HOUSTON – Houston Christian University was toppled in its final contest of the season, dropping a 31-10 decision to University of the Incarnate Word on Saturday afternoon at Dunham Field at Husky Stadium.
Incarnate Word would strike first in the matinee finale. After holding the Huskies to a three-and-out to start the contest, the Cardinals went 63 yards in six plays to hit paydirt. The drive was kept alive on a penalty early, and two plays later a juggling catch by Josh Lorick netted 33 yards and put the visitors on the two-yard line.
Jaylon Spears then plunged in to put UIW up 7-0 just over three minutes into the ballgame.
On the ensuing possession,
Maddox Kopp would rush for four yards on three straight plays, then connected on a 42-yard deep ball with
Sam Peiffer to put the Huskies in the redzone. Two plays later, Kopp found
Ja'Ryan Wallace in the middle of the endzone for an 11-yard score, knotting things up with 7:44 on the clock.
The two teams traded defensive stops, and the Cardinals reclaimed possession with 54 seconds to play in the first period. UIW wasted no time taking the lead back, going deep on the initial play of the drive with Richard Torres hooking up for 50 yards and the score to Chedon James.
Six minutes into the second quarter the Cardinals were again on the move, putting together a 12-play drive that ended up with a 33-yard field goal by Will Faris to push the advantage to 10, which they would end up taking into the intermission.
The third quarter didn't yield much either way until a late drive by UIW. The Cardinals took over on their own 15-yard line, but used two 30-yard plays, a catch by Chedon James and a wildcat run by Jalen Walthall to advance into the redzone. The drive would stall and a field goal attempt was missed, but a penalty revived the drive. The Cardinals would decide to go for it, and took immediate advantage, scoring on the very next play, a 12-yard rush by Jaylon Spears that made the score 24-7.
HCU would be forced to punt, and on the ensuing kick, the Cardinals fumbled after a long return, giving the Huskies the ball back at almost the spot at which they punted from. A 68-yard completion from
Jake Weir to
Keith Wheeler got the Huskies into scoring position, and they would cash in via a 22-yard field goal by
Ryan Zuckert to cut the deficit to 24-10 as the third period concluded.
UIW would then put the game out of reach, putting together a 10-play, 56-yard drive that gobbled up 6:13 on the clock, ending with a three-yard pass from Torres to Walthall that made it a three-score game.
Playing in his final game with the Huskies,
Rodney Dansby had 13 tackles to lead the defense. The senior linebacker concludes his HCU career second all-time in tackles with 446, averaging 10 per game over 44 games in his four years with the Huskies.
Maddox Kopp went 13-21 for 156 yards and a touchdown for HCU, while
Jake Weir added 116 yards on 6-15 passing.
Ja'Ryan Wallace had three catches for a career-high 130 yards and a score.
Xai'Shaun Edwards rushed 12 times for 40 yards. He ends his season as the first player in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in a single-season, finishing the campaign with 1,019 yards as well as a single-season mark of 12 rushing touchdowns.
Richard Torres was 16-29 in the air for 184 yards and two scores for UIW (5-7 | 3-5 SLC). Josh Lorick had seven catches for 68 yards and Chedon James added 83 yards and a score on three grabs. Kobe Dillon (110) and Jaylon Spears (93) combined for 203 rushing yards, with Spears scoring twice.
HCU finishes the 2025 season 2-10 overall and 1-7 in Southland Conference play.
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