ABILENE — There was some doubt, externally, about UMHB’s ability to go to Abilene in the second round of the playoffs and win on Saturday afternoon. The Cru had, after all, dropped both regular season meetings against the Cowboys this season. And Hardin-Simmons entered this year’s postseason as the No. 2 overall seed, per the NCAA Power Index, with an unblemished 10-0 record.
But as leading tackler Durand Hill said in a story for D3football.com earlier this week, the Crusaders hadn’t played their “complete game” in the previous two meetings with HSU. The offense sputtered early in those contests, the defense allowed too many broken coverages to create long gains for the Cowboy offense, and it never seemed the offense and defense played at a high level at the same time in either contest.
But that changed on Saturday. Fresh off a 29-22 first-round win at Trinity a week ago, UMHB walked into Shelton Stadium with a mission in mind. The Crusaders had never lost in the postseason to HSU before, and they had no plans of ending that streak.
So they didn’t.
Larry Harmon was asked about the mentality being preached by the coaching staff to the team early in the week, considering the dynamic with facing Hardin-Simmons for a third round, on the road, and in the playoffs, no less. He closed his answer to that question with a response that was clearly seen on the field Saturday afternoon.
“The key to this game is who can be the most physical the longest,” Harmon said, “and that’s something that Hardin-Simmons has been able to accomplish and we haven’t. That’s going to be the message this week. That’s what we have to match. At this time of year, toughness is what wins games.”
Indeed it does. And UMHB answered the call. The Crusaders didn’t just match the physicality, they exceeded it, and did so with both their offensive and defensive lines. UMHB’s 17-13 win wasn’t filled with flashy plays, long touchdown runs, or SportsCenter-worthy acrobatic catches. It was built on the backs of consistent stops by the defense, of a hard-nosed rushing effort from the offense, and some timely plays that helped keep UMHB in control as the contest progressed. No one won the game. Rather, it took a collective effort from both sides of the ball and special teams to extend UMHB’s season by another week.
“We’ve been in the games that you really have to have your guts to get through it,” Harmon said postgame. “They’re battled-tested. I think they’re ready. We can’t be arrogant, but we’ve had a tough year, been through highs and lows, and these guys are committed to each other, and bought in. We’re ready for the next challenge.”
The Cru never trailed, and punched its ticket to the third round of the playoffs in the process. UMHB will meet Linfield next Saturday, after Linfield’s 65-3 win over Texas Lutheran. Linfield, as the higher-seeded team, should host the third-round matchup, with UMHB flying to McMinnville, Oregon. Confirmation on that is expected to come soon.
With that, here are three main observations from UMHB’s victory in Abilene.
Effective clock management was key
UMHB’s ability to sustain lengthy drives was crucial to not only preserving the lead, but also keeping HSU’s defense on the sidelines. It’s been said that the best defense is a good offense, and The Cru tapped into that throughout Saturday’s win.
Perhaps the best example came in a second-quarter drive that didn’t even impact the score. With UMHB leading 14-7, The Cru took possesssion on its own 15-yard line with 14:17 left in the second quarter. UMHB proceeded to drive 76 yards in 18 plays, and when a fourth-down run was stopped short of the first-down marker, just 2:48 remained in the quarter. HSU, eager to tie the score, threw an interception on the very next play, turning it over for the second time in the half. While the drive, which spanned 11 minutes, 38 seconds, didn’t result in points, UMHB controlled the clock brilliantly, giving the Cowboys just one good chance to put together a scoring drive in the second quarter.
While that was UMHB’s lone drive with 10+ plays, the Crusaders put together two drives in the second half that spanned at least four minutes. Both ended with punts, but again, in a low-scoring game, with the defense playing stellar, the offense’s ability to maintain possession for minutes at a time cut down on the Cowboys’ offensive chances. And the clock management aspect even includes a play from Jake Wright with 1:40 left, as the UMHB quarterback rolled out on 3rd & goal from the HSU 6-yard line. With The Cru holding a narrow 14-13 lead, he didn’t force a pass to the end zone and risk an interception. He also didn’t throw the ball away to save yardage, which also would have stopped the clock. While it went down as a six-yard loss on the box score, Wright slid inbounds to keep the clock running. It forced HSU to use its final timeout, putting the Cowboys in even more of a position of disadvantage.
The Cru never seemed hurried, and the impact of the run game contributed to that. UMHB faced few 3rd & long scenarios, in the first half especially, as the rushing attack powered forward behind the Crusader offensive line on both first and second down. That took pressure off Wright in the passing game, and seemed to wear down HSU’s defensive front at the same time. The effect of both of those contributed to the way the second half played out, even as the Cowboys stopped the run at a much higher rate and forced several Crusader punts in the final two quarters.
Defensive pressure on Brown was consistent and effective
UMHB’s defensive front was tremendous, fully connected for the game’s entirety, and fairly consistent in its approach. That included making it a long day for the HSU offensive line and quarterback Kyle Brown, who was sacked four times in the first half alone, and found himself under serious pressure in the backfield on numerous passing plays.
In fact, Brown recorded just 18 passing yards in the first two quarters, completing just two of his six passing attempts in addition to throwing the previously-mentioned interception to Da’marion Morris after UMHB’s 18-play drive. The pressure came early and often, starting with HSU’s third play from scrimmage when Brown dropped back and found Justin Hines-Moore bearing down. Hines-Moore tallied the sack for a loss of 10 yards, setting the Cowboys well behind the chains. They were forced to punt, and that return, from Morris, went for 61 yards up the right sideline. UMHB took a 7-0 lead on Asa Osbourn’s rushing touchdown one play later. The defense had several of those moments on Saturday, coming up clutch and putting The Cru in position for success two or three plays later.
When HSU took possession again, the Cowboys drove into UMHB territory, getting as far as The Cru’s 37-yard line. But the Crusaders displayed a ‘bend, don’t break’ mentality, something that would show up several more times as the game unfolded, continually putting Brown under duress in the backfield.
Gaige Sanders came up with a sack on 1st & 10 from the UMHB 37, which was immediately followed by a strip-sack from Te’Ron Brown, who hit Brown from behind. Brown’s fumble was recovered by Dorien Hill, giving UMHB its first turnover of the afternoon. The Cru took advantage, going 40 yards in eight plays, capped by Wright’s 26-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Day Jr. in stride. It was at that point, with UMHB up 14-0, that it seemed The Cru was firmly in control.
And fast forward to the Cowboys’ final possession. One last chance to salvage a victory, trailing 17-13 with 1:31 to go. Brown opened the drive with a short four-yard completion, but on the very next play, Mason Cavness negated the positive yardage with a sack for a loss of 17 yards. Brown simply had nowhere to go when the Crusaders collapsed the pocket. Third down was much of the same, as Brown felt the pressure and threw behind Noah Garcia, his intended target. Fourth down resulted in Brown tossing up a prayer into triple coverage, with Durand Hill coming away with the interception.
With very little time to sit in the pocket and throw, Brown and the HSU passing game struggled for much of the day. Aside from one stretch in the third quarter that saw him complete passes of 33 and 21 yards, the Cowboys were ineffective through the air. Brown finished 12-of-24 passing for 122 yards, sacked seven times along with two interceptions.
The defense stood firm in the red zone…multiple times
For as good as UMHB’s defense was all afternoon, the impact of The Cru’s performance on that side of the ball showed up tremendously when HSU found itself in the red zone. The Cowboys made four trips into the red zone, but crossed the goal line just once, scoring on Noah Garcia’s 18-yard run around the left side after the Cowboys recovered a UMHB fumble.
The other three trips to the red zone were ended by field goal attempts, two of which found their way through the uprights, in addition to one that missed wide left. Forcing the Cowboys to settle for field goals, as opposed to scoring touchdowns, kept UMHB in the lead through the second half.
Early in the second quarter, with HSU trailing 14-7, the Cowboys set up on the UMHB 13-yard line, threatening to tie the score. But JJ Davis broke up a pass on 2nd & 12, and only third down, Brown was flushed out of the pocket, forced to scramble to his left before throwing it out of bounds to avoid a sack. HSU sent the field goal unit on, but Ethan Brumgard’s 30-yard attempt missed.
Then in the second half, Jake Wright’s first pass of the third quarter was intercepted by Tre Allen, very nearly returned for a touchdown up the right sideline. Allen was knocked out of bounds at the UMHB 6-yard line, giving HSU its best starting field position of the day. But UMHB didn’t back down, as Durand Hill and Morris pushed Derrick Roberson back for a loss of a yard on first down. Then on 3rd & Goal from the UMHB 3, Noah Garcia was tackled four yards behind the line of scrimmage in a tremendous stop for The Cru. Brumgard converted on the 24-yard field goal, but rather than a tied score, UMHB remained in the lead, 14-10.
And the biggest goal-line stand for UMHB? That one came in the fourth quarter. On the first play of the final quarter, HSU set up on the UMHB 2-yard line, facing third down. Two yards separated the Cowboys from seizing the lead. But The Cru answered with perhaps its biggest sack of the day as Durand Hill immediately read the run-pass option, and brought Brown to the turf before Brown could even look for a target in the end zone. The seven-yard loss forced HSU into another field goal attempt, maintaining the Crusaders’ advantage.
Standing strong in those instances, when HSU was within mere yards of the goal line, separated UMHB. The cohesiveness of the defense, the physicality to win the battle upfront, and the countless heads-up plays made led to stop after stop. If HSU scored a touchdown on even one of those three red zone trips, the result of the game may have turned out very different. But UMHB’s defense is the real deal, a unit that has steadily progressed throughout the season. The effects of that development were certainly evident against an HSU offense that came in averaging 45.1 points per game.
“When you look at how they attack you with the run game, the backs they have and how talented they are, you have to be real patient,” Harmon said postgame. “If you try to manufacture tackles for loss, they kill you with it. In my opinion, that’s how they hurt us the first two times, with flea flickers, play-action passes, and tags. These guys did a great job of being very patient, sticking to the plan, believing in each other, and holding them when we needed to hold them.”
A look at Linfield
The Wildcats and Crusaders will meet for the sixth time in program history next Saturday, and the first since 2021. In that 2021 quarterfinal, Kyle King threw for 345 yards and six touchdowns in a 49-24 win in Belton, as UMHB continued its path to the Stagg Bowl. Seven of the previous nine meetings between UMHB and Linfield have come in the national playoffs, with The Cru winning in 2016, 2017, and 2021.
Linfield is 10-1 overall this season, having won the Northwest Conference title with a perfect 7-0 record. Like UMHB, Linfield missed the 2023 postseason, and the Wildcats are aiming to make up for that with a strong run in this year’s playoffs. Against TLU, Linfield had 26 first downs, 516 yards of total offense, and averaged 4.9 yards per rushing attempt. Linfield led 51-3 at halftime in a game the Wildcats controlled from start to finish.
Quarterback Blake Eaton, who threw for 291 yards and five touchdowns against TLU, leads the Linfield offense. Eaton threw for 2,194 yards and 17 touchdowns during the regular season with Connor Wolfe being his top receiving target. Wolfe recorded 39 receptions for 540 yards in the regular season, and had 111 receiving yards against TLU. Linfield’s defense allows just 10.63 points per game and opponents convert on just 26.39% of their third-down attempts.
Postgame Presser after Hardin-Simmons win
