Wayland gets its 1st Football win in 72 Years
By: Kevin Lewis- Wayland baptist
Updated: September 15, 2012
It was 72 years in the making, and boy, was it sweet!
Playing
their first football season since 1940, the Wayland Baptist Pioneers
captured their first victory of the year on Saturday afternoon in front
of 3,000
fans at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium, defeating Howard Payne
University, 27-23.
Redshirt
freshman Kendall Roberson of Lubbock scored all four Wayland
touchdowns, including the go-ahead score on a 2-yard run with just 47
seconds left in
the game. That followed a 1-yard TD run just three minutes earlier that
pulled the Pioneers to within 23-20.
After
Wayland's defense forced the Yellow Jackets into a 3-and-out, the
Pioneer offense took over with great field position - the Yellow Jacket
30-yard line
-- following a 9-yard punt. A pass interference penalty got the Pioneers
halfway home, but an illegal block penalty set them back to the 16.
However, another pass interference on Howard Payne set Wayland up with a
first down at the 5, and Roberson went over
for the score two plays later. Reid Layton booted the extra point.
With
47 ticks left on the clock and 85 yards away from Wayland's end zone,
Howard Payne took over. The Jackets completed a short pass before
freshman Cody
Frye intercepted a pass to seal the deal.
Roberson
scored the game's first touchdown on a 44-yard run just 1 minutes into
the first quarter. Howard Payne scored the next 10 points to lead 10-7
at
halftime.
Roberson
regained the lead for the Pioneers, 14-10, on a 16-yard TD run with
3:45 left in the third. The Jackets scored a pair of quick touchdowns
early in
the fourth quarter after Wayland fumbled a kickoff, giving Howard Payne
the ball at the Wayland 40-yard line. The Jackets needed only three
plays to find the end zone, assuming a 23-14 lead with 10:17 left in the
game prior to the Pioneers' late heroics.
Led
by Roberson's 169 yards rushing on 25 carries, Wayland ended with 408
yards of offense compared to 349 for the Jackets (0-3). Pioneer
quarterback Luis
Gonzalez completed 21-of-34 passes for 259 yards. Saul Elizalde was the
team's top receiving, grabbing six catches for 73 yards.
Wayland
improved its record to 1-1 on the season. The Pioneers play on the road
the next two Saturdays - at 6 p.m. Sept. 22 against McMurry in Abilene
then
at 2 p.m. against Texas College in Tyler - before turning home to take
on Langston, Okla., on Oct. 6.
