Photo by Luke Zayas/True To The Cru/Luke Zayas Media
BELTON—In Larry Harmon’s three years as UMHB’s head coach, there might not be a more impactful win than the 35-17 victory The Cru earned in the upper Midwest on Saturday afternoon.
The timing was spot-on, with the season-opening loss to Bethel (TN), a Top 10-ranked NAIA program, still fresh on the minds of those in and around the program. The magnitude was about as high as any Week 3 win could be, as it took UMHB from being a team with question marks to a team that showed it has every intention to be a postseason contender this November. And the historical significance? Well, it was the first time since 2012 UWW lost by more than three points at home in the regular season. The first time since 2019 that UMHB intercepted five passes in a single game. And the first time since 2022 that The Cru took down a Top 25 opponent. To do it at Whitewater, a team UMHB had never beaten before in the regular season, made it that much sweeter.
“We were very prepared,” Harmon said Monday of the preparation heading into Saturday’s game. “We always have a devotional at 9:50, and 10:30 is when the bus was going to pull out. I came down at about 10:15 and everybody was already on the bus. It was dead silent. That was different for us. The focus and determination that our kids had was great to see, and made you think as a coach, ‘This thing could be a little different.’ I’m excited for where we go from here.”
UMHB heads into Week 4 with its second unaffiliated opponent of the season awaiting. John Melvin University is making the trip from Crowley, Louisiana to Belton for Saturday’s 1 p.m. kickoff at Crusader Stadium, as the Crusaders aim at keeping the momentum from Saturday’s win intact. ASC play gets going only a week later, when ETBU and its high-flying offense soars its way into Central Texas.
JMU is 0-4 thus far, having taken losses at Arkansas Baptist (26-6), Community Christian College (36-13), Millsaps (46-0), and Westgate Christian (55-14). The contest, just as the Sept. 14 home opener was, will be a “noncountable game”, and will not factor into records or stats. But UMHB is trying to do something far more important to build up its statistical numbers before conference play. The Cru is aiming to take Saturday’s performance, maintain the strong points, and build confidence in the areas of weaknesses. It will be needed from here on out, especially in a conference schedule in which UMHB is facing the other three ASC programs twice, rather than once, which has been customary since The Cru launched football in 1998.
As UMHB comes off its statement win, here are three takeaways from Larry Harmon’s Monday press conference as he discussed The Cru’s success at Whitewater and where his team goes from here.
Moving forwards after the victory: “I think because of the win, there’s more hunger”
While the difference in opponents between Weeks 3 and 4 couldn’t be more stark—UW-Whitewater remains a Stagg Bowl contender while John Melvin lost by 41 to a team UMHB beat by 79 a week earlier—Harmon doesn’t expect a letdown with such an inferior opponent next on the docket. Instead, he seems to think quite the opposite.
The confidence infused by the win, coupled with a recognition of the fact that there is plenty of room to make strides, should only elevate the commitment to the program’s standard. The hunger to put forth an even better performance in the weeks to come is a good sign for the state of UMHB’s program…and has certainly put the rest of the top teams in Division III on notice.
“We were kind of like ‘Doubting Thomas’ up to now—we thought we could, we thought we had some faith, we thought we could be a team that could beat anybody on any given Saturday,” Harmon said. “After seeing it and witnessing it, the faith is really there.
“I think we’re in a great spot to start having the trust to where players allow coaches to really coach them hard and start taking the next step to be a team that is going to be able to play the Top 10-caliber teams in Division III.”
Even through all of the excitement and praise surrounding the win, Harmon accurately pointed out that it was far from the perfect game for The Cru. Two punts were blocked and returned for touchdowns—UWW’s only two scores of the entire game—amidst several other facets on both sides of the ball that require some polishing. But now the hunger is there to seize opportunities for improvement, having seen what can be accomplished.
“As well as the game went for us, as well as our kids played, we come and look at the film, and there’s 100 different things we could’ve done better, with the players’ technique, with their reads, and just our scheme and how we coached it,” Harmon said. “There’s so much room to improve. And I think because of the win, there’s more hunger of ‘Hey, we were able to do this, we still weren’t even close to playing our best game. What can we become if we really lock into this thing and focus on being better each and every day?’ So I’m very excited about this week and what might come out of it.”
While the defense garnered the spotlight, the offense took positive steps forward against Whitewater
For as much credit as the defense received in the aftermath of Saturday’s win–and rightfully so–the offensive performance deserves mention at the same time. The first time the offense stepped onto the field, UMHB already led 7-0, and from that point on, The Crusaders were playing from in front. That dynamic changes the offensive approach, even more so as the lead swelled to three possessions entering the second half.
Even still, the offense produced three scoring drives and did not turn the ball over on any of eight second-half possessions, the latter proving to be an underrated aspect in securing the win. It also marked the first time since the Sept. 3, 2022 home victory over Muhlenberg that UMHB had multiple passing touchdowns along with a rushing touchdown in a non-conference game.
“I don’t want the story to be, ‘the Mary Hardin-Baylor defense did all of this,’” Harmon told the media Monday. “This was the first true team win we’ve had in a long time. I thought our offense did an unbelievable job. [Offensive coordinator] Andy Padron put together a great plan. [Offensive Line coach] Alex Farah did a great job. Our O-line was just as physical as our D-line. We had those guys sealed off pretty much the whole game.”
In a game where Harmon said it would come down to which side was the most physical, UMHB’s offensive line answered the call. UWW sacked quarterback Isaac Phe just once this time around, compared to the 3.0 sacks the Warhawk defense had in last year’s edition of the matchup.
And for his part, Phe completed 72.7 percent of his passes with 199 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. Quite the difference from the season-opener when just 57.6 percent of his passing attempts ended up in the hands of a Crusader receiver and Bethel intercepted him four times.
“I thought Isaac did a great job,” Harmon continued. “We moved him around and got him out of the pocket some. We have talent everywhere and we just have to be able to keep molding what our true identity is.
“I think defenses, if they want to stack the box and really try to stop our run, they’re going to be exposed by some big plays from us and our receiving core. That’s what happened [on Saturday]. Now, because of those big plays, there might be other people that will back it off and just play six in the box, and when that happens, you don’t really see the run game take off.”
Harmon also praised Padron for his selflessness in pivoting with the execution of the gameplan once the lead widened.
“Obviously when you’re up four possessions and your defense is playing the way it is [it can change the offensive approach], and credit to Coach Padron. There’s not an ego in his body. He was all about being a team guy himself, and it was about, ‘Let’s run the clock off and make sure we’re not losing the game or putting our defense in a bad position.’ I have no criticism of what our offense did. Obviously we have some things on special teams to clean up, but man, what a great win for this group of kids.”
“We took a big step”
Five days before the season opener, Harmon mentioned in his first press conference of the fall that it would likely be at least seven or eight weeks before the team fully meshed. The introduction of several transfers to the varsity roster had a lot to do with that, and chemistry and gaining comfort with the play calls takes time. While it still might be that amount of time before the clay fully hardens on both sides of the ball for The Cru, Harmon feels his team is firmly on pace to molding what the 2024 squad’s intentity will ultimately be.
“We’ve been talking about trust since we came in together in early August,” he said towards the end of the presser. “It just takes time. We took a big step [on Saturday]. We’re still not completely there, but we took a big step.”
The returners and newcomers have certainly begun to coalesce and that was evident Saturday. For as big of a role as returning varsity players like linebacker Durand Hill and defensive end Justin Hines-Moore played in the victory, several first-year varsity players and transfers made noteworthy contributions at the same time. From transfer running back Kamerin Ferguson’s 96-yard touchdown run to Asa Osbourn’s three catches out of the backfield to Samuel Steffe’s second-half interception, a number of transfers have already solidified themselves into the mix. And Harmon expects that sort of development to only continue as the fall progresses.
“I really think from this win, everybody, but especially the new guys who we don’t have a strong relationship with, they’re going to be a lot more open to listen and allow us to push them and take them to places they couldn’t get to by themselves.
“We took a big step, but it was just one step. Playing everybody in our conference twice, that’s going to be a much bigger challenge than just going to Whitewater and beating them once. We understand the road ahead of us and we’re excited to get moving in that direction because of what we believe we can become.”
