Covering UMHB Athletics and the stories behind the score
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.
ABILENE — For the third time this season, UMHB and Hardin-Simmons will meet on the gridiron, and it goes without saying that the stakes are high. In the second round of the playoffs, the Crusaders and Cowboys each have high expectations, ready to make a statement at Shelton Stadium.
BELTON — In what is presumed to be the first time in Division III history, perhaps even in college football history, a pair of top-caliber programs will meet for a third time in a single season on Saturday.
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.
Mary Hardin-Baylor’s 2024 playoff run will begin in San Antonio, as the Crusaders are set to face Trinity University (TX) in the First Round next Saturday. UMHB learned of its matchup during the NCAA’s Selection Show on Sunday afternoon.
Heading into Saturday’s games, the final week of the regular season, several things had to go right for UMHB to extend its 2024 campaign by another week.
BELTON- The sleet and cold temperatures on Saturday afternoon at Crusader Stadium did not hold UMHB back in its 2022 playoff debut. Instead, the Crusaders made a statement, pulling off their first shutout of the season, dominating on both sides of the ball in a 54-0 victory.