Beavers burned Mary Hardin-Baylor’s proud defense for four long touchdown catches to spark the Wolverines’ 46-36 victory in an NCAA Division III second-round playoff game.
Three years later, on the same field in the same round, the host Crusaders’ defense made a statement to the effect of, “We must protect this house.”
Dominating the line of scrimmage, swarming the backfield and providing tight coverage, UMHB forced six turnovers, made seven sacks and limited Wesley’s high-powered offense to 225 yards as the Crusaders rolled into the national quarterfinals with a 46-14 win Saturday afternoon.
American Southwest Conference Defensive Player of the Year Eric Henri returned fumbles for touchdowns of 82 and 44 yards, Mark Manning made 3½ sacks and Mark Balderas 2½, and the defense’s overall performance contained the fast Beavers to three catches, 40 yards and zero touchdowns.
“The plan going in was, ‘Keep Beavers from getting anything deep and we’re in the ballgame,’” said UMHB junior cornerback Brett Parker, who returned a third-quarter interception 27 yards. “We knew if we took care of the big plays, then they didn’t have a chance.”
Three years ago, Beavers repeatedly beat the UMHB secondary on deep routes and racked up 239 receiving yards - highlighted by scores of 54, 26, 50 and 76 yards - to spoil the first-ever home playoff game for the Crusaders, who a year earlier had reached the national championship game.
This time, UMHB’s defense came up with the perfect storm to stifle Beavers and a potent, balanced Wesley offense that came in averaging 420.9 yards and 31.2 points per game:
Crusaders tackles Balderas, James Jenkins, David Danforth and Cecil Johnson consistently got a strong push in the middle, and ends Manning and Marco Coppola invaded the backfield to harass quarterbacks Shane McSweeny and Jason Schatz and running backs Mike Pennewell and Aaron Jackson.
Their dominance helped roving defenders such as Henri, Jeremy Salinas, Derrick Williams (Temple), Parker, Lee Munn and Ryan Metcalf concentrate on their coverage schemes and make crucial plays when opportunities arose.
“Most of the week, the coaches really challenged us to come out and be a better defensive and offensive line,” said Manning, whose sacks created a total loss of 38 yards. “We kind of took that and ran with it. A lot of our blitzes worked and opened it up. We were able to get him (McSweeny) a little flustered in the pocket and make a lot of plays.”
Wesley coach Mike Drass, whose team beat UMHB in 2005 and ’06 but lost in last year’s quarterfinals, was efusive in his praise of the Crusaders in general and their defense in particular.
“Manning did a great job, and their ends were helped a lot by how aggressive their tackles were,” Drass said. “They have a lot of good linemen and they got a great push all day.
“If Eric Henri isn’t an All-American, then I don’t know who is. It wasn’t just on the two fumble returns, but also his sideline-to-sideline capability.”
Added McSweeny: “They’re a great defense, probably the best in Division III football. They’re fast. They’re big. They didn’t make any mistakes. They swarmed to the ball and would tackle you on the first hit. They gave us a lot of different looks and just did great today.”
UMHB’s defense atoned not only for its 2005 home loss to Wesley but also its play last Saturday, when it allowed 469 yards in a 38-35 first-round win over Hardin-Simmons.
For his part, Henri - whose final TD was set up by a fumble-inducing Manning hit - deflected any personal glory toward his teammates after an impressive overall effort.
“I was basically in the right place at the right time,” he said. “I give a lot of credit to the line, because they were getting a pass rush all day.”
gwille@temple-telegram.com
