Box Score
For the second-straight year, McMurry led nationally-ranked Mary-Hardin Baylor after one quarter; however, the success was short lived as the No. 2 Crusaders rolled over McMurry 61-19 in Belton Saturday afternoon. Patrick Oliver caught three touchdown passes, and three UMHB running backs scored touchdowns to lead the Crusaders, who gained 509 yards of offense.
McMurry fumbled the opening kickoff to start the contest giving UMHB great field position to start the game. However, the Crusaders couldn't take advantage of a 25-yard field as Gene Vogelman sacked quarterback Josh Welch to open the game. One penalty and two plays later, Josh Chatman picked off a Welch pass in his first start of the season.
McMurry drove to the McMurry 37-yard line after starting from its own 3-yard line and Bert Green pinned the Crusaders at their 7-yard line with a 50-yard punt. Four plays later Chris Kelley forced a Quincy Daniels fumble that Vogelman picked up at the UMHB 26-yard line and returned it to the 17-yard line.
McMurry didn't put the ball in the end zone, but Josh Neaves put in a 29-yard field goal for the first points of the game. McMurry held the Crusader offense scoreless through the first quarter and Chatman intercepted another pass, however, UMHB bombarded McMurry with 58-unanswered points starting with a Daniels score from six yards out.
From there, Jarvis Thrasher scored on a 51-yard run, Joel Munoz added a 21-yard field goal and Oliver caught his first touchdown pass from 10 yards out with 1:53 left in the half. UMHB entered into the locker room with a 23-3 lead.
Then in the third, Oliver scored two-straight touchdowns on 16 and 13-yard receptions. Oliver in his only season with the team tied a school record with three touchdown receptions as a senior. Daniels caught a 35-yard score with 5:33 left and two minutes and 19 seconds later Owen scored on a 1-yard run to cap a 28-point third quarter.
Owen scored 34 seconds into the fourth quarter from four yards out. McMurry put up a fight in the fourth quarter beginning with a 56-yard touchdown run from Tristan Randle. Green caught a two-point conversion to make the score 58-11.
UMHB's James Crawford kicked a 47-yard field goal with 6:54 left before Green caught a juggling 45-yard touchdown pass from Rashon Lewis with 4:06 remaining. Evan Hearn caught the two-point conversion for the final score of the ball game to make the score 61-19.
Green had his most solid effort of the season with three receptions that went for 126 yards. He also punted eight times for an average of 46.6 yards, including a 72-yarder and three that landed inside the Crusader 20-yard line.
Other than the first and fourth quarters, the Crusaders kept McMurry's offense at bay. Jerrell Freeman and William Dewease led the defensive charge with seven tackles apiece. Freeman had a tackle for a loss while Dewesase added three stops behind the line. Mark Balderas and Jason Miller also each had three tackles for a loss. McMurry fumbled five times and the Crusaders recovered four times. Balderas, Brett Parker and Marco Coppola all forced fumbles for the UMHB defense.
Osiris Taylor led McMurry in tackles for the first time this season. The freshman had 11 tackles while Trey Brown had nine. Vogelman finished with seven tackles, three for a loss, and a sack to accompany his fumble recovery. Joe Alexander recorded four tackles for a loss while Kelley and Casey Long had two stops behind the line for McMurry's defense.
McMurry drops to 1-4 on the season and 0-3 in American Southwest Conference play. UMHB improves to 4-0 and 3-0 in the ASC.
McMurry will play host to East Texas Baptist Saturday at 2 p.m. for a Homecoming match up. McMurry hasn't beat ETBU in six-straight seasons.
