HOUSTON – HBU got off to a slow start, but put up 30 second-quarter points en route to a 58-13 victory over Texas Wesleyan in non-conference football Saturday night at Husky Stadium.
The Huskies (1-1) put up a school-record 624 total yards, including 345 passing and 278 rushing, with eight different players scoring touchdowns.
Junior quarterback
Bailey Zappe completed 17-of-23 passes for 249 yards and three touchdowns, but threw two interceptions, and rushed for 47 yards for HBU. Freshman
Blaise Bentsen completed 6-of-16 passes for 82 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another. Sophomore
Ean Beek rushed for 86 yards and a scored, while junior
Dreshawn Minnieweather ran for 69 yards and a touchdown.
Junior
Ben Ratzlaff caught seven passes for 110 yards and junior
Jeremy Smith caught three for 61 yards and a touchdown. Freshman
DJ Dormeus made three catches for 45 yards and a touchdown, sophomore
Jerreth Sterns had six receptions for 44 yards and a score and senior
Trevor Larkin had two catches for 42 yards and a TD. Sophomore
Jaylon Johnson had the other touchdown for the Huskies.
Junior linebacker
Caleb Johnson had 11 tackles and a fumble recovery and freshman linebacker
Philip Ossai also had 11 tackles. Freshman safety
Tra Fluellen, junior linebacker
Tyrell Stewart and senior defensive end
Vejon Wallis each had six tackles, with Fluellen adding an interception. Senior defensive end
Andre Walker tied his own school record with 2.5 of the Huskies' six sacks.
Junior punter
Blake Patterson averaged 42.4 yards on five punts and freshman
Gino Garcia made his only field goal attempt, a 23-yarder.
Donovan Isom completed 5-of-17 passes for 15 yards and an interception for the Rams (0-2). Keaton Heubner rushed for 72 yards on 14 carries and David Allen ran for 19 yards and a touchdown. TWU was held to 130 yards of offense, 113 on the ground and just 17 passing.
Elijah Hall led TWU with 13 tackles, Damien Francis had nine and Mark Seidler had seven. Devin Griffin recorded 1.5 of the Rams' four sacks.
The Huskies got down to the one on a completion to Ratzlaff, but a false-start backed them up and Zappe threw an interception to Tarik Davis in the end zone. HBU quickly got the ball back, but Zappe was picked off again and Chance Carroll returned it 90 yards for a touchdown for the game's first score.
HBU answered with Zappe's 36-yard touchdown to Dormeus, the first of his Huskies career to tie the game, 7-7. On the next possession, Zappe ran 15 yards for a first down to the 5-yard line, then hit Sterns for a touchdown reception on the next play to give HBU a 14-7 lead.
Zappe completed a 34-yard touchdown to
Trevor Larkin for a 21-7 advantage. On the Huskies' next possession, Zappe hit Smith for a 33-yard gain, then ran for a 19-yard gain down to the three, but had to come out of the game with an injury. Minnieweather pounded it in from three yards out as the Huskies pulled ahead, 28-7, with 9:21 remaining in the half.
Fluellen came up with his first career interception, returning it to the Rams' 21. Bentsen ran it down to the four, but HBU settled for Garcia's 23-yard field goal. Johnson made the fifth fumble recovery of his career, the most in HBU history, with six minutes remaining in the half, then Bentsen punched it in from two yards out for a 38-7 lead. The Rams picked up their first first down of the half with under four minutes on the clock, but the Huskies got the ball back at the 2:17 mark and Beek took off for a 38-yard touchdown run to send HBU to halftime with a 44-7 lead.
Bentsen hit Ratzlaff with a 43-yard completion, then followed by finding Smith for a 14-yard touchdown for a 51-7 lead with 11:52 remaining in the third. HBU took over on junior cornerback
Delon Smith's first interception as a Husky, but gave it right back on a dropped pass that resulted in an interception for the Rams.
Vejon Wallis's fumble recovery at the TWU 31 set up Haidet's nine-yard touchdown pass to sophomore
Jaylon Johnson, pushing the lead to 58-7. The Rams went on a seven-play, 67-yard drive in the fourth quarter, capped by Allen's six-yard touchdown run for the game's final tally.
HBU hits the road for a matchup with South Dakota, a foe out of the FCS Missouri Valley Football Conference, Saturday, Sept. 14 at 2 p.m. at the DakotaDome in Vermillion, South Dakota.
