BROWNWOOD — “We’re gonna bow our neck, pin our ears back and just play at fever pitch level Saturday.”
That was UMHB head coach Larry Harmon’s response when asked about the coming road trip to Howard Payne at his Monday press conference. And against the Yellow Jackets on Saturday afternoon, 23rd-ranked UMHB stayed true to that mentality, earning its first shutout since Nov. 19, 2022 in a 41-0 defeat of Howard Payne. The last time UMHB shut out a conference opponent on the road was Oct. 2, 2021, when The Cru took down Austin College, 56-0.
In his first start in a UMHB uniform, quarterback Jake Wright put up a strong showing through the air, opening the game by completing 15 of his first 19 passes for 180 yards. The transfer from Pittsburg State finished with 268 passing yards, two touchdowns, and a 62.9% completion rate.
And the defense stepped up in a similar fashion, bouncing back from a difficult showing a week ago against Hardin-Simmons to pitch the shutout. Facing an HPU offense who came into Week 7 averaging 311 yards per game through the air, the 11th-highest average in Division III, UMHB held the Yellow Jackets to just 162, intercepting two passes along the way. HPU struggled in front of its homecoming crowd, picking up just seven first downs, and converting on a mere 1-of-13 third down plays.
UMHB, who has an open date before resuming its three-game road stretch in a Nov. 2 duel at East Texas Baptist, improves to 2-1 in American Southwest Conference play. HPU remains winless against ASC opponents, now 0-3 in league action.
Special teams provided the day’s first big play less than two minutes in, following up a three-and-out stop from the defense with a punt block deep in HPU territory. The blocked punt resulted in a safety, and the 2-0 lead was soon extended on The Cru’s second offensive possession.
After Wright completed back-to-back passes on the first drive—a possession that ended in an HPU fumble recovery—he connected with his receiving targets on four straight passes. Those four completions accounted for the entirety of a 43-yard touchdown drive, capped by Jerry Cephus’ 13-yard reception on a well-run slant route.
The 9-0 advantage came with 8:55 in the first quarter, and the defense only added to that momentum. HPU failed to counter the touchdown with a scoring drive of its own, and instead went another possession without a first down. Zy Gravitt threw incompletions on second and third down, forcing a punt and putting the ball back in Wright’s hands.
With a decent balance between the run and pass, UMHB picked up 21 yards through the air and 41 positive rushing yards on the ground, going up 16-0 on Kamerin Ferguson’s two-yard touchdown run.
Then came perhaps The Cru’s best offensive drive of the afternoon. In nine plays, Wright and the offense traveled 75 yards, taking 4:06 off the clock in the process. An eight-yard gain from running back Cameron Bibins opened the drive, and after another run from Bibins, Wright completed three straight passes. Highlighting that span of the drive was a 32-yard strike from Wright to AJ Williams, which moved the ball up the HPU 25-yard line. Bibins soon put UMHB inside the Yellow Jackets’ 10-yard line with a nine-yard run, but an incompletion and a false start penalty pushed UMHB back to the 14-yard line, facing second down. Displaying his speed, Wright picked up 11 yards on the ground, setting up 3rd down from the 3 yards out. Rather than run the ball in the short-yardage scenario, UMHB put the ball in the air, as Wright connected with TJ Rone for a second first-half passing score and a 25-0 lead.
For the remainder of the first half, the defensive production was just as noteworthy as the offensive contributions. UMHB forced turnovers on each of the Yellow Jackets’ next four drives, thanks to interceptions by Joey Verret and Ethan Rayfield, a turnover on downs with 7:04 left in the second quarter, and another safety on a high snap to the punter. While the safety was yet another miscue on HPU’s punting unit, the fact that HPU was forced into another punt was a direct product of the defense’s aggressive approach, pinning the Yellow Jackets back near their own goal line.
That didn’t stop at halftime, either. HPU’s first two third-quarter possessions ended with punts, the Yellow Jacket offense unable to pick up a first down in either case. Then, with under five minutes remaining in the third, the Crusader defensive line got in the backfield as they had done frequently up to that point. Gravitt, forced to throw off balance and under immense pressure, lobbed a pass that ended up in the hands of Joey Johnson, who leapt and secured the interception. Johnson raced 27 yards in the opposite direction. There was nothing Gravitt could do. The pick-six put UMHB up 38-0, coming on the heels of a pair of third-quarter field goals from Edwin Lopez.
Lopez had attempted just two field goals this season, and only three in his collegiate career entering the contest, but earned three chances in the second half against HPU. The sophomore connected on field goals from 42, 22, and 29 yards, accounting for nine of UMHB’s 16 second-half points in his first collegiate game with multiple made field goals.
The latter two of those field goals were the products of 50-yard drives by the Crusader offense. While unable to get in the end zone in the final two quarters, the offense moved the ball well for much of the second half, including on a 10-play, 56-yard drive late in the fourth.
Within that drive, facing a 2nd & 13 at the HPU 42-yard line, Wright found Luke Vidal in perfect position and completed the pass for a 24-yard gain into the red zone at the HPU 18. Three plays later, after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty set UMHB back 15 yards, Wright completed his second 20+ yard pass of the drive, finding Cephus for a gain of 21 on 3rd & 25. It set up Lopez’s 29-yard field goal, pushing UMHB beyond the 40-point mark for the second time in the last three weeks.
The Cru, while not perfect on Saturday—10 penalties for 88 yards stands out—took a positive step forward after such a difficult loss a week ago. Offensively, they tallied 216 rushing yards and 268 passing yards in their first 200-200 performance since Oct. 7, 2023. Defensively, the very thing that kept the Yellow Jackets in last week’s game at ETBU—a high-octane passing attack—was virtually ineffective. And special teams, from Lopez’s trio of field goals to the first-quarter punt block, did its part in securing the shutout.
It was the definition of a team win. Now officially at the halfway point of league play, and in the homestretch of the regular season, UMHB must find a way to carry this quality of play through the open date and into the next two games that await, both of which will be against higher-level competition. After what was seen in Brownwood, it appears The Cru is ready for that challenge.
UMHB Stat Leaders
Offense
Passing: Jake Wright: 22-of-35, 268 yds, 2 TD, 0 INT
Rushing: Daunte Blake: 10 carries, 76 yds
Receiving: Jerry Cephus: 5 receptions, 84 yds, TD
Defense
Tackles: Joey Johnson (5), Samuel Steffe (5), Gaige Sanders (5)
Tackles for loss: Gaige Sanders (2.5)
Interceptions: Joey Johnson (1, 30 yd return), Ethan Rayfield, 1, 23 yd return), Joey Verret (1)
Sacks: Gaige Sanders (1.0, 9 yd loss), Justin Hines-Moore (1.0, 6 yd loss), Johnny Smith-Rider (1.0, 6 yd loss)
| Box Score | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final |
| UMHB (3-2) | 16 | 9 | 13 | 3 | 41 |
| HPU (1-5) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
