Box Score BROWNWOOD, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' football team forced five turnovers and held the top offense in the conference to 348 yards in a 38-14 win in Brownwood on Saturday afternoon.
The two teams played a scoreless first quarter and the Yellowjackets jumped on the board first with a 3-yard run by Jake Parker. The Cowboys answered right back and went 71 yards in nine plays and Jonathan Castaneda sprinted in from 27 yards out to tie the game.
The Cowboys took the lead right before halftime when Kyle Jones hit Gatlin Martin on a perfect 15-yard pass in the end zone to make it 14-7 at halftime.
HSU then busted the game open early in the second quarter. Cade Bell took the opening kickoff of the second half 90 yards for a touchdown and Jamel LaFond then picked off a Landon McKinney pass and returned it 18 yards to the 12-yard line. Myles Featherston scored on the first play to give the Cowboys 21 points in a span of 2:01 off the clock to take a 28-7 lead.
Howard Payne scored on a 19-yard pass from McKinney to Otis Lanier to narrow the deficit to 28-14 with 14:10 to play. HSU responded with a 70-yard drive and Jones hit Jalen Crawford on a 25-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-14 and Jamie Pogue added his 20th career field goal a 33-yarder with 6:30 to play to set up the final score.
Brock Bujnoch had three interceptions in the game for the Cowboys including one in the end zone on the opening drive of the game. HSU had five picks total with LaFond and Terrell Franklin adding the other two. Franklin led the defense with nine tackles in the game.
Jones completed 19-of-31 passes for 236 yards and two scores and the Cowboys had 201 yards rushing on the day. HSU limited Landon McKinney, the league's top passer to 255 yards and he only had four interceptions on the year before the Cowboys got him five times in the game.
The Cowboys are now 7-1 on the year and 6-1 in conference play. Howard Payne fell to 6-2 overall and 5-2 in league play. HSU will travel to Austin College for a 1 p.m. game next week in Sherman.
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