Propelling the East Texas Baptist University men’s soccer team to a 4-0 win over Louisiana College, senior Christian Garcia was given his second American Southwest Conference “Player of the Week” award this season.  He netted two of ETBU’s four goals in the shutout win.

Garcia netted goals in the 18^th and 68^th minutes to seal the win for ETBU. The 18^th minute goal put ETBU ahead, 2-0, as he was given the ball by fellow senior Bryan Romero.  In the 68^th minute, Brett Forbus passed the ball up to Garcia giving him his second goal of the match.  In the match, he took five shots with four on goal in his final match at Cornish Field on senior day.

For the season, Garcia now has eight goals for 16 points to lead the team.  He has taken 31 shots with 21 on goal this year.  He was also named the ASC’s player of the week on September 2^nd. ETBU is still in contention for a spot in the ASC Tournament as they head to West Texas for their final two regular season matches vs. Howard Payne and Hardin-Simmons.

Becoming one of the American Southwest Conference’s best runners in 2014, Landon Price (Mount Vernon, Texas) gained his third straight runner of the week award.  This is a first for an ETBU runner as no runner as ever received three ASC awards in one year for the program.

“What an honor for Landon,” says head coach Natalie Bach-Prather.  “He has finally overcome his injury from the beginning of the season and has found his stride at the right moment.”

Price won the Austin College Invitational 5K race with a time of 16:01 out of 44 runners.  ETBU finished in third place out of six teams.  He finished six seconds ahead of the second place finisher.  He was also the ASC’s runner of the week for October 7 and 13.  No runner this year has won the award three times this year and only one other runner has won it twice in UT-Tyler’s Conner Benson. 

ETBU Cross Country will next run at the American Southwest Conference Championships on Saturday, November 1^st, in Tyler.

Having a stellar weekend in West Texas, senior Adaeze Elonu (Houston, Texas) was awarded the American Southwest Conference “Offensive Player of the Week” award.  It is her first ASC award of the year.

Elonu averaged 10.5 kills and five blocks per match and hit .529 overall.  She had 12 kills and nine blocks in a sweep of Hardin-Simmons on Friday night and then added nine kills and a .471 hitting percentage on Saturday at Howard Payne.  Overall she had 21 kills  and only three attack errors on 34 total attacks and 10 blocks.  She is now just two blocks away from becoming ETBU’s all-time leader in blocks.

ETBU is now 13-8 on the year and has won 12-straight matches.  They are tied for first place in the American Southwest Conference at 11-1 and have a 17-match home winning streak in Ornelas Gym which is sixth best in NCAA Division III. 

Making history for the East Texas Baptist University men’s cross country program Landon Price (Mount Vernon, Texas) gained his second straight American Southwest Conference runner of the week award.  This is the first time in the program for a runner to earn back-to-back ASC runner of the week awards.

Price finished in the top five at the inaugural ETBU invitational in Marshall with a fourth place finish.  His time of 26:21 tied his personal best from 2013 on the muddy course as he was the top NCAA Division III runner out of over 300 runners.

He won the award last week for his first award of the season after his time at the Mississippi College Invitational.  ETBU is running at the Austin College Invitational this weekend in a 5K in Sherman tuning up for the ASC Championships.

Becoming one of the top quarterbacks in the American Southwest Conference, Josh Warbington (Hallsville, Texas) earned his third “Offensive Player of the Week” award in five weeks after his performance at #18 Texas Lutheran.  Warbington is the only offensive player to earn the award three times this year from the ASC.

“Josh Warbington is playing outstanding right now and doing a really great job of being a captain for us and leading us on the field,” says head coach Joshua Eargle.  “What’s special about it is he had three other players around him have career nights in Kendall Roberson, Tyler Bates and Stephen Alfred.  It all starts up front offensively and I really love what our offensive line has done up front for us this year, too.”

Warbington threw for 426 yards going 22-of-37 with no interceptions and four passing touchdowns.  He was just five yards shy of breaking his career high as it was his third game in his career with 400 or more yards passing.  He also rushed for a touchdown from 12 yards out. 

He has also received the award on September 14^th and 28^th.  ETBU has had three players earn five player of the week awards this season with Wayne Grice and Tyler Bates also receiving special teams player of the week awards.

ETBU is currently 3-2 on the year and will host Howard Payne University on Saturday, October 18^th, in the homecoming game.

Sanders Voted ASC’s Player of the Week

Pushing the East Texas Baptist University volleyball team to three big wins last week in the American Southwest Conference, sophomore Mallory Sanders was named the player of the week.  She helped ETBU to their eighth straight win and 16^th overall in Ornelas Gym.

Sanders posted 48 kills with two double-doubles as ETBU defeated Texas-Tyler, Concordia-Texas, and #20 Mary Hardin-Baylor.  She tied her career high with 19 kills in the five set win over Mary Hardin-Baylor recording her ninth double-double of the year.  Her first double-double came on Friday vs. Concordia-Texas with 15 kills and 10 digs.

Price Named ASC Runner of the Week

Landon Price has earned East Texas Baptist University’s first award this season for men’s cross country as he has been named the American Southwest Conference’s male runner.  He was one of the top runners at the Mississippi College meet.

Price finished 14^th overall out of 169 runners finishing ahead of several NCAA Division I, II, and III runners.  He ran a 27:22 in the 6K tying his personal best from 2013 and was the top NCAA Division III runner at the meet. 

ETBU was 17 out of 24 teams at the meet finishing ahead of NCAA Division I Nicholls State.

Becoming one of the best offensive lines in the nation, the East Texas Baptist University offensive line was named the D3Football.com “Offensive Line of the Week.”  This is the first award for the ETBU offensive line that is senior led.

Charles Williams (Sr., Crowley, Texas), Landon Boffman (Sr., Waco, Texas), Alex Shetter (Sr., Crane, Texas), Michael Garcia (Gr., Pottsboro, Texas), and Tyler Scott (So., Missouri City, Texas) were the starting five linemen in the 68-15 win over Millsaps College.  This offensive line helped ETBU to a program best 68 points and 715 yards of total offense. 

This line allowed runs of 61 yards, 54 yards, and 39 yards and protected their quarterback Josh Warbington allowing him to pass for five touchdowns and 391 yards.  Warbington was awarded the ASC Offensive Player of the Week for the second time in three weeks, too, which is a tribute to the offensive line.

ETBU is on a three-game winning streak and is only the fourth team in program history to start 3-1. ETBU has a bye week before they play Texas Lutheran in Seguin on October 11. 

A tradition of excellence both on the field and in the classroom has always been a part of the East Texas Baptist University softball program.  For the 2014 season, where ETBU finished fourth in the nation, nine players have been named NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) scholar-athletes.

In order to earn the NFCA scholar-athlete award you need a 3.5 grade point average or higher.  ETBU also finished the 2014 season with a 3.38 team grade point average which is in the top 30 in NCAA Division III out of our 430 programs.

Being named a NFCA scholar-athlete are Sara Clements, Katy Hill, Kaitlyn Hollingshead, Krista Leal, Lacy Liles, Lacey Lindsey, Shelby Parker, Shelby Phillips, and Alyssa Romero.

ETBU finished with a program best 45 wins, fifth at the NCAA Division III National Tournament, and fourth in the final NFCA national poll.  

East Texas Baptist University quarterback Josh Warbington drops back to pass in a game vs. Millsaps College at Ornelas Stadium.

East Texas Baptist University junior quarterback Josh Warbington of Hallsville has been named the American Southwest Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Tiger win over Millsaps, 68-15.

Warbington was 20-of-24 and finished the night passing for 391 yards and five touchdowns tying the program record he set last year. Warbington led the Tigers to a single-game team record in points scored (68) and total offensive yards (715) as the Tigers won their third consecutive game to improve to 3-1. Through four games this season Warbington leads the ASC with 1,344 passing yards, 12 touchdowns and has a 66.4 completion percentage.

This is the second time he has garnered this award from the ASC this season. 

For the third time this season an East Texas Baptist University women’s soccer player has been named the American Southwest Conference “Player of the Week” for their play in Natalie Torres.  Torres collected a hat trick on Saturday to defeat McMurry, 4-2.

Torres scored goals in the 2nd, 34th, and 52nd minutes of the match all unassisted.  Her first goal was at the 1:01 mark to set the tone for the match.  After McMurry tied the match at one in the 9th minute, Torres struck again in the 34th minute for a 2-1 advantage.

In the second half, McMurry was within one, 3-2, scoring in the 52nd minute but Torres added the insurance goal in the 76th minute for the win.  This was the second time in her career to have a hat trick as she posted three goals in 2012 vs. the University of the Ozarks.

ETBU is now 4-2 overall and will next play on October 3rd in Marshall against Mary Hardin-Baylor.