ABILENE, Texas -- Hardin-Simmons' football team beat East Texas Baptist 35-19 on Senior Day and Veterans Appreciation Day at Shelton Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Cowboy defense dominated the first half limiting the high-powered Tigers offense to no points and 123 yards as the Cowboys jumped to a 14-0 halftime lead.

Kerry Sloan gave the Cowboys an early lead as HSU took the opening kickoff and drove 82 yards in 11 plays with Sloan scoring from three years out.

Connor Nielsen later sacked Josh Warbington and forced a fumble at the ETBU 21 and the Cowboys scored two plays later on a Weston Garner 21-yard pass to Jessie Ramos to make it 14-0 with 5:10 to play in the first quarter.

The game stayed 14-0 until early in the third quarter. ETBU drove to the HSU five yard line and attempted a field goal that Randy Hirsch blocked and Conlan Aguirre returned it 81 yards for a touchdown to make the score 21-0.

HSU came up with a goal-line stop on the next ETBU possession as well.

The Tigers got on the board with :13 to play in the third quarter on a 19 yard pass to Stephen Alfred from Warbington. The Tigers recovered an onside kick but HSU stopped the drive on downs.

The Cowboys then went 60 yards in 11 plays and Sloan scored on a 4-yard touchdown run to make it 28-7 with 8:42 to play.

ETBU drove again and Warbington hit Alfred for a 16-yard touchdown. After HSU was forced to punt ETBU scored again on a 54 yard-pass to Tyler Bates from Warbington to make it 28-19.

HSU answered again with a 57-yard three-play drive all Sloan rushes. Sloan had a 50-yard run and capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to make it 35-19 with 2:30 to play.

Sloan, the leading rusher in the ASC, finished the game with 130 yards and three touchdowns. Bryce Johnson had 71 yards and Jeremy Harris 66 as the Cowboys had 256 yards on the ground in the contest.

Garner was 18-for-28 for 157 yards. Warbington completed 37-of-56 passes for 406 yards and three touchdowns. Tyler Bates had 12 catches for 172 yards for ETBU and Stephen Alfred added 11 catches for 126 yards.

James Place had 18 tackles for the Cowboys in the Contest and Matthew Hawkins had 16, both were career highs. Dylan Bowman had 12 tackles to pace the Tigers.

HSU is now 6-2 on the year and 3-1 in ASC play. ETBU fell to 4-5 overall and 1-3 in conference action. HSU will close the regular season at Louisiana College next week.

It was the final home game for 23 Hardin-Simmons seniors.

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