McMurry University unleashed a barrage of points in a 51-13 homecoming win over Austin College Saturday, Oct. 28 at Wilford Moore Stadium.

What began as a back-and-forth affair soon turned into a rout. The War Hawks had six touchdowns between the last two minutes of the first half and the end of the game.

The visitors scored just over a minute into the first quarter. The home team answered at the 4:29 mark in the first quarter with a 5-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Phazzon Washington (Austin, Texas). Senior Jared Mendoza (Fort Worth, Texas) kicked the extra point. The opponent tacked on more points in the second quarter, but again McMurry responded with a 32-yard field goal by Mendoza at the 9:33 mark.

The visitors came back with another score in the second quarter.

The blowout then began.

Senior Jack Ishmael (Paradise, Texas) had a 5-yard scoring scamper with 2:02 left in the second quarter.

Freshman quarterback Jess Hoel (Abernathy, Texas) threw the first of four touchdown strikes at the 11:58 mark in the third quarter, this one for 23 yards to freshman wide receiver Thomas Chandler (Waco, Texas). With 6:53 left in the third quarter, Hoel connected with senior wide receiver Kristopher Martin (El Paso, Texas) for 17 yards. Still in the third quarter with 1:06 remaining, freshman tight end Tristen Hall (Abilene, Texas) caught a 19-yarder from Hoel. Mendoza made every extra-point kick in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, sophomore wide receiver Joseph Richard (Galena Park, Texas) reeled in an 11-yarder from Hoel with 13:47 left on the clock. On a fourth-down play, freshman quarterback Tray Walton (Dallas, Texas) threw a 1-yard pass to freshman Harrison Scheppler (Lubbock, Texas) at the 3:37 mark. Freshman Owen Painter (New Braunfels, Texas) kicked the extra points in the fourth quarter.

McMurry converted on four of five fourth-down attempts.

On offense, freshman Corinthean Coleman (Dallas, Texas) had 1 carry for 45 yards, junior Timothy Leatherman (Ingram, Texas) had 5 carries for 26 yards, Hoel had 6 carries for 28 yards and was 33 of 46 passing for 376 yards, Walton was 7 of 7 for 83 yards, Martin had 8 catches for 114 yards, Chandler had 5 catches for 66 yards, Richard had 4 catches for 52 yards. Mendoza averaged 61 yards on seven kickoffs.

Defensively, junior linebacker James White (Danbury, Texas) had 9 tackles (5 solo, 4 assisted) including 1 for 6-yard loss, and 1 pass breakup; freshman lineman Jackson Harris (Kilgore, Texas) had 7 tackles (6 solo, 1 assisted), 2.5 sacks for 11 yards, 3.5 tackles for total loss of 17 yards, 1 forced fumble and 1 quarterback hurry; and senior defensive back Christopher Baker (Arlington, Texas) had 3 solo tackles and 1 interception.

Saturday's game was the third time McMurry has scored at least 50 points this season.

With four victories and two games remaining, the War Hawks have won the most games since 2016, according to d3football.com. McMurry finished 2016 and 2015 with four wins each.

The War Hawks, 4-4, play at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin at 1 p.m. Nov. 4. The last game of the season is in Wilford Moore Stadium at 1 p.m. Nov. 11 against Sul Ross State University.