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BELTON, Texas – McMurry University's final football game as an NCAA Division III member was in the second round of the national playoffs, however, Mary Hardin-Baylor took a 49-20 victory over the War Hawks at Tiger Field.

The War Hawks cut the lead to 28-20 in the third quarter, however, Mary Hardin-Baylor scored two defensive touchdowns and 21 unanswered points to close the ball game.

McMurry's season ends at 9-3, which ties the school record for wins with the 1980 team. The War Hawks' win over Trinity Nov. 19 was the first victory in a playoff situation for any team in McMurry's history.

But, Mary Hardin-Baylor's rushing attack netted 260 yards and produced four touchdowns to sink McMurry's hopes of advancing further. The Crusaders' LiDarral bailey rushed for 93 yards and a touchdown while Darius Wilson had 90 yards and two touchdowns for UMHB.

McMurry's Jake Mullin threw two first-half touchdown passes but the Crusaders went to the locker room with a 28-12 halftime lead.

In the second half, McMurry was a revitalized team holding the Crusaders to three fruitless offensive drives. The Crusaders had to punt three times and gained just 18 yards in the quarter.

McMurry was only able to score one touchdown when Mullin threw his third touchdown strike of the game to Jeret Smith on fourth down with 2:33 to play in the third. The previous drive, however, R.J. Long's reception in the endzone was ruled an incompletion that may have set up a tie score, But, after the first down incompletion, Mullin was sacked on second down for a loss of 15 yards to the UMHB 32 before McMurry eventually turned it over on downs.

The fourth quarter was a different story.

McMurry's pass-heavy offense was forced to throw into a north wind that gusted up to 30 miles per hour, and the War Hawks had trouble moving the ball. McMurry started a drive into the wind with 10:58 to play but went to fourth down. Because of the high winds, McMurry tried to run a trick play on fourth down from its own 15 and a fumble led to a recovery for a touchdown in the end zon for Rocky Vaclavick of UMHB and the wheels fell off from there.

Elijah Hudson scored on a 5-yard run after another McMurry turnover on downs before Mike Maldanado scored the final touchdown of the game on a 33-yard interception return with 20 seconds left.

UMHB moved to 12-0 and will play host to Wesley Saturday in the NCAA Division III Quarterfinals.

McMurry's Will Morris recorded the third-highest tackle total in school history on his final day in a War Hawks uniform with 21. In the losing effort Mullin finished with 269 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Vaclavick and Javicz Jones had a dozen tackles apiece to lead UMHB.