ABILENE – McMurry dominated Lyon College in both teams' first-ever Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest, 48-6, on Saturday.
 
Timothy Leatherman had a pair of pick-six touchdowns and Jess Hoel passed for three touchdowns and 274 yards.
 
Kristopher Martin had a 100-yard night receiving, reeling in four catches for 114. Thomas Chandler had two TDs among his three catchers for 64 yards and Kason O'Shields caught his third TD pass of the season.
 
Kane Strohman had his second consecutive 10-tackle outing, including 2.5 sacks and three tackles for loss. The War Hawks logged five sacks.
 
The game got headed in the right direction for McMurry right away when Leatherman picked off a pass on the second play from scrimmage and took it back 38 yards for a touchdown.
 
McMurry added a two-point conversion pass from Hoel to O'Shields for an 8-0 lead with 14:23 to play in the first quarter.
 
"You know, Tim's been a guy who's been banged up and he's been limited in practice," said McMurry head Coach Jordan Neal. "But he does a great job. He understands the defense really well. He has always had very good instincts for getting to the football and being in the right place. We saw that a couple of times tonight. I was really happy for him, especially as a senior and a captain."
 
Lyon scored on its next drive but was stopped short on the conversion run to make it 8-6.
 
Owen Painter kicked a 29-yard field goal for an 11-6 lead with 8:44 remaining in the first half.
 
CJ Kidd pounced on a fumble to give McMurry the ball right back and the War Hawks were in the end zone five plays later on a 14-yard pass from Hoel to Chandler.
 
The Painter PAT made it an 18-6 McM lead with 5:04 to go in the half.
 
Leatherman took back his second pick-six on Lyon's next drive, this time going to the house from 45 yards away. McMurry took that 25-6 lead into halftime.
 
The War Hawks marched the initial second-half possession 76 yards on five plays with Chandler scoring on a 21-yard pass play. Martin had a 39-yard reception to set up the score.
 
McMurry went 65 yards on six plays on the next drive, capped by a Hoel pass to O'Shields from 29 yards out. McMurry led with 5:44 left in the third, 39-6.
 
Painter added his second field goal of the night, this one from 36 yards, to make it 42-6 with 2:02 to go in the third.
 
Drelon Burton got the lone McMurry rushing touchdown from a yard out to cap the scoring and a eight-play, 79-yard drive for the final 48-6 margin.
 
"We've still got a lot that we've got to improve on," said Neal. "We shot ourselves in the foot quite a bit and I think we left quite a few points off the board. We gave them some opportunities to extend drives. But a win is a win and we'll take it however we can get it because it is hard to do. Lyon is a much-improved team."