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BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team dominated the first half and cruised to a 42-6 victory over Huntingdon College in the Second Round of the NCAA Division III National Championships Saturday in Belton. The Cru improves to 12-0 with the victory. The loss ends the Hawks' season at 8-4.
UMHB opened the scoring with Anthony Avila's 40-yard field goal on the Cru's opening possession. UMHB forced a pair of Huntingdon turnovers but could not turn them into points. The Cru would turn the third turnover of the first quarter into Jase Hammack's two-yard scoring run to make it 10-0 after the opening quarter. UMHB blocked a Huntingdon field goal and Hammack hit Jonel Reed with a 77-yard touchdown bomb on the next play to stretch the lead to 17-0. Hammack added scoring strikes of 40 and six yards to Reed to put the Cru up 31-0 at halftime. Avila tacked on a 31-yard field goal on the opening drive of the second half to make it 34-0 UMHB. The Hawks scored on Eric Thomas' two-yard run with 6:57 left in the third, but the Cru blocked the extra point attempt and Jefferson Fritz returned it for a defensive two-point conversion to make it 36-6. Avila would close out the scoring with field goals of 20 and 30 yards.
UMHB rolled up 508 yards of total offense on the day with 422 of those coming through the air. The Cru defense forced four first-half turnovers and held the Hawks to 327 yards of total offense. The two teams combined for just three penalties in the contest.
Reed had a huge game for UMHB, catching 10 passes for a school-record 253 yards and three touchdowns. Hammack threw for 337 yards and three scores and Tommy Bowden ran for a team-high 43 yards on three carries. Tevin Jones had a team-high 11 tackles and Fritz broke the UMHB and ASC record with the 19th interception of his career.
Michael Lambert was 17-30 passing for Huntingdon for 174 yards. Dontavion Cunningham led the run game with 59 yards on 12 carries and Thomas added 57 yards on 17 attempts. Cody Dwyer and Otis Porter caught four passes apiece for the Hawks. Casey Peppers led the Huntingdon defense with nine total tackles.
The Cru advances to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the fifth straight year and the 13th time in program history. UMHB will face Wisconsin-Whitewater (11-1) next Saturday. The Warhawks advanced with a 41-28 victory over Wartburg College. The game site for next Saturday's Quarterfinal will be announced on Sunday, December 1st.