Burdened by two years worth of disappointment, fifth-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor unloaded on sixth-ranked Wesley, burying the Wolverines - and past memories - with a 27-10 victory Saturday afternoon in an NCAA Division III quarterfinal game at Miller Stadium.
The Crusaders (12-1), whose season was ended by Wesley each of the past two years, utilized their relentless rushing attack and steady defense to turn the tables on the Wolverines (11-2).
Up next is a national semifinal date on the road with No. 2 Wisconsin-Whitewater (12-1). Five weeks ago in Wisconsin, the Warhawks put the only blemish on UMHB’s record. Now they are all that is standing between the Crusaders and their second trip to the national championship game in four years.
“We have had some big wins and this certainly ranks up there,” said Pete Fredenburg, the only head coach in the 10-year history of UMHB’s football program. “We needed this. We needed to get this monkey off our back.”
Victimized by big plays in their last two meetings with the Wolverines, it was the Crusaders who cashed in with game-changing plays - getting a tone-setting run early in the third quarter from Jarvis Thrasher and forcing five turnovers.
“When you get to this point you know you’re facing a great team, and we think we’re a great team, too,” Wesley coach Mike Drass said. “But great teams don’t make that many turnovers. We didn’t get the job done.”
The Crusaders held a 10-3 halftime lead but didn’t take complete control until the third quarter.
With UMHB backed up at its 14-yard line on its first possession of the second half, Temple product Thrasher burst through a hole on the right side, fought off a pair of would-be tacklers and dashed down the sideline to the Wesley 3. Two plays later, Josh Welch’s 4-yard, play-action pass to Adam Aguilera gave the Crusaders a 17-3 cushion.
“We knew Wesley had a good defense,” said Thrasher, who was bottled up in the first half but finished with 138 yards. “But I also knew our offensive line would start to wear them down.”
And the Crusaders could afford to be patient, because the Wolverines weren’t going much of anywhere with the ball.
Rather than blitz repeatedly - as it is accustomed - UMHB’s focus was to prevent big plays by rushing only four guys, swarming to the ball on running plays and blanketing receivers on passing ones.
Unable to move the ball in large chunks as it had in years past, Wesley struggled to sustain drives. The Wolverines finished with 357 total yards and had the ball for only 23 minutes.
“We did not want to give up big plays to Wesley like we had in the past,” Fredenburg said. “So we stayed pretty basic.”
Added senior linebacker Jerrell Freeman, who had seven tackles and forced a fumble: “We’re comfortable if we have to rush the quarterback and we’re comfortable if the gameplan is different. We just try to execute what the coaches tell us the best that we can.”
UMHB put the game all but out of reach with a seven-play, 60-yard drive with 3 minutes left in the third. The last of the seven carries was a 30-yarder by sophomore Quincy Daniels that made it 24-3.
Daniels (Belton) had 79 yards on 18 carries, running behind a somewhat patchwork line that paved the way for 289 rushing yards.
“I don’t think I had played all four quarters of a game since high school,” said freshman center Dustin Davis, who was pressed into duty when senior Tyler Hykel was injured on UMHB’s second offensive play. “It was great getting to play alongside those guys, because I’m usually playing behind them.”
Added Drass: “I thought our defense played excellent at times. But they got some big runs because we needed to tackle better.”
The Wolverines’ only spark came with 42 seconds left in the third when they showed their old form. Michael Clarke had a one-handed, 63-yard catch and Jon Lanouette caught Jason Schatz’s 20-yard touchdown pass to cap a two-play, 83-yard drive that trimmed the deficit to 24-10.
That, however, was Wesley’s last hooray.
“This stings a little bit,” Clarke said. “I think they scouted us better than they did last year, and they executed better today.”
Joel Munoz booted his second field goal, this one from 26 yards, to cap the scoring in the final period.
“It feels great to finally beat these guys,” Freeman said. “Now we’ll go to work to get ready for the next one.”
Welch opened the scoring with a 1-yard sneak midway through the first quarter. Wesley got on the board with a 28-yard field goal from Collin Blugis late in the first, and Munoz’s 30-yarder with 8:43 left in the second quarter made it 10-3 at intermission.
“We felt good at halftime about how we were playing,” Fredenburg said. “But we in no way felt like a 10-3 lead was going to be enough.”
UMHB - whose inaugural playoff victory came in its third try, and which expelled Wesley on the third attempt - will play at Whitewater at noon next Saturday.
It will be the third meeting between the teams.
“We learned a valuable lesson against them earlier this season,” Fredenburg said of his squad’s 41-14 loss to the Warhawks on Oct. 27 in Wisconsin. “They played at a championship level that day and we did not. We will try to make sure that isn’t the case this time."
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
