Box Score ABILENE, Texas — No. 7 Hardin-Simmons continued its dominance of East Texas Baptist and kept several streaks alive Saturday, rolling to a 63-27 American Southwest Conference victory over the Tigers at Shelton Stadium on Homecoming.
The win improved the Cowboys to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in league play while extending their Homecoming winning streak to 18 games and their October winning streak to 25 games.
Hardin-Simmons piled up 527 yards of total offense and scored touchdowns in all three phases, getting five touchdown passes from quarterback
Tucker Griffin, who was filling in for injured starter
Ty Thompson.
Dylan Hardin had return touchdowns on both a punt and a kickoff.
The Cowboys struck quickly after forcing an opening punt.
Keagan Ables capped a short 32-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead. Griffin then connected with
Jairdyn Anderson for touchdown passes of 5 and 28 yards as Hardin-Simmons built a 21-6 advantage.
East Texas Baptist answered behind quarterback Jack Crawford, who threw a 71-yard touchdown pass to Kyler Paul and later found Paul Woodard on a 17-yard scoring strike to cut the deficit to 21-13 late in the second quarter.
The Cowboys immediately regained momentum. Griffin hit
Harison Brockway for a 75-yard touchdown just 15 seconds after the Tigers' score, and Hardin followed with a 64-yard punt return touchdown with 39 seconds left in the half to give HSU a 35-13 lead at the break.
Hardin-Simmons put the game out of reach in the third quarter.
Cayden Jones finished an eight-play, 75-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown run, and after ETBU answered on a 45-yard scoring pass from Crawford to Paul, Griffin directed a 96-yard march that ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass to
Chris Woodley for a 49-20 lead.
Griffin and Anderson connected one final time on a 64-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter before the Cowboys added the game's final highlight. After ETBU scored on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Crawford to Eric Stovall, Hardin returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown to push the lead back to 36 points.
Griffin completed 15 of 25 passes for 356 yards and five touchdowns. Anderson was his primary target, hauling in eight catches for 141 yards and three scores.
Wes Douglas added five receptions for 132 yards, while Brockway caught a 75-yard touchdown pass. Jones led the ground game with 83 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Hardin's impact on special teams was significant, totaling 166 all-purpose yards, including a 64-yard punt return touchdown and a 98-yard kickoff return touchdown.
ETBU entered the game averaging 50 points per contest, but Hardin-Simmons limited Paul Woodard to 43 rushing yards on 15 carries. Crawford threw for 300 yards and four touchdowns, with Paul finishing with six catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, Hardin-Simmons recorded four sacks and seven tackles for loss.
Kaiden Roden led the Cowboys with 11 tackles, while
Colyn Donnelly,
Bruin Wright and
Harrison Foster each added nine stops.
East Texas Baptist fell to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in the ASC. HSU will step out of conference play next week to play at Nelson at 1 p.m.
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