The Coby Gipson coaching era for Howard Payne football kicked off with a 21-13 victory in a rare Thursday night game at Gordon Wood Stadium against the visiting Pacific Boxers from Forest Grove, Oregon.
The Yellow Jackets opened an 11-point halftime advantage, 14-3, behind a 3-yard touchdown run by Blessing Ngene with 3:45 left in the first quarter and a 45-yard scoring scamper by quarterback Andon Mata at the 9:57 mark of the second period.
After Pacific closed the gap to 14-10 just 4:28 into the second half on a 2-yard touchdown carry by Brody Bantolina, Howard Payne responded with an 18-play, 73-yard drive that chewed 9:47 off the clock as Ngene scored again on a 1-yard plunge with 11:53 left.
Pacific added its second field goal of the game by Isaac Ahmed – a 30-yarder, to go along with a successful 45-yard attempt in the first half – with 7:21 left in the contest. The Jackets were able to hold off the Boxers down the stretch.
Howard Payne finished with 255 yards of total offense – 134 rushing and 121 passing – and turned over the ball once.
Ngene finished with 57 yards on the ground for HU followed by 52 from JD Mays and 33 from Mata. Through the air, Mata was 7 of 8 for 71 yards while Glendon Casas-Willis connected on 10 of 15 attempts for 50 yards. Leading receivers were Ryan Campbell with four grabs for 15 yards, Ngene with three for 44 yards, Derik Jackson with three for 26 yards, and Ellis Myers with three catches for 17 yards.
Defensively, the Yellow Jackets yielded just 174 yards – 137 through the air and just 37 on the ground – with no takeaways.
Leading tacklers for Howard Payne were Jerwayne Parker with nine, Cade Rochinski with eight and a sack, Michael Brown with six, Ryan Campbell and Jayden Seller with five each, and Cameron Hall with five tackles and a sack. Justin Griffith logged a pair of sacks for HPU while Elijah Dillard and Gavin Barabas both contributed one, and Xander Holt and Jacob King were both credited with a half-sack.
Next week, the Yellow Jackets (1-0) venture to Texas Lutheran, which opens its season Saturday against Trinity.
