Michaux’s 5 TDs, Stewart’s 100-yard receiving day, lift UMHB to 41-17 win over Howard Payne

Photo by Luke Zayas/True To The Cru/@lukezayas_photography

BELTON — There was a point on Saturday afternoon’s 41-17 win for UMHB—right around the time that the fourth quarter began—when it looked as if the Crusader offense might succumb to the same second-half fate as it did against Texas Wesleyan a week ago. 

Howard Payne had just driven 61 yards in four plays for a touchdown that cut the Crusader lead to 21-17. UMHB’s two possessions in the third quarter, meanwhile, included a handful of promising gains, but neither had ended with points, as The Cru struggled to convert on key third downs. 

Then the switch flipped. 

UMHB got the ball back and answered HPU’s touchdown with one of its own, as Kirkland Michaux rolled to his left and hit BJ Stewart in stride from 32 yards out, extending the lead to 28-17. The Crusader offense then topped that 66-yard drive by going 70 yards to the end zone the next time they touched the ball, doing so in just five plays with Kamerin Ferguson’s 27-yard touchdown run—in which he steamrolled over a pair of HPU defenders and busting through a gap at the line of scrimmage—pushing UMHB’s advantage to a much-more commanding 35-17. 

Even then, they weren’t done. HPU running back Blessing Ngene, who picked up 108 yards on the ground for his fourth-consecutive 100-yard rushing performance, fumbled after an initial 14-yard gain, putting the ball back in the hands of Michaux and the UMHB offense on HPU’s 32-yard line. 

Once again, the fifth play ended the drive with a score, as Michaux found Jones wide-open in the middle of the end zone, tossing his fifth touchdown pass of the afternoon. The nail was already in the coffin on HPU’s upset bid, but Jones’ second touchdown catch—with 2:11 left—made a statement. Against Texas Wesleyan, they had simply “held on”. Against Howard Payne, they pulled away, and did so in decisive fashion. 

“I think the leadership finally emerged,” UMHB head coach Larry Harmon, whose team is now 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the ASC, said afterwards. “Some guys finally said, ‘If it’s going to be, it’s up to me’ and they decided to go do it. I’m really proud. We slipped in the third quarter, but in the fourth quarter, on both sides of the ball, we were the more dominant team.” 

Michaux threw for five touchdowns in the victory, the most in a single game by a UMHB quarterback since All-American Kyle King tossed six against Southwestern in 2022. The Austin native completed 16-of-25 passes for a career-high 250 yards, finding his rhythm early on before working through a lull and then coming back out of it in the fourth quarter. 

“We put in a lot of work this week,” said Michaux, who has now thrown for 1,180 yards this season. “I thought we had our best week of practice leading up to today. The guys had a lot of confidence coming in. We started out fast last week and weren’t able to finish as fast as we’d like to. Hitting that lull in the third quarter [today] and being able to come out in the fourth, get back in rhythm, and keep scoring was great for us.” 

His go-to target for much of the afternoon? Stewart. The 5’7 slot receiver had been quiet the last two weeks, as he tallied just 21 receiving yards at Hardin-Simmons and missed the non-conference win over Texas Wesleyan due to being in concussion protocol. But it didn’t take Stewart long to reassert himself as UMHB’s primary target in the passing game. He accounted for nearly half of Michaux’s 250 yards through the air, finishing with a season-best 119 yards, eight receptions, and three touchdowns. 

“It’s huge,” Michaux answered, when asked how big it was to have Stewart back in the offense. “You get the ball in his hands, and you never know what can happen. We’re so lucky to have him back.” 

That was noticeable from the start. The Michaux-Stewart connection yielded six completions for 83 yards in the first half alone, and in that span, only three other receivers were even targeted and just one of Michaux’s completions—a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jones—went to someone besides Stewart. 

Perhaps the most notable example of Stewart’s impact for the Crusaders over the first two quarters came on the heels of HPU’s game-tying touchdown with 8:53 in the first. After Yellow Jacket quarterback Bryce Still found Mateo Hernandez running across the back of the end zone for a 7-yard score, Stewart showcased his exceptional speed, returning the ensuing kickoff for 64 yards to the HPU 34-yard line. 

Two plays later, facing 3rd & 6, Michaux connected with Stewart to move the chains on an 11-yard pickup. The very next snap, Michaux delivered the ball to the back corner of the end zone over the head of HPU cornerback Kadarius Carr, with Stewart pulling in the pass to retake the lead, 14-7. 

UMHB’s third scoring drive had an even heavier dose of the Michaux-Stewart connection, as Stewart made three consecutive catches of 21, 6, and 24 yards. That composed all but two of UMHB’s 53 yards on the four-play drive, with Michaux finding Stewart along the right sideline for the 24-yard touchdown that saw the speedy receiver pick up nearly 15 yards after the catch, cutting back inside at the five-yard line to give UMHB its 21-10 halftime lead. . 

As the game progressed, it wasn’t only the passing attack that played into UMHB’s 41-point output. The run game found traction as well, particularly in the fourth quarter surge. The Crusaders rushed for 147 yards against the Yellow Jacket defense, with 64 in the final three drives, as Ferguson and Asa Osbourn each stepped up with explosive gains. 

Osbourn, who had 42 yards in the first half, finished with 104 in his third 100-yard game in two seasons at UMHB, while Ferguson made the most of his three carries, rushing for 37 yards and an average of 12.3 yards each time he touched the ball.

“What we need to be able to do is run it when the numbers are in our favor and throw it when they’re not,” Harmon noted postgame. “We had our lulls in there where we didn’t execute like we should, and we’ve got to get it cleaned up. But there was progress made. It’s not perfect yet, but I do feel like we made some progress towards being who we want to be.”

HPU, who entered Saturday’s matchup tied with UMHB for second place in the ASC standings, hung around for three quarters despite finding the end zone just twice. The Yellow Jackets put together four drives of 40+ yards, and came away with points in each of their first two possessions, with a 32-yard field goal from Osvaldo Gomez cutting the deficit to 14-10 with 2:18 left in the opening quarter. 

But while HPU remained in striking distance until the Crusaders put up their three unanswered scores, the Yellow Jackets never broke through. Late in the second quarter and inside the red zone for the third time, Still was intercepted by Da’Marion Morris at the goal line, ending the 10-play, five-minute drive without getting any closer to UMHB’s 21-10 lead. 

Then with just under eight minutes in the fourth quarter, trailing 28-17, HPU faced a crucial 4th & 2 on its own 45-yard line. But a false start penalty against the Yellow Jackets took away the short-yardage opportunity to potentially extend the possession, and HPU instead punted it away. UMHB took that and responded with Ferguson’s touchdown run, putting the game out of reach. 

HPU ended the day with 315 yards of total offense and 19 first downs, controlling the clock with just over 13 minutes more in time of possession. But the Yellow Jackets also turned it over twice, and ended five drives with punts. 

When asked about it postgame, Harmon had honest thoughts on the defensive performance. They stepped up when they had to, but HPU found far more success moving the ball and extending drives than he would’ve liked. 

“The thing that’s disappointing is we knew we had to play assignment football,” Harmon said. “They’re like an option offense; they’ve got dive, they’ve got quarterback [keeper], they’ve got pitch. They do it a little differently than that, but they have it, and everybody has to do their job. 

“We were sloppy, and trying to do each other’s job, and we gave up big plays. Our eyes were in the wrong place a lot of times. Defensively, we’ve got a lot of work to do to get that cleaned up for the next time we play them. But when we had to make plays, we made plays. We created turnovers and I thought we were the most physical team.” 

UMHB now turns its attention towards ETBU, hosting the Tigers (4-3, 0-3 ASC) at Crusader Stadium next Saturday. The Cru has won back-to-back games for the first time this season, and is now in sole possession of second place in the ASC standings, with a 2-1 record in conference action. 

“What’s behind us is behind us, we’re looking at the next step,” Michaux said. “You want to go 1-0 every day and every week. So now that this week is done, we’ll have our 24 hours of celebration tomorrow, put it behind us. East Texas Baptist is all I’m worried about next.”