns, but he was also picked off four times and sacked three times. Gray had four catches for 63 yards and a score and Qua Heath added five grabs for 42 yards. Justice Henson and Chase Thompson led the Tiger defense with eight tackles apiece.
 
UMHB will now have another open week before closing out the regular season with a noon home game against Louisiana College on March 20^th. The Cru can clinch the outright East Division title and a berth in the ASC Championship Game with a victory over the Wildcats.