BELTON – The Howard Payne University football team fell 63-7 to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on the road Saturday afternoon.

The UMHB Cru improved to 5-3 on the year and 4-2 in American Southwest Conference play, while the HPU Yellow Jackets fell to 1-8 overall and 0-6 in conference matchups.

Jalen Davis led all Yellow Jackets rushers with 31 yards in the contest, picking up 4.4 yards per carry. Jyrin Burns also added 22 yards on the ground.

The top target for Howard Payne quarterbacks was Gus Charles, who caught three passes for 56 yards.

KC Cornelious showed out for the Howard Payne defense, recording seven tackles and one recovered fumble. Peyton Lowe added four tackles, 1.0 TFL, and one interception and Javier Neal had one interception in the loss.

Defensively, Howard Payne held up fairly well against the Mary Hardin-Baylor passing attack, holding the Crusaders to 189 yards through the air. The Yellow Jackets defense disrupted the Mary Hardin-Baylor passing game on the way to grabbing two interceptions and breaking up four Cru passes.

How It Happened

Mary Hardin-Baylor opened up a 54-0 lead, but Howard Payne responded with 10:48 remaining in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 54-7. Howard Payne didn’t score again in the game and Mary Hardin-Baylor tacked on nine more points to finish off the scoring.

Game Notes

» Mary Hardin-Baylor outgained Howard Payne 390-149 in the contest.
» Howard Payne tallied 7 points in the fourth quarter, accounting for 100% of their total score.
» Howard Payne converted 4 of 15 third downs while Mary Hardin-Baylor was successful on 2 of 16.
» Jacob Korrodi led the Yellow Jackets with nine tackles.
» Howard Payne forced one red zone turnover in the contest.
» Jake Wright led the Crusaders passing attack, completing 10 of his 26 attempts for 158 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.
» Jerry Cephus was Mary Hardin-Baylor’s leading receiver with 102 yards and one touchdown.