September 18, 2015
FOOTBALL: MARSHALL, Texas (9/18/15) - Heading to central Texas for a non-conference battle with Southwestern University, the East Texas Baptist University football team will be looking for win number two on Saturday. ETBU picked up their first win last week with a 56-14 victory over Texas College.
"This is going to be a tough game for us," says head coach Joshua Eargle. "Coach Austin has done a phenomenal job growing that program starting it from scratch. The familiar faces we have seen the last two years are now a year older, a year bigger, and a year stronger. This past week they go out and beat the opponent that beat us the first week. We are going to have our hands full on the road against a quality opponent."
Southwestern is in their third year of the new program and are 1-1 overall. They shut out McMurry University last weekend offensively not allowing any touchdowns. McMurry's lone touchdown came on a defensive score with a missed extra point in the 7-6 win for Southwestern. McMurry scored in the first quarter and then Southwestern took the lead with 3:18 left in the half on a three-yard pass. That is all the scoring that was needed for the upset win. Southwestern finished with only 164 yards of total offense with 62 yards passing. Their defense gave up 154 yards rushing and passing for 308 total yards to McMurry. Dylan Wilburn rushed for 111 yards on 24 carries to lead the team.
Overall, Southwestern is averaging 6.5 points per game scoring 13 points in their first two contests. They produced 197 yards of total offense with 106 in the air and 91 on the ground. Bryan Hicks has thrown for 141 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions and Micah Sherman is his top target with seven catches for 99 yards. Wilburn leads the team in rushing at 126 yards and averages 63 yards per game. Defensively, Zach Cole has 18 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss. The team has one interception and eight sacks.
ETBU is coming off their best game of the season to date scoring 56 points overall as one touchdown came defensively. The offense had over 500 yards of total offense vs. Texas College with 396 coming in the air. Josh Warbington passed for 261 yards as Tyler Bates caught four touchdown passes combined with five catches for 193 yards. His four touchdowns broke the ETBU single game record for touchdowns caught in a game. Jourdan McNeill led the rushing attack with 72 yards and Kendall Roberson punched in for two touchdowns on the ground. The defense hit their best stride of the year with seven sacks and three interceptions as C.J. Johnson returned the first pick of the game 75 yards for a touchdown.
On the year, ETBU is now producing 388 yards of total offense passing for 224.5 yards per game and rushing for 163.5 yards. The backfield duo of Roberson and McNeill is a strong combination as Roberson has 177 yards rushing and McNeill 112 yards rushing. Warbington has passed for 261 yards while Taylor Therwhanger has 181 yards passing. Tyler Bats is averaging 105 yards per game receiving and has four touchdowns on the year. Defensively, Johns has 13 tackles while Hardy Hill and Garrett Gibson have 12. David Jaynes leads the team with 1.5 sacks and three different players have an interception each.
In the last two years against Southwestern ETBU has put up strong offensive numbers. In their first meeting in 2013 in Georgetown, Texas, ETBU scored 56 points and last year produced 58 points. So in two meetings they are averaging 57 points per game. The series is now tied 3-3 overall as ETBU has won both of the 21st century match ups. ETBU played Southwestern from 1947-50 and went 1-3 overall.
Warbington became ETBU's all-time leader in completions and passing yards. He surpassed Phil Van Cleave's 404 completions and 5,553 yards from 2003-06. Bates became ETBU's all-time leader in receiving moving past ETBU great Jabori Jackson's 2,372 yards from 2000-03.
ETBU kickoffs at 7:00 p.m. in Georgetown, Texas, and will be on KMHT's ESPN 1450 AM and 96.9 FM with talent from Mike Midkiff and Adam P. Ledyard. The Countdown to Tiger Kickoff Show begins at 6:40 p.m.