Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
ABILENE, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' football team had lost 13 straight games in every way imaginable to Mary Hardin-Baylor over the last 11 years, but the Cowboys came up with a stellar performance and knocked of the No. 3-ranked Cru 29-26 on Saturday afternoon in front of a raucous crowd of 3,864 at Shelton Stadium.
The defenses put on a show for the first three quarters with the Cowboys leading 14-12 heading into the final quarter. Then the offenses took their turn in the battle of heavyweights in the ASC.
Malcolm Miller scored on a 14-yard run to give the Cru a 19-14 lead with 12:59 to play. HSU retook the lead with a seven-play 66-yard drive capped off by Kerry Sloan's second touchdown of the game from five yards out.
UMHB went right back down the field in nine plays and Marcus Wimby scored on a 2-yard run to make it 26-22 with 4:00 to play.
The Cowboys had the answer in Jessie Ramos. The speedster raced right past the two defenders UMHB tried to cover him with and caught a perfect strike from Ryan Breton for a 57-yard touchdown with 3:12 to play to make it 29-26.
HSU's defense had one last stop in them and Trent Walker and Ryne Lewis had back-to-back sacks to give the Cowboys the ball back and they were able to get a first down to run out the clock.
UMHB took the opening kickoff and went 75 yards in 14 plays with Miller scoring from 11 yards out, but Jacob O'Neill's PAT missed.
Breton gave the Cowboys a 7-6 lead when he hit Ramos on a 25-yard touchdown pass with 10:16 to play. O Neill answered with a 37-yard field goal to make it 9-7 with 7:06 to play in the first half.
Sloan gave the Cowboys the lead with a 2-yard run, capping a 13-play 64-yard drive to make it 14-9. O'Neill's 27-yard field goal made it 14-12 with 2:12 to play in the third quarter.
Sloan had a big day for the Cowboys with 108 yards on 25 carries. Miller led the Cru with 113 yards on 23 totes.
Breton was 18-for-27 with 284 yards and two touchdowns. Zach Anderson was 11-for-18 for 124 yards for UMHB. Ramos had 10 catches for a career-best 223 yards and two scores. He also added 55 yards in returns.
Defensively, Korey Zavala had a monster day in the middle for the Cowboys. He had 14 tackles, including three for losses and one sack. Cory Ward and Randy Hirsch added 12 tackles each and Ryne Lewis had a pair of sacks.
HSU had 415 yards of offense and the Cru had just 343, well below their average. The teams combined for just six penalties and each team had a turnover in a well-played game on both sides. Each team extended drives with a fake, UMHB a punt on the first drive of the game and HSU a fake field goal run by Garrett Martin.
The Cowboys are 8-0 for the first time since 2004, which was the last time the Cowboys beat UMHB. The Cru fell to 7-1. The loss snapped a 61-game regular-season winning streak and a 39-game conference winning streak for UMHB.
HSU is tied atop the ASC standings with East Texas Baptist at 3-0. The two teams will play in Marshall next week at 2 p.m. for the outright conference lead.