HOUSTON – Lindenwood's Jalen Bethany blocked an HBU punt and Andrew Martin recovered it in the endzone for a touchdown with 28 seconds left as the Lions escaped with a  21-20 victory over HBU in a non-conference Football Championship Subdivision matchup Saturday night at Husky Stadium.
 
HBU quarterback Justin Fomby completed 25-of-46 passes for 330 yards and two touchdowns for the Huskies (1-1). Karl Reynolds made seven catches for 146 yards and Branden Walker had two catches for 29 yards and a touchdown. Freshman running back Ismail Mahdi rushed 21 times for 79 yards and made five catches for 66 yards and a touchdown.
 
Sophomore safety Isaiah Cash, senior linebacker Brennan Young and sophomore linebacker Rodney Dansby each led HBU with 11 tackles and junior linebacker Jalyx Hunt made eight stops with 1.5 sacks.
 
Cade Brister completed 21-of-33 passes for 181 yards. Robert Giaimo rushed 20 times for 108 yards for the Lions (1-0). Martin rushed nine times for 49 yards and a touchdown, then added the special teams score. Chase Lanckriet had five catches for 51 yards and Kobe Smith made six catches for 46 yards.
 
Tyrone Griffin led the Lions with nine tackles and two pass breakups, while Lloyd Lockett and David Whittemore each had seven stops.
 
The Lions capitalized on their opening possession, with Seibert hitting a 41-yard field goal.
 
The Huskies came right back as Fomby hit Reynolds for a 59-yard completion on the first play of the ensuing drive. On fourth-and-8, Fomby found a wide-open Walker for a 29-yard touchdown as HBU took a 7-3 lead.
 
Seibert followed with a 44-yard field goal as Lindenwood made it a one-point game at 7-6.
 
Mahdi had a 10-yard run for a first down, then followed with a 20-yard run down to the Lindenwood 14. The Huskies settled for Alberto Arroyo's 36-yard field goal to take a 10-6 lead. HBU scored on another fourth-down situation, with Fomby finding Mahdi in the flat, who spun, bounced off a would-be tackler and took it 17 yards for the score and a 17-6 lead heading into halftime.
 
HBU stuffed Lindenwood on a fourth-and-1 to begin the second half, but Mahdi fumbled away a prime scoring opportunity. The Lions answered with their first touchdown of the game on a four-yard run by Martin to finish off a 12-play, 78-yard drive, but the two-point conversion failed as HBU led 17-12.
 
Lindenwood muffed a 45-yard punt, with long snapper Kaleb Halfmann recovering as HBU took back over at the Lions' 25. Arroyo nailed a 41-yard field goal as the Huskies went ahead, 20-12.
 
Seibert hit his third field goal of the game, another 44-yarder to make the score, 20-15. Arroyo left a 45-yard attempt short for HBU with 9:08 left in the game.
 
HBU got the ball back at its own 5-yard line with 5:10 remaining and salted away most of the clock on eight-straight carries by Mahdi, but the Lions blocked the Huskies' punt and returned it for a touchdown with a 28 seconds left. The two-point conversion failed as Lindenwood led, 21-20.
 
The Huskies will be off next week, before returning to action on the road with a Football Bowl Subdivision meeting with Texas State Saturday, Sept. 24 in San Marcos.