BELTON — The parallels stand out prominently. It doesn’t matter where you look.
It’s almost as if fate wrote it this way, that two seasons, 20 years apart, would take such similar paths for the UMHB Football program.
In 2004, a team who missed the playoffs the year prior, would go into the final week of the season unsure if another game would be waiting after the regular season finale. They’d lost to Hardin-Simmons in the regular season, virtually eliminating any chance at the conference title. Yet, they earned new life with an at-large bid. Their first opponent was Trinity University. The opening round game was played in San Antonio. Their second round opponent? Hardin-Simmons. In Abilene.
And now, look at the scenario UMHB finds itself in this week.
They missed the playoffs last year. Much of the narrative heading into this fall was the returners’ determination to prevent that from happening again. They lost twice to Hardin-Simmons in the regular season, giving HSU the ASC title. But they have been given an opportunity to extend their season, to control their own destiny, having narrowly snuck into the playoff field as the second-to-last team of the 12 to earn at-large bids. They’ll be headed to San Antonio for the first round, where the Trinity Tigers await. If they win? Then it’s a trip west to the all-too-familiar confines of Shelton Stadium, where Hardin-Simmons, the tournament’s No. 2 overall seed, awaits.
The 2004 team defied the odds week after week as November turned to December and the Stagg Bowl inched closer. It kept getting closer until UMHB stepped onto that field in Salem, Virginia themselves, having reached the national title game for the first time in program history, just six seasons removed from their first-ever varsity game.
It remains one of the iconic moments in the history of a program that has only added to that legacy in the two decades after. And because of that, it gives the 2024 squad a visible example that it can be done. UMHB is one of 40 teams still standing, and each playoff game offers another chance to extend the season another week.
“When you’ve done it before, and it’s kind of the same scenario, you can kind of spell it out for the kids,” UMHB head coach Larry Harmon said at Monday’s press conference. “It will have more validity than just looking on social media and seeing the road that we have to get to the Stagg Bowl, and how many really good teams we have to be able to beat to get there.
“There’s a tremendous similarity with the ‘04 [playoff run], not only with our opponents, but with where our team is now compared to where the ‘04 team was at that point in time. We have to do our part, go to work every day, get prepared, and play incredibly hard on Saturdays. Good things happen if you do that.”
After a deflating 44-29 loss to Hardin-Simmons in Belton in the seventh game of 2004, a moment happened that reversed the trajectory. Chad Starnes, The Cru’s 5’9, 200-pound senior fullback, stood up, and delivered a speech that Harmon still remembers especially well for its significance in the aftermath of what easily could’ve been a season-crushing defeat.
“He was so passionate and pretty much gave a testimony of what he was prepared to do as a servant leader and how he was never going to let his teammates feel like we did that day,” Harmon recalled Monday. “He was so passionate and convincing that he got others to stand up and make that kind of commitment. From there on out, everything we did was to get back in the playoffs and have a second chance at Hardin-Simmons in the second round on Thanksgiving. They really wanted that opportunity.”
They not only got the opportunity, but seized it, winning 42-28 in Abilene in the second round. That was followed by a 52-16 win at Washington & Jefferson, and a 38-35 upset of heavily-favored Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio in the national semifinals.
When he looks at the mentality of his current team, Harmon noted that he has seen a similar kind of desire to remain cohesive as the postseason approaches.
“Yesterday, there was a team meeting after we got done with the selection show,” Harmon continued. “They had a pretty passionate recommitment to each other. It’s starting to take shape.
“We understand the quality of opponents we have in front of us, we know how well we have to play in order to have a chance to continue on. The thing I’m excited about is that our kids have made the commitment to each other that they want to continue. At this time of year, people are really beat up and you can get into a situation where some guys are ready to be done. I don’t have that sense with this group.”
If anything, it seems UMHB has more momentum than ever with this playoff opportunity, one that they were unsure if they’d get entering Saturday’s regular season finale with Howard Payne. They played loose on Saturday en route to a 63-7 win, a contest that saw kicker Edwin Lopez tie the Division III record for field goals in a game (6) and Matthew Jackson return a kick and punt for a touchdown on his way to being named D3football.com’s Returner of the Week.
“[In previous games], we played, at times, really good football on defense, and we played really good football at times on offense, and we’ve had bits and pieces of being able to show up on special teams,” Harmon noted. “But we hadn’t done it in a single game for four quarters, and that was the challenge all week. I was very happy to see how hard our kids played on Saturday.
“The kids had a lot of fun, obviously when you’re successful it’s a little easier to be more energetic about things. I think early success builds up and we just continued it through the game. That’s obviously something we have to be able to do if we’re going to continue to play.”
Harmon also praised the effort in practice throughout the week, even after projections were released that had UMHB with a less than 12 percent chance to reach the playoffs. Multiple results had to go UMHB’s way in addition to The Cru beating Howard Payne—notably UW-River Falls’ 28-14 win over UW-Oshkosh—yet they focused on the task ahead, finishing the season with a victory regardless of what followed that.
“We were stressing all week,” Harmon said. “Our mathematics had us in, based on what me, and Coach Padron, and Coach Carey could put together. We thought we were going to be in or have a very good chance of getting in, regardless of what all of the social media was saying. It was a big boost for our kids [to get an at-large bid], because they look at that stuff on social media and [saw they were projected with a low chance] to get in.
“So it’s a tribute to them for how they came out in practice last week. In their minds, they had a very low chance of getting in, but yet they still came out and wanted to play hard for the seniors, for each other, and for Cru Nation at home at Crusader Stadium. I’m happy that we got through it. We’re excited to be in the tournament. We think we’re very deserving to be in the tournament. It’s funny how this year relates back to ‘04, and the similarities, so we’ll see if we can bring that all to fruition.”
To have another chance at Hardin-Simmons, UMHB first must beat a Trinity (TX) team that has become very familiar in recent years. While the two programs, separated by 138 miles, didn’t play even once between 2014 and 2020, they have now met in the postseason in three of the last four seasons. And last fall, the Crusaders and Tigers met in San Antonio in Week 2 of the regular season, with Trinity winning, 35-16. Saturday’s trip to Trinity Multi-Purpose Stadium marks the third consecutive year in which UMHB faces the Tigers in San Antonio.
“I think it helps, but they know us really well too,” Harmon said, when asked about the dynamics of facing Trinity for a fourth straight year. “What you know about Trinity is they’re going to play really hard, Coach Urban is going to have them very well-coached, and they’re going to have great technique. They’re not going to beat themselves. You’re going to have to play 60 minutes and get in there and stand toe-to-toe with them, or you’re not going to have a chance to win it at the end.”
Trinity enters the postseason with an 8-2 record, having won seven straight including a 38-35 overtime win over Berry, who earned the Southern Athletic Association’s automatic bid to the playoffs. The Tigers finished in a three-way tie for the SAA title, going 6-1 against league opponents. Averaging 32.2 points per game, Trinity ranked second in the SAA in scoring offense, and second in scoring defense, allowing just 19.2 points per game. Cade Rabson leads the Tiger defense from his spot at linebacker, ranking No. 1 in the SAA in tackles and No. 12 in Division III in that category, at 10.9 per game.
Saturday’s first round playoff contest kicks off in San Antonio at 12 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
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