ABILENE, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' seventh-ranked football team beat nationally-ranked Endicott in a non-conference game, 35-27, Saturday afternoon at Shelton Stadium.
The game was a hard-hitting affair from the start as the teams battled it out.
Colton Marshall, who has missed the last two games with an injury, put the Cowboys on the board with 3:09 to play in the first quarter. Marshall's 1-yard touchdown run capped a 13 play, 65-yard drive that lasted 6:52.
Endicott came back with a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 14-7 lead. Clayton Marengi scored on a 1-yard run and he hit Everett Knowlton III on a 37-yard touchdown pass with 1:46 to play in the half.
HSU responded with a 65-yard drive that saw
Noah Garcia cross the plane of the goal line on a leap and stretch from 1-yard out to tie the game with :08 left in the first half.
The Cowboys received the opening kickoff and came out and had an 11-play, 72-yard drive that Marshall capped with a 5-yard run. The Cowboy defense forced a quick three-and-out.
Kyle Brown then threw a pass over the top to
Tailon Garrett who beat double coverage and went 54 yards for a touchdown to make it 27-14 after the PAT was no good with 2:23 to play in the third quarter.
Endicott scored again with 8:45 to play to cut the deficit to 27-21. Marengi hit Adam Goodfellow on a 34-yard touchdown pass.
HSU responded with what proved to be the game deciding play. Facing a third-and-13 from the Endicott 34 Brown eluded the all-out blitz and threw a beautiful ball over the defender to
Dozie Ifeadi for a touchdown and Garcia scored on a two-point conversion pass from Brown to make it 35-21.
The defense then forced a stop on fourth down at the Cowboy 6-yard line. However, Marshall had the ball poked away two plays later for the first Cowboy turnover this season. Endicott recovered and scored a touchdown two-plays later when Goodfellow scored on a 9-yard touchdown pass, cutting the deficit to 35-27 with 1:26 to play.
The Gulls tried an on-side kick that
Aden Kincaid covered for the Cowboys and HSU kneeled out the clock for the win. It was the first win at home against a ranked non-conference opponent since beating Coe in
Jesse Burleson's first game as the head coach in 2011.
Garcia had 116 yards on the ground and scored a touchdown. Brown went 18-for-23 for 229 yards and two scores and Garrett had six catches for 122 yards.
Harrison Foster led the defense with 12 tackles and
Kaiden Roden added eight tackles.
The Cowboys had 409 yards of offense against Endicott, who came into the game ranked seventh nationally in defense.
HSU is now 4-0 on the season and Endicott fell to 4-1 with the loss. The Cowboys will face another ranked foe next week as it plays at Mary Hardin-Baylor at 1 p.m. in American Southwest Conference action.
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