UMHB did some Cajun cooking of its own Saturday afternoon to stay unbeaten, mixing a new-found rushing threat with big-play passing and physical defense to offset some heartburn-inducing miscues en route to a 35-10 victory over Louisiana College at D.C. Bates Stadium.
“We talked all week long about overcoming adversity,” said coach Pete Fredenburg, whose Crusaders won their fifth straight game and improved to 4-0 in the American Southwest Conference. “We had some guys out and some others kind of hurting but still playing. Then anytime you have to travel this far and overcome some stuff, it’s good to get a win.”
UMHB, ranked No. 3 in NCAA Division III, was without the services of running backs Quincy Daniels (knee) and Matt Hurst (shoulder) but got 107 yards and a touchdown from sophomore linebacker-turned-tailback Nathan Meyer.
Despite not making the position change until midweek, Meyer - younger brother of former UMHB All-American linebacker Preston Meyer - ripped off a 60-yard TD jaunt on his first career carry and never looked back.
“I had a great time,” said Meyer, who averaged 11.9 yards on his nine attempts. “They gave me an opportunity, and I tried to do the best I could with it. On the touchdown, there was a hole that was wide open. I think anybody could have run through that hole.”
Meyer’s TD was the fourth-quarter capper and the only score posted during a sloppy second half in which the teams combined for 14 penalties and two turnovers.
The Crusaders forced the Wildcats (2-3, 0-3) into early mistakes, then capitalized on almost all of them.
Mark Manning’s sack of LC quarterback Derek Lewis resulted in a fumble that was followed two plays later by Roger Sanchez’s 3-yard scoring run for a 7-0 UMHB lead only 6 minutes in.
Next came Brett Parker’s 48-yard punt return that set up Tommy Vadell’s TD plunge from a yard out at the 6:18 mark, followed by Brian Scott’s 63-yard touchdown reception of a Josh Saenz pass less than 2 minutes later.
“Against a team like Mary Hardin-Baylor, you can’t make early mistakes and fall behind 21-0,” LC coach Dennis Dunn said. “I thought our defense played well. But with the way Mary Hardin-Baylor plays defense, you can’t dig yourself a hole.”
UMHB’s offense was sluggish at times. In fact, it was that unit’s miscues that led to the Wildcats’ only points, coming on a field goal set up by a fumble and a touchdown that followed a blocked field goal attempt.
But with the lead trimmed to 21-10, the Crusaders got clicking one last time in the first half to produce a backbreaking scoring drive.
UMHB marched 74 yards in 11 plays - overcoming a holding penalty along the way - on the pinpoint passing of Saenz, who had completions of 10, 22 and 18 yards before capping the drive with a 9-yard strike to Ervin Johnson in the front-corner of the end zone only 45 seconds before halftime.
“That was a huge drive,” Fredenburg said. “To answer the score they made with a touchdown was big.”
Utilizing a myriad of formations and 26 second-half pass attempts, LC drove inside the UMHB 10 twice in the fourth quarter but was denied both times. Marcus Preston’s throwback pass to Lewis netted only 2 yards on fourth-and-goal at the 9 with 9:40 remaining, and Benson Bristow stripped Lewis of the ball on fourth-and-1 from the 2 with 5:52 to go.
“The goal was to be more physical than Louisiana College, and I feel that we did that,” UMHB senior safety Derrick Williams said. “They can be difficult to align with because they run so many different things. But Coach always tells us, ‘There’s only one football. So if in doubt, just find the football. If you do that, you can’t be wrong.’”
