McMurry Extends Winning Streak to Three, Beat Sul Ross
By: Kyle Robarts/McMurry Sports Information
Updated: October 17, 2009
After going 2-18 in 2007 and 2008 as a football program, McMurry University's 35-28 Homecoming win Saturday afternoon over Sul Ross State gives the team its third win in 2009. Jake Mullin threw for 377 yards and four touchdowns and the McMurry defense shutout an opponent in the second half at Wilford Moore Stadium for the second consecutivetime.
In front of 3,100 fans waiting to see what first-year head coach Hal
Mumme had to offer, McMurry and Sul Ross exchanged touchdowns and went
into the locker room knotted at 21.
However, McMurry's defense stiffened in the second half as it has done every week the past three helping McMurry win three consecutive times for the first time since the 2000 season. In fact, beginning with the 45-21 win over East Texas Baptist Oct. 3, the McMurry defense has allowed only three combined points in the second halves of all three victories for the maroon and white.
Dominique Carson, the Sul Ross quarterback, carried the ball for 84 yards on 11 attempts. However, Carson left the game on a trainer's cart in the third quarter and did not return.
The injury came following McMurry's nine-play 67-yard touchdown drive to begin the second half capped by Mullin's 26-yard touchdown strike to Marcus Franklin giving McMurry a 28-21 lead.
Then, Sul Ross took over after the kickoff on its own 30-yard line. On second down, Carson carried for two yards and was gang-tackled by Jared Villanueva and Blake Shuler. Unfortunately for the Lobos, the two-yard gain by Carson would be the gain of the day by the star quarterback as he left with an ankle injury.
The Lobos would put the game in the hands of freshman quarterback Zack Bossier and fullback Cameron Holliness. Holliness responded with a game-high 112 yards rushing on 18 attempts. However, Sul Ross couldn't muster up an offensive score in the second half.
Mullin's fourth touchdown pass of the game went to R.J. Long who hauled in his second touchdown reception with 14:56 left in the fourth quarter from 15-yards away.
McMurry didn't score again and late in the game, the home team was attempting to run the clock out in Lobo territory when backup quarterback Landry Gunter's exchange to running back Bryant Bush went errant as Sul Ross' Jesse Gonzalez forced a fumble an John Williams recovered the ball and ran in for a 75-yard touchdown score with no time left on the clock. The Lobos added the extra point to cut the lead to seven points, but the game was over.
Defensively, Josh McKinnis led McMurry tacklers with a game-high 12 including four solo tackles. McKinnis had one tackle for a loss and was credited with two quarterback hurries. Will Morris and Jimmy Terrell recorded nine tackles apiece from the secondary.
Williams led the Lobos' defensive effort with 11 tackles, 0.5 tacklesfor a loss, an interception and the 75-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.
Mullin continued his outstanding rookie campaign with McMurry at quarterback becoming the first player in school history to throw for at least 300 yards in consecutive games. His four touchdown passes also tied Braxton Shaver's record of three consecutive games with at least four touchdown passes. Shaver tossed for a combined 15 touchdown passes over three games in 1998.
Mullin finished Saturday with 32 of 44 passing for 377 yards and an interception. During the three-game win streak, Mullin is 92 of 126 (73 percent) for 1,120 yards, 12 touchdowns and just one interception.
The Homecoming victory was the first for McMurry since 2006, which also marks the last time McMurry defeated Sul Ross. McMurry is now 40-36-3 all-time in Homecoming contests and 32-29-3 at Wilford Moore Stadium.
McMurry will go for four-straight victories Saturday in Seguin against winless Texas Lutheran who dropped its seventh-straight game of the season Saturday. Kickoff between McMurry and the Bulldogs is scheduled
for 2 p.m.
