ABILENE, Texas – Missing nine of its regular starters on Saturday afternoon, the McMurry football team went to battle against defending NCAA Division III national champion Mary Hardin-Baylor, dropping a 79-0 decision at Wilford Moore Stadium.
The No. 1 Crusaders improved to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in American Southwest Conference play, extending its overall win streak to 19 games, its regular season win streak to 35 games and its ASC streak to 30 games. Meanwhile, the War Hawks drop to 0-5 on the season and 0-4 in conference play.
Without senior quarterback
Xavier Alexander on Saturday, true freshman
Hagen Garvin earned his first collegiate start, facing the tall task of engineering the offense against the nation's top team. He finished 6-for-11 in a short passing game.
UMHB took control early in the contest, scoring on its first two offensive plays of the contest. After stopping a broken special teams punt attempt in their own red zone, Jase Hammack connected with Brenton Martin for the score. Martin caught the next touchdown one-handed, scoring from 48 yards out.
McMurry worked a heavy run game against the notorious stifling UMHB defense, managing 52 net yards. When taking away UMHB's seven sacks, the McMurry run game totaled 99 yards on the ground.
Sophomore
Kameron Session led the War Hawks with 34 yards on 10 carries, while freshman
Dee Robinson finished with 15 yards on 12 attempts.
On defense, junior all-conference linebacker
Josh Smith led a young McMurry defense with six tackles, including one tackle for loss. Tevin Jones led the charge for UMHB with 12 tackles.
Three UMHB quarterbacks combined for seven passing touchdowns, led by Hammack with a 10-for-16 line for 217 yards and four scores. Hayden Haas led the receiving corps with three catches for 111 yards, all three of which were touchdowns.
The War Hawks will now have two weeks to recuperate with a bye week next Saturday. McMurry hopes to take a healthier team into Marshall, Texas on the following Saturday, Oct. 19 against East Texas Baptist. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.
