BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team gave up first half points for just the second time this season, but the Cru dominated the rest of the game on the way to an 80-7 victory over McMurry University Saturday in Belton. UMHB improves to 8-0 overall and 7-0 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops the War Hawks to 2-6 overall and 2-5 in the ASC on the year.
The Cru opened the scoring on Luke Poorman’s nine-yard touchdown pass to K.J. Miller just 3:12 into the game. Miller followed with a 39-yard punt return for a score to stretch the lead to 14-0 and Markeith Miller raced 58 yards for another touchdown as UMHB opened up a 21-0 lead. McMurry quarterback Kevin Hurley, Jr. found Doyle Hughes with a 22-yard scoring strike to close out a five-play, 75-yard drive to pull the War Hawks to within 21-7 with 5:23 left in the opening period. Those were the first points allowed by the Cru since September 29th and it was just the second first-half score allowed by UMHB on the season. The Cru would answer as Markeith Miller ran for touchdowns of five and 14 yards, Poorman hit T.J. Josey with a two-yard scoring pass and Anthony Avila kicked a 23-yard field goal to make it 45-7 at the half.
Markeith Miller capped the opening drive of the second half with a 14-yard touchdown run to make it 52-7. Jase Hammack scored on runs of four and 35 yards, Tyvavion Russell recovered a UMHB fumble in the end zone and DeNerian Thomas tacked on an eight-yard scoring run to close it out with 5:02 left to play.
The Cru rolled up 583 yards of total offense with 417 of those coming on the ground. UMHB also controlled the ball for 34:03 of the clock. McMurry was limited to just 15 yards rushing and 130 yards of total offense and the Cru intercepted two passes.
Markeith Miller finished with 146 yards and four touchdowns on the ground as he went over 1,000 yards rushing for the third straight season. Poorman was 14-16 passing for 143 yards and two touchdowns in the first start of his UMHB career and Josey caught five passes for 64 yards and a TD. K.J. Miller returned a punt for a touchdown for the third time this season. Santos Villarreal had a team-high seven tackles for the Cru and Jefferson Fritz and Jon Hughes both had interceptions.
Hurley was 16-30 passing for McMurry for 115 yards and a touchdown. Dalton Thomas ran for 15 yards on six carries and Eriel Dorsey caught seven passes for 22 yards. Josh Smith had a game-high 11 tackles to lead the War Hawks defense.
UMHB extended its regular season winning streak to 30 straight games and the Cru has won 24 consecutive ASC contests. UMHB will return to action with a 1 pm kickoff against Louisiana College at Crusader Stadium next Saturday. Next Saturday will be Senior Day for the Cru and will also be the regular season home finale for UMHB football.
