Sophomore quarterback Kyle Noack appeared calm and comfortable at the helm. Junior running back Quincy Daniels played like a preseason All-American should. Ditto for free safety Derrick Williams and linebacker Eric Henri.
It all added up to a 30-7 victory over Southern Nazarene and a game that wasn’t as competitive as even the 23-point margin might indicate.
“I was actually surprised, pleasantly surprised, at how the first quarter went,” said UMHB coach Pete Fredenburg, whose NCAA Division III fourth-ranked team built an early 16-0 lead against its NAIA 22nd-ranked opponent. “I thought we played extremely well from the beginning.”
Noack - seeing his first varsity action in place of senior Josh Saenz, who was serving a one-game suspension - was 16-of-23 for 196 yards, with one touchdown pass and a TD run to go with two interceptions.
“We had a good game plan,” said Noack, who looked equally at ease in the pocket or executing the option. “Once you get out there, it’s just football so I wasn’t that nervous.”
Added Fredenburg: “I think Kyle handled himself really well and established himself as a good quarterback.
“His performance will certainly factor into next week’s plans. You have to recognize good performances, and Josh knows that. I would still like to go with the experienced senior, though, if it’s close.”
This game was never close.
Daniels had first-quarter touchdown runs of 20 and 1 yards sandwiched around a safety in which SNU center Matt Higgs snapped the ball over the head of quarterback Larry Dockery and out of the end zone.
Daniels finished with 100 yards on 21 carries as the Crusaders racked up 205 yards on the ground and 196 through the air.
On the flip side, the Crimson Storm (2-1) mustered just 37 yards rushing and 182 passing. SNU crossed midfield only four times - once on a fake punt - and didn’t post its lone touchdown until the fourth quarter.
“Mary Hardin-Baylor is a solid team and they executed very well,” SNU coach Mark Cochran said. “We usually like to run the ball better. I believe we hit the panic button a little bit, and you just can’t do that.”
The Crusaders padded their lead to 23-0 about 5 minutes into the second quarter on a play that showed just how poised Noack is.
On second down at the SNU 41-yard line, Noack dropped back to find that his first two reads were not viable options. Staying put as the pocket collapsed, he unloaded the ball just as two Crimson Storm players made a sandwich of him.
The pass was grabbed by Brian Scott in stride on a post route at the goal line, and Noack hopped up with a fist pump.
“Brian was my third read, all the way back across the field,” Noack said. “At the snap, I saw that it was a good matchup. But I still went through my progressions until it opened up.”
There was no such magic from SNU’s offense. One week after Branden Smith and Jacob Smith rushed for 100 yards apiece, they were held to 55 and 8, respectively.
And Dockery, the Crimson Storm’s triggerman, was intercepted by Williams at the UMHB 5 early in the second quarter and found most of his success by throwing the ball up for 6-3 wideout Jared Elmore, who hauled in eight catches for 117 yards and SNU’s only touchdown.
The Crimson Storm had only five first downs and 92 yards in the first half.
“I wasn’t surprised by how it went because the tradition here is to win every year,” said UMHB junior linebacker Bryson Tucker, whose eight tackles were just one less than team-leader Jeremy Salinas. “We have great seniors that graduate every year, but tradition never graduates.”
UMHB upped its advantage to 30-0 just before the end of the third quarter on a nifty 15-yard option keeper by Noack.
The Crimson Storm broke the shutout a minute into the fourth on a 15-yard pass from Dockery to Elmore.
“We just read our keys and stayed disciplined,” Tucker said. “We worked hard all week, so nothing tonight was new to us.”
The Crusaders will go to work next to prepare for their American Southwest Conference opener next Saturday at home against Texas Lutheran (1-1).
“We made some first-game kind of mistakes that we need to fix,” Fredenburg said. “But overall, I was very pleased with how we performed on both sides of the ball.”
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
