Headlines
? The Cowboys host Endicott in a matchup that features a pair of top 10 opponents. HSU is 3-0 on the year and Endicott comes to Texas 4-0. This is the second game of a home-and-home series with Endicott. The Gulls won the meeting in Beverley, Mass., last season.
 
? HSU is in the top 10 in both national polls. The Cowboys are now No. 7 in the D3football.com poll and No. 8 in the American Football Coaches Association poll. Endicott is ranked No. 12 by D3football.com and No. 9 in the AFCA poll. HSU has been ranked for 94 straight weeks and in the top 10 for 57 of those weeks.
 
? Hardin-Simmons leads not only Division III but the entire nation at all levels in scoring at 67 points per game. Only three teams are averaging over 67 points - HSU, Mass.-Dartmouth and defending national champion Cortland State.
 
? Jesse Burleson claimed his 100th career victory on Saturday against North American University. He became the 26th active Division III coaches with 100 career wins as a head coach. He was given the game ball after the game by Jimmie Keeling, with 100 career wins at the helm of the Cowboys. There was also a video with former players, coaches, family and friends of Burleson offering their congratulations. 
 
The Opening Kickoff
Hardin-Simmons will start a two-week stretch against undefeated nationally-ranked opponents this weekend with No. 9/12 Endicott at home at 1 p.m. The game will be a real boost to the winner in the new era of NCAA computer rankings determining the postseason field.   
 
Up Next
HSU will hit the road to Belton to take on Mary Hardin-Baylor. UMHB is 1-1 on the year and the win was a 35-17 win at then No. 3 UW-Whitewater. The HSU-UMHB game is always on of the best games on the Division III schedule each season and this year there will be two of them.
 
A Cowboy Win Would
?Be the 513th in school history.
?Be just the fourth home win against a ranked non-conference foe since 2003.
?Push the home winning streak to 10 straight games, which is the second-longest in the state of Texas among colleges. UT has a 11-game home streak. 
 
Rare Ranked Home Game
Saturday's game is a rarity for the Cowboys. Getting good teams to come to Abilene non-conference is a difficult proposition. Since 2003 (the first year of the D3football.com poll), HSU has only played four ranked non-conference games at home. HSU is 3-1 in those games. HSU beat No. 11 Linfield, 21-6, in 2006, beat No. 13 Willamette, 31-22 in 2010 and beat No. 10 Coe, 41-14 in 2011. That was Jesse Burleson's first game as the Cowboys' head coach.  The only loss was a 71-21 game to No. 4 Linfield in 2013.
 
There "Gomes" That Man - Again
Speedster Dameon Gomes is off to an electric start to the season. He leads the nation in kickoff return average with 43 yards per return and is fourth in punt return average at 24 yards per return. He has a pair of kickoff returns for a touchdown, including a 94-yarder last week. He also has added some running back to his extensive roles and he took his first carry as a tailback 65 yards for a score against North American. For the week, he had seven touches and had 258 all-purpose yards for a 36.9 yard per touch average. He earned his second straight ASC Special teams player of the week award. Gomes is now just the sixth player to record a punt return and kickoff return for a touchdown in their Cowboy career.
 
Players W/Punt and KO Return TDs
9 - Jessie Ramos (7 KO, 2 PR)
5 – Jared May (4 KO, 1 PR)
4 - Dameon Gomes (2 PR, 2 KR)
4 – Alex Bell (3 KR, 1 PR)
2 – Will Galusha (1KR, 1 PR)
2 – Cade Bell (1 KR, 1 PR)
 
Fresh Faces
It's rare when the Cowboys play freshmen on Saturday's, especially early in the season. However, this season HSU has had 12 first-year freshmen already play in games and eight have been in the weekly two-deep.
Offense
Braylon Henry leads the team in rushing attempts with 31 and he has 240 yards and four touchdowns. Kaden Bradshaw has worked at tackle.
Defense
LeBron Tah moved into the two-deep and had his first career sack last week, Seyi Joseph leads the defensive linemen with seven tackles, including a team-best two sacks, he also forced a fumble last week and recovered a separate fumble. Keyon House and Micah Henderson are both listed second at corner and safety respectively. Henderson actually returned a punt for a touchdown last week that was called back. Brandt Patek is No. 2 at middle linebacker and he returned a fumble for a touchdown last week. Larry Smith-Bell had a tackle for loss and forced a fumble in his first action last week.
Kicker/Punter
Ethan Brumgard has shown off a big leg as both the kickoff man and also as the punter. He has put three of his eight punts inside the 20 and is averaging 40.8 yards per kick. He also has touchbacks on nearly half of his kickoffs with 14 touchbacks on the year.
 
Offensive Machine
The Cowboy's top unit continues to be almost flawless. For the season, they have had 25 drives and have 20 touchdowns, one field goal and just four punts. They lead the nation with 67 points per game and are averaging 498 yards per game. Eight times the defense has given them the ball inside the opponents 50, setting up short fields. The Cowboys are one of just two teams nationally that have not had a turnover.
 
Defense Is Pretty Good Too
Defensively, the opponents have had 40 possessions and 25 of those have ended without a first down by either a punt, turnover or turnover on downs.
 
Scoring In Other Ways
The Cowboys have two kick returns for touchdowns, two safeties and a fumble return for a touchdown. HSU has scored 25 points not on offense this and had another turnover on a punt that the Cowboys scored on the first play from seven yards out. 
 
Feed 'Em
HSU has had three different tight ends score a touchdown so far this season. Brock Gibson scored against Curry. Duncan Alexander scored his first career touchdown, an 8-yard reception from Kyle Brown. Nick Chipper added his own 8-yard touchdown. Jeremiah Richard also added a 15-yard catch giving the Cowboys three tight ends with a catch last week.

Running Game
Noah Garcia continues to be his playmaking self. He scored three more touchdowns last week and has eight for the season. Braylon Henry added 88 yards on nine carries and two more touchdowns. Dameon Gomes who has started getting running back touches had a 65-yard touchdown run. HSU averaged 10.6 yards per carry last week on 26 totes and for the year are averaging 7.3 yards per carry.

Roden Racking Up Tackles
Kaiden Roden had his second straight game with eight tackles and he led the Cowboys. He also added two tackles for loss and a sack. He is second on the team with 19 tackles and leads the way with five tackles for loss.
Kicking Game Continues Excellence
HSU only had two chances at kickoff returns and Dameon Gomes had 115 yards in returns, including a 94-yard touchdown. He also returned three punts for 81 yards. Ethan Brumgard had seven touchbacks and averaged 36.7 yards on three punts. Grayson Bearden was perfect on 12 PATs. NAU did not return a punt and averaged just 11.5 yards per kickoff return.

Brown Rolling At Quarterback
Kyle Brown went 18-for-20 for 257 yards and four scores and his backup Braden St. Ama, who had his first rushing TD against Curry, added his first career touchdown pass an 8-yarder to Nick Chipper. For the year he has completed 58-of-77 passes for 683 yards and eight touchdowns.    

Spreading It Around
The Cowboys had 11 different players catch a pass and five players had multiple catches. Dozie Ifeadi, Wes Douglas, Duncan Alexander and Nick Chipper all had their first touchdowns of the season. For the year, 16 players have already caught at least one pass and eight different players have a receiving touchdown.
 
First Starts
Jaymarcus Wilson made his first career start at cornerback last week. He has been in the rotation at corner for each of the last three years and been a solid contributor on special teams. Duncan Alexander got his first start as the No. 1 at tight end, with starter Brock Gibson out. He also started at tight end at Curry when the Cowboys started in a two-tight end set. 

Fast Start
HSU prides itself on starting fast and they did that on Saturday. Against North American, Dozie scored a 32-yard touchdown on the first offensive play of the game. Noah Garcia scored on a 74-yard run on the first offensive play of the second half. Against Howard Payne HSU scored a TD on its first drive. Defensively, HSU forced a missed field goal attempt on the first drive against Howard Payne, forced a safety against Curry and forced a punt against North American.

About Endicott
The Gulls have been one of the top teams in Region 1 for the last several years. They made the playoffs in 2021 and lost 20-14 to Springfield in the first round, lost 17-14 in the first round to Springfield in 2022 and last year had the ball at the 11-yard line in the first round and came up short on the last play of the game against eventual national champion Cortland State, falling 23-17.

Endicott is a veteran squad. Eight of the starters on offense and six on defense from a year ago from the game between the two teams a year ago are back. On the other hand, only five starters for HSU from that game are slated to start on Saturday. On defense, nine of the 11 starters are either senior or graduate students and the other two are juniors. On offense eight are seniors or graduate students and the other three are juniors.
The Gulls rank seventh nationally allowing just 192 yards per game and are allowing just 10 points per game. They have allowed just 300 yards to an opponent three times in the last three seasons. Defensively, 11 players are in double figures in tackles. Defensive end Hector Johnson leads the way with 21 tackles, seven for loss and a team-best three sacks.

Endicott is a run-first team averaging 35.5 attempts per game and 4.1 yards a carry. Three players have 23 or more carries on the year. They run it almost 60 percent of the time. Quarterback Clayton Marengi is efficient he has completed 53-of-83 passes for 787 yards and nine touchdowns with just one interception. Three receivers have caught double-digit passes. Adam Goodfellow is the deep threat as he averages 25.4 yards per catch on 12 receptions. Jayson Little has three touchdowns on his six catches. 

Records Watch 
- Colton Marshall needs 177 yards to crack the top 10 in career rushing yards. He has 1,652 yards. He is tied for fourth with 31 career rushing touchdowns. He needs 16 to break Jaquan Hemphill's record. He is eight points from the top 10 in points scored.
- Grayson Bearden is now tied for fourth in PATs with 103 and sixth in field goals made with 10. He will pass Nico Francino with his next PAT. 
- Dameon Gomes is second with two punt return TDs. He is fourth in career return touchdowns. 
- Braden Hargrove has the school record with seven career blocked kicks.
 

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