by Rick Mauch

The Texas Wesleyan University Rams wrapped up their best football season since reviving the program in 2016 with a 48-13 road thumping of Lyon College in Batesville, Ark. Saturday.
           
The Rams finished 7-3 overall, including 7-2 in the Sooner Athletic Conference. The seven wins are one more on the field than the Rams had in the past four seasons combined (their two victories in 2017 were by forfeit).
           
Rams quarterback Dalton Dale threw for four touchdowns, completing 13 of 21 passes for 311 yards with no interceptions. Two of his touchdowns went to Brandon Rolfe (33, 39 yards), who caught four passes for 88 yards. Another went for 48 yards to Collier Ricks, who led all receivers with four catches for 109 yards, while another went for 10 yards to Ty Williams.
           
Also for the Rams, A.J. Bobb caught three passes for 73 yards.
           
The scoring pass to Williams put the Rams up 7-0 less than four minutes into the game. After Lyon (2-8, 2-7 in SAC) tied the score midway through the first period, the Rams took control and built their lead to 34-13 at the half.
           
Dale also led all rushers for the Rams with 47 yards and two touchdowns (9, 13 yards) on seven carries. Ernest Ceasar gained 37 yards and scored a 5-yard TD on five carries.
           
Caesar's score gave the Rams a 20-7 lead as the first quarter came to an end. A pair of field goals pulled the Scots to within 20-13 halfway through the second stanza, Ricks' TD catch and the first of Dale's two rushing scores put the Rams up by three touchdowns at the intermission.
           
The Rams amassed 456 total yards of offense (139 rushing, 317 passing) compared to 329 for the Scots (185 rushing, 144 passing). Defensively, they forced three turnovers (2 interceptions, 1 fumble) while giving the ball up just once themselves on a fumble.
           
Also, Texas Wesleyan converted five of eight third-down tries (63%), while limiting the Scots to four on 15 tries (27%). In addition, the Rams averaged almost twice as many yards per play (8.6 to 4.4).
           
Elijah Hall and Darius Vandyke each had an interception for Texas Wesleyan and Davonn Granger recovered a fumble. Tyquandrik Conner, a senior, led all tacklers with 14, including 11 solo and 4.5 for a loss.
           
Dylan Pettway and Christopher Deal each registered nine tackles. Tarik Davis, also a senior, and Denaz Ross each added eight.
           
The Rams also had five sacks, led by Conner and fellow senior Adrian Johnson with 1.5 each. Pettway and Deal had one each.
           
The Rams scored 30 or more points in nine of their 10 games this season, also topping 40 points five times, 50 points three times and 60 points twice. On defense they held four opponents to 20 points or less.
           
Looking ahead, the Rams' roster featured just nine seniors. They also had a dozen juniors, 23 sophomores, and a whopping 72 freshmen.