MARSHALL, Texas – Fourth Quarter dominance by the East Texas Baptist University offense combined with the strong defensive effort canned Louisiana College's thought of extending their winning streak over the Tigers (0-3/0-1), 44-34. ETBU scored 24 points in the fourth quarter to pull away for the win in the American Southwest Conference opener.
"Our offense can almost big play you to death," says head coach Joshua Eargle. "Tyler Bates had a phenomenal night with 274 yards receiving and two touchdowns and it seems that all he does is catch touchdowns and make big plays and Kendall Roberson ran really strong. All that means is that our offensive line is play phenomenally."
Tyler Bates caught a career-high 274 yards just missing the game record for receiving by three yards and added to his NCAA Division III leading touchdowns with two more. He now has 11 touchdowns on the year and five in the last two games. Roberson toted the ball 27 times for 173 yards rushing and two touchdowns. He has now recorded two rushing touchdowns in the last three games each. Josh Warbington finished the night going 17-of-26 for 321 yards and two touchdowns.
The win is the first for ETBU since 2007 when they won in Pineville, La., 27-23, on October 27. This win also starts ETBU off at 1-0 in the American Southwest Conference which is a first since 2009 when they went 2-0.
Down 24-20 heading into the fourth quarter after not scoring any points in the third quarter, ETBU's offense exploded for 24 unanswered points to take the win, 44-34. ETBU had the ball five times in the fourth quarter and scored three touchdowns and had one field goal with the last possession ending in victory formation. After only producing 18 yards of offense in the third quarter, the ETBU offense unleashed for 178 yards and three touchdowns.
Dominic Haggerty put the momentum back in ETBU's favor after Louisiana College tied the game up at 27 at the 10:19 mark in the fourth quarter. Haggerty took the ensuing kickoff 92-yards on a kickoff return touchdown to put ETBUup for good, 34-27. Ryan Travis connected on a 33-yard field goal at the 6:08 mark making it 37-27, and then Roberson rushed from two yards out for his second touchdown of the night with 2:38 left to play putting the ball game way, 44-27. Louisiana College scored with 1:29 left in the game but didn't the on-side kick as ETBU ran out the clock for the win.
The two teams battled back and forth in the first half. Bates took an 80-yard reception to the house for the first score of the game at the 9:51 mark making it 6-0. Louisiana College's defense picked off a Warbington pass at the six-yard line to go ahead in the game, 7-6, early in the first quarter. Roberson gave ETBU the lead back at the 2:52 mark when he ran from 20-yards out for the 13-7 lead. After Louisiana College hit a field goal, Jourdan McNeill romped in from 27-yards out for a 20-10 advantage at the half.
C.J. Johnson led the team with 10 tackles and two sacks. David Jaynes produced two sacks on the night for 15 yards.
ETBU's offense produced 547 yards of total offense with 321 yards in the air and 226 on the ground. ETBU held LC to 442 yards of offense. ETBU's defense forced two turnovers and recovered one.
Off next week with their bye week, ETBU will next play at home on October 10th hosting Texas Lutheran at 6:00 p.m.
TOP QUOTE
"I can't say enough about these young men and these 10 seniors that have been working here so hard and now have a signature win in our program and tonight Coach Dunn and Louisiana College did a phenomenal job and for us to get the win is just a big time victory for our guys. It was a phenomenal experience tonight." – Joshua Eargle (head coach)
NOTES
- Tyler Bates caught two more touchdowns and now has 11 on the year to lead NCAA Division III
- Bates had 274 yards receiving, a career-high, and was just three yards shy of breaking the ETBU program record for yards caught in a game
- Dominic Hagerty's 92-yard touchdown kickoff return is third all-time in distance in program history
- Bates has now caught 100 or more yards in 10 games in his career
- Kendall Roberson rushed for 173 yards which is the fifth time in his career for having over 100 yards in a game
- Roberson has now rushed for two touchdowns in each of the last three games
- It is the first time ETBU has defeated LC since 2007
- ETBU's offense has now scored 146 points the last three games averaging 48 points per game
- ETBU's defense posted a season best seven sacks vs. LC
- Jake Brearton caught his first pass of the season for 11 yards
- ETBU's offensive line gave up just one sack and had 442 total yards of offense