Hardin-Simmons, Mary Hardin-Baylor stay unbeaten in ASC play during Schreiner’s bye week

Hardin-Simmons and Mary Hardin-Baylor, the only teams still unbeaten in American Southwest Conference play, both won Saturday while Schreiner and East Texas Baptist were off.

No. 6 Hardin-Simmons (6-0, 2-0 ASC) beat Nelson 52-0 in a nonconference game in Waxahachie, rushing for 392 yards and six touchdowns on 55 carries. Cayden Jones ran for 85 yards and two scores, Jerrion Hall gained 86 yards on six carries and Tory Brooks added a 42-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Pedro Altamirano kicked field goals of 28, 32 and 19 yards. The Cowboys sacked Nelson (1-7) five times and held it to 121 total yards.

No. 17 Mary Hardin-Baylor (6-1, 2-0) beat McMurry 26-14 in Abilene. Carson Horton completed 17 of 24 passes for 215 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. Those scoring throws went 64 yards to BJ Stewart, 8 yards to Will McClintock and 8 yards to Trace Meullion. Stewart finished with seven catches for 110 yards. The Crusaders managed only 100 rushing yards, 3.0 per carry, but sacked McMurry quarterback Carson Roper four times and intercepted him twice. Dax Dunham added a 45-yard field goal with 3:27 left, and Mary Hardin-Baylor also scored on a safety.

McMurry (3-4, 0-2) led 8-7 after Roper’s 26-yard touchdown run. It pulled within 16-14 in the third quarter on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Thomas Chandler to Roper, but the Crusaders scored the game’s final 10 points. The War Hawks finished with 28 net rushing yards.

The results strengthen the case that the conference runs through its top two teams. Hardin-Simmons has outscored opponents 293-88 this season, an average of 48.8 points to 14.7 allowed. In league play, it beat McMurry 48-17 and East Texas Baptist 63-27. Mary Hardin-Baylor’s only loss was 28-27 to Endicott on Sept. 19. The Crusaders have outscored opponents 252-108 and beat Howard Payne 33-10 in their other conference game.

McMurry is the common opponent. Hardin-Simmons beat the War Hawks by 31 points on Oct. 10, and Mary Hardin-Baylor beat them by 12 on Saturday. The two unbeaten teams meet Nov. 14 in Belton, a game that could decide the conference championship.

Behind them, Howard Payne and East Texas Baptist (3-4) are 1-1, and McMurry and Schreiner are 0-2. McMurry’s two league losses came against the top two teams. Schreiner’s came against East Texas Baptist, 62-28, and Howard Payne, 41-21.

Schreiner (3-4, 0-2), playing its first football season since 1956, faces both unbeaten teams on the road in consecutive weeks. The Mountaineers play at Mary Hardin-Baylor on Oct. 31 and at Hardin-Simmons on Nov. 7. They close the season Nov. 14 at home against McMurry, the other winless team in the league.