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Mary Hardin-Baylor tripped up Hardin-Simmons and returned to the second round for the 12th year in a row. |
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| Devonte Davis brings down Salisbury quarterback Ryan Jones, part of a fine defensive performance vs. the Sea Gulls. Cortland athletics photo by Darl Zehr Photography |
Mary Hardin-Baylor extended its run of second-round playoff trips to 12 consecutive years, while Huntingdon won the battle of relative playoff newbies and Cortland booked itself a trip to the second round, almost certainly to the West Coast, to play advancing Linfield with their first-round wins on Saturday.
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Mary Hardin-Baylor started its first three drives in HSU territory but came up empty-handed. The Cru, however, put up 17 points in the third quarter and 14 more in the fourth to comfortably put the Cowboys away, 37-19 and advance into the second round.
Ryan Breton wasn't able to do much for Hardin-Simmons, as he completed just eight of his 27 passes, making star receiver Jessie Ramos a non-factor offensively. Zach Anderson was 8-for-12 passing for 85 yards and Blake Jackson got significant playing time as the second quarterback, going 7-for-11 for 73 yards, throwing for a touchdown and rushing for two.
Huntingdon and Hendrix played a blowout first half and a defensive struggle after halftime. Tied 24-24 going into the locker room, Huntingdon came out and scored first, on a 71-yard drive to take a 31-24 lead and never trailed again. Hendrix (8-3) answered with a field goal to cut the lead to four and missed a 33-yarder with 5:49 left in the game that would have cut the lead to eight. Huntingdon and John Iwaniec ran out the clock from there on a 38-27 win. Iwaniec ran for 122 yards and three touchdowns while the Hawks held Seth Peters to 14-for-28 passing.
It was Iwaniec's first game back after missing two games with injury. "It felt so good to be back out on the field. It was great to be out there playing with my brothers again," Iwaniec said. "This win means a lot. It's a surreal feeling right now, thinking about this win and what it means to us and for the whole school."
In the top half of the bracket, Linfield rolled over Whitworth for the second time this season. Whitworth (9-2) kicked a field goal on its opening drive to take an early lead, but didn't score again until the fourth quarter as Linfield (10-0) won 48-10. The Wildcats put up three drives of 61, 60 and 59 yards, none of which took even three minutes in taking a 21-3 lead, which became 31-3 by halftime. Spencer Payne ran for 138 yards while Sam Riddle was 15-for-24 for 268 yards and four touchdowns. Ian Kolste had 243 yards of total offense for the Pirates, 68 of them on the ground.
Cortland State will be the lucky East team making the flight to Portland, Ore. Steven Ferreira had an oustanding day at quarterback for the Red Dragons (9-2), going 23-for-29 for 447 yards and three touchdowns in a 45-21 win vs. Salisbury. Ferreira ran for 58 yards and two scores as well. The Sea Gulls (7-3) fumbled the ball four times, leading directly to three of Cortland's touchdowns. Devonte Davis had three tackles for loss and forced one of the fumbles. The Red Dragons kept Salisbury more than 70 yards below its rushing average.