Box Score McMurry finished with the most wins in over a decade Saturday, Nov. 11, when it beat Sul Ross State University 37-23 at Wilford Moore Stadium.

Coach Jordan Neal's 2023 team got its sixth win against four losses. The last time the War Hawks had this many victories was in 2012 when McMurry won eight games.

On Saturday, the opponent got the game's first points with a field goal. The War Hawks scored their first touchdown at the 9:08 mark in the first quarter when freshman quarterback Jess Hoel (Abernathy, Texas) ran the ball in from two yards out. Senior Jared Mendoza (Fort Worth, Texas), playing in his last game, kicked the extra point to make the score 7-3. The drive was aided by Hoel's 52-yard bomb to freshman wide receiver Thomas Chandler (Waco, Texas) which got the ball inside the 25-yard line.

With 6:06 left in the first stanza, Hoel tossed a 14-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Karmelus Card (El Paso, Texas). Mendoza tacked on another extra-point kick and McMurry was up 14-3.

In the second quarter, the opponent made a field goal. With the score 14-6 in favor of McMurry, the War Hawks got more cushion on the scoreboard at the 10:54 mark in the second quarter when Hoel fired a 75-yard rocket to freshman Corinthean Coleman (Dallas, Texas) for a touchdown and the extra-point was good by Mendoza. McMurry was ahead 21-6.

With 5:50 remaining in the second quarter, Mendoza nailed a 25-yard field goal to increase the lead to 24-6. At halftime, the War Hawks led 24-9 after another field goal by the opponent.

McMurry upped its lead to 31-9 in the third quarter at the 8:06 mark when Hoel threw a 32-yard pass to senior wide receiver Kristopher Martin (El Paso, Texas), who was playing in his last game. Mendoza had the extra-point kick.

Hoel finished the War Hawk scoring parade with a 1-yard run into the end zone with 5:38 left in the third stanza.

Senior quarterback Ritchie Luna (Eagle Pass, Texas), playing in his last game, took the contest's final snap.

On offense, Coleman had 1 carry for 13 yards, Hoel was 21 of 28 for 339 yards and Martin caught 6 passes for 66 yards. Mendoza had a 71-yard punt that landed inside the opponent's 20-yard line. Senior defensive back Jacorian Colbert (Baytown, Texas), playing in his last game, had a 13-yard kickoff return.
Defensively, junior lineman Kane Strohman (Katy, Texas) had 6 solo tackles, 3 sacks and 3 tackles for loss of yards, freshman defensive back Sy Johnson (Houston, Texas) had 5 solo tackles, junior linebacker James White (Danbury, Texas) had 4 solo tackles, and sophomore defensive back Kimani Smith (Austin, Texas) also had 4 solo tackles along with a tackle for loss of yards.
12 players were recognized for their contributions to the program on Senior Day.

The last time the War Hawks were over .500 for the season was 2012, according to the school website. Parallels between that year and this year are the 2012 team ended the season on a 5-game win streak while the 2023 team finished with a 4-game win streak, and the 2012 team was 4-0 at home while this year's team was 4-1 at home. The only blemish for the 2023 team in defending its house was a 19-16 overtime loss to Hardin-Simmons University, which won the American Southwest Conference title.

Another highlight, besides the number of wins, for this year's team was scoring 50-plus points in three games and 45 points in another. It finished in a three-way tie for third place in the American Southwest Conference standings with 3 wins and 3 losses, according to the ASC website