ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University will play its final road game of the 2021 football season this Saturday, traveling to Jackson, Miss. To face American Southwest Conference foe Belhaven at 1 p.m.
The War Hawks (2-5, 2-5 ASC) will look to snap a tough, two-game losing skid against a Belhaven squad who received a vote in last week's American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Top 25 poll. The Blazers are 5-3 overall and 4-3 in the conference.
This preview is presented by First Financial Bank.
FOLLOW THE GAME:
Saturday's game will be live streamed. Both the video and live stats will be available at this link.
All McMurry Football radio broadcasts will exclusively air on Lonestar 1280 AM (KSLI). Fans can listen on the radio, on the web or on the Lonestar 1280 app – available free on your mobile app store and accessible anywhere, anytime with cell phone service.
Long time play-by-play announcer David Bacon will have the call and will be joined by color analyst John Blackwell. Bacon will have a pregame interview with Coach Jordan Neal and has lined up Coach Zach Pickelman of McMurry Men's Basketball as his halftime guest.
Broadcasts will begin 20 minutes before each game.
All streaming, listening, live stat pages, rosters, spectator information, statistics and more will be available on our game day page each week at this link.
GAME DAY PROTOCOL:
Belhaven will not be charging admission for Saturday's game and do not have any spectator protocols in place. For ticket information around the league, click here.
THE SERIES
The War Hawks own a 4-1 advantage in the all-time series, with the first meeting coming in 2015. Belhaven won the last meeting in 2019, 46-18.
This will be the fourth time McMurry makes the trip to Jackson, doing so in 2016 (W 56-7), 2018 (W 27-20) and 2019 (L 46-18). The War Hawks have won both meetings in Abilene, taking care of business in 2015 (W 14-10) and 2017 (W 42-30).
McMurry and Belhaven did not meet during the shortened Spring 2021 season.
THE STANDINGS:
Mary Hardin-Baylor (8-0, 7-0) sits atop the American Southwest Conference standings, followed by Hardin-Simmons (7-1, 6-1) – both of which are in the national Top 10. Howard Payne (6-2, 5-2) and Belhaven (5-3, 4-3) make up the top four in the standings, followed by East Texas Baptist (4-4, 3-4) and Texas Lutheran (3-5, 3-4).
McMurry (2-5, 2-5) is in a three-way tie with Southwestern (2-6, 2-5) and Sul Ross State (2-5, 2-5) for seventh in the conference, followed by Austin College (1-6, 1-6) at the bottom.
In the national rankings, UMHB remains at No. 2 in both the D3football.com and the American Football Coaches Association Top 25 polls, while HSU stays at No. 8.
Both the Cru and Cowboys appeared in the first NCAA Regional Rankings of the season, which are used in consideration for selection the NCAA Division III Playoffs. ASC teams are in Region III and are ranked alongside Birmingham-Southern, Centre, Randolph-Macon, Trinity (Texas) and Washington & Lee.
This week's conference schedule:
- McMurry at Belhaven
- No. 8 Hardin-Simmons at Austin College
- ETBU at Sul Ross State
- Southwestern at Texas Lutheran
- Howard Payne at No. 2 UMHB
THE SCHEDULE:
With the cancellation of its non-conference season opener at Trinity, McMurry is currently playing a nine game schedule – all against American Southwest Conference opponents.
Below are the five home dates on the schedule:
- 9/11 at 1 PM vs. Howard Payne – L, 42-36
- 9/25 at 4 PM vs. Southwestern – W, 41-31
- 10/16 at 1 PM vs. Austin College – W, 48-13 (HC)
- 10/30 at 1 PM vs. Sul Ross State – L, 24-11
- 11/13 at 1 PM vs. Mary Hardin-Baylor – Senior Day
SCOUTING THE WAR HAWKS:
McMurry ranks in the top half of the conference on both sides of the ball, scoring 27.6 points per game to rank fifth and allowing 26.6 points per game to rank fourth.
Defensively, senior Josh Smith is running away with the conference lead for tackles at an outstanding 9.7 per game. Smith has 68 total tackles this season, including 31 over his last two games against Texas Lutheran and Sul Ross State. He has 365 career tackles to rank second on McMurry's all-time list and needs 14 to tie Chris Joseph's record of 379 set in 1986.
Behind Smith, junior safety Ke'Shaun Jnofinn ranks second in the ASC with 7.2 tackles per game and 43 total. He has a slight edge over ETBU's Joey Johnson (7.1 per game) and UMHB's Jacob Mueller (7.0) among the conference leaders.
Freshman defensive lineman Adonte Wilkerson has ascended into the regular starting rotation and leads the team with 7.0 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks, while totaling three quarterback hurries. Junior Devin Nixon joins him in the trenches with 6.0 tackles for loss, six hurries, one sack, two forced fumbles and one fumble returned for a touchdown.
In the secondary, Coryell Fillmore leads the conference with three interceptions and 30 return yards. Last week, Fillmore picked off two passes against Sul Ross State.
Junior Jared Mendoza leads the conference in field goals made with eight so far. He needs one more to tie Mark Oberholtzer (1996) for the single-season McMurry record. Mendoza made four FGs in a win over Southwestern to earn D3football.com National Team of the Week honors. The four kicks also set a new single-game school record.
On the offensive side of the ball, senior Kameron Session has emerged as the team's lead back with 76.5 yards per game, totaling 96 carries for 468 yards on the season. Session ranks fourth in the league in rushing per game. Junior Dee Robinson remains in the mix with heavy red zone work, toting the ball 78 times for 332 yards and five touchdowns. Robinson and Session are eighth and ninth in ASC all-purpose yards, respectively.
The War Hawks continue to roll with sophomore quarterback Dexter Wyble, who has 88 completions on 147 passes for 1,222 yards, eight touchdowns and six interceptions. He is one of the top five yardage passers in the league despite starting only five games so far.
SCOUTING THE BLAZERS:
Belhaven enters with a positive 5-3 record and can clinch a guaranteed winning season on Saturday with a victory. Despite an 0-2 start in conference play with losses to Southwestern and HSU, the Blazers have been hard to stop with notable wins over Austin College, TLU and Sul Ross State. Belhaven also handed Howard Payne its first loss of the year with a 24-10 road win two weeks ago.
Last week, the Blazers were blanked at No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor in a 29-0 loss – snapping a four-game win streak.
Belhaven is just one spot ahead of McMurry in both offensive and defensive scoring, ranking fourth in offense at 31.3 points per game and ranking third in points allowed at 21.4 per game.
The Blazers have the top running team in the conference with 246.3 yards per game, sparked by senior Brad Foley who leads the conference with 132 carries, 687 yards and 85.9 ground yards per game. Foley is joined in the backfield by sophomore Kolbe Blunt who ranks seventh in the ASC at 65.4 RYPG.
The offense is engineered by senior Mayowa Asagunla, who ranks sixth in rushing for the conference at 68.9 yards per game. At 6'5" and 224 pounds, Asagunla can also throw the ball and is 101-for-168 passing with 1,140 yards, nine touchdowns and just two interceptions.
The rushing attack is led by an offensive line that's twice been named to the D3football.com National Team of the Week this season. Belhaven is the only program to have their offensive line picked to the national team back-to-back weeks in the award's 23-year history.
Belhaven's defense is led by Connor Fordham with 51 total tackles and 6.4 per game – ranking fifth in the conference.
Carlton Brown has been a problem for offenses all season with 12.0 tackles for loss for 94 yards – the most yards lost in the conference from one player. He also leads the league with eight sacks. As a team, Belhaven leads the league by a mile with 156 sacks ahead of both HSU (129) and UMHB (120).
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTABLES:
Click here to view this week's McMurry Football press conference presented by First Financial Bank.
Today's press conference featured Coach Jordan Neal, junior kicker Jared Mendoza and sophomore defensive back Christopher Baker.
