BATESVILLE, AR: The Texas Wesleyan University football team (0-8, 0-5 CSFL) battled Lyon College (3-5, 1-4 CSFL) to the wire before surrendering a 21-14 final score on Saturday.
"We played hard today," Head Coach
Joe Prud'homme said after the game. We didn't always play well, but we played hard. The defense played well for a long time, but we left them out there too long at the end of the day."
First lead
The Rams picked up their first lead of the season and held that lead until the final seconds of the third quarter.
Midway through the first quarter,
Jordan Purnell came up with a sack fumble that was recovered by
Jason Ramsland at the Lyon College 45.
Erik Richards converted a 3rd and 10 with a 10-yard keeper then hit
Archie Amos for 13 yards. Another 10 yard run from Richards brought up first and goal from the Lyon 9. The Scots kept the ball out of the end zone on three straight runs, but Head Coach
Joe Prud'homme went for it on 4th and 1. The move paid off when
Jermarcus Jones powered the ball into the end zone to give the Rams their first lead of the season. The drive consisted of 11 plays moving the ball 45 yards and was capped by an extra point from
Bryce Nye to make it 7-0.
Defense comes up big in the first half
The Scots drove late in the half looking to tie the game, but
Byron Tate came up with a huge hit on quarterback Cody Jones for another sack fumble that was recovered by the Scots at the 29. Lyon had to settle for a 46-yard field goal. On LC's final possession of the half, the Rams' defense held the Scots to a field goal again to preserve a 7-6 lead at halftime.
The second half
On the opening drive of the second half,
Colby Reed faked a punt on 4th and 2 and ran for 11 yards, making the Rams 3-for-3 on 4th down in the game. Prud'homme later said that play was not called from the sideline. "Colby read that. He knew we only needed two yards and that's just a smart football player making a heads up play."
The Scots started their second possession at midfield after a quality punt by Reed from the back of his own end zone. Titus Nelson broke off a 19 yard run to get the ball to the TXWES 14, and the drive was eventually capped by an 18-yard TD pass from Jones to Jonathan Hendrix. Nelson ran in a two-point conversion and the Scots surged ahead 14-7 with 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Lyon started near midfield again in the fourth quarter and moved 52 yards in eight plays including a 3-yard touchdown run from Nelson to push the advantage to 21-7 with 9:10 to play.
Jones Makes it a one-possession game
Jermarcus Jones delivered a season-long 62-yard run before the Rams were eventually forced to punt. Jones later capped a 5-play 50-yard drive with a 7-yard reception from Richards to make it a one possession game (21-14) with 1:14 to play.
The Rams thought they had recovered an onside pop-up kick from
Bryce Nye, but Lyon was awarded the ball with officials citing a now defunct "Halo" rule. The Lyon receiver signaled fair catch on the play, but the Rams beat him to the ball without making contact with the receiver. Instead of having more than a minute to work with from midfield, the Rams eventually forced a punt and got the ball back at the 29 yard line with three seconds to play looking for a miracle that did not materialize.
By the numbers
The Rams put up 233 yards of total offense compared to just 212 for the Scots. Texas Wesleyan dominated the ground game with 169 yards rushing and picked up two more first downs than the Scots (18-16).
Jermarcus Jones became the Rams' first 100 yard rusher in the modern era with 104 yards and a score on 18 carries. Jones also caught two passes for 12 yards, giving him 116 all-purpose yards and marking the first time this season that a TXWES player caught a touchdown and ran for a touchdown in the same game.
Erik Richards rushed for 52 yards and passed for another 64 yards and a touchdown.
The Ram defense recorded three sacks and nine tackles for loss. Nevell Floyd had nine tackles including one for loss.
Byron Tate had four tackles, two for loss, one sack and a forced fumble. Purnell also had a sack fumble, and
Andrew Rangel recorded a sack for a loss of four yards.
Up next
The Rams will return to the friendly confines of Farrington Field on Saturday, Oct. 28, when they host Wayland Baptist University on Educator Appreciation Day. Kick-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. and festivities in the Ram Zone will begin at 12 p.m.
Ramblings
- The Rams were outscored in the second half for only the fourth time this season.
- Texas Wesleyan will square off with Wayland Baptist in four different sports on Saturday. The Rams will host the Pioneers in Football (2 p.m.), Women's Soccer (5 p.m.) and Men's Soccer (7 p.m.) while WBU will host the Lady Rams Volleyball team (12 p.m.).
