By Bradley Melchor, Staff
The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team hosted Westgate Christian University for their 2024 home opener over the weekend, as the Crusaders looked to secure their first win of the season.
In a game that proved to be completely one sided and non-competitive, the Cru trampled the Ravens by a score of 85-6, with 71 of the Cru’s points coming in the first half.
Though they only played the opening quarter, the UMHB starters still put on quite a show for the home crowd, running up the score to 36-6 in the opening 15 minutes. Junior quarterback Isaac Phe, completed seven of his nine passing attempts for 130 yards and two touchdowns, looking much more confident in the pocket than in the Cru’s previous game. Junior running back Kam Ferguson, also posted an eye-popping 187 yards rushing on just 6 carries in his limited action, scoring two more touchdowns for the Cru.
With a vast majority of the starters only playing the first quarter, Head Coach Larry Harmon was able to rotate in almost the entire roster and evaluate all of his talent.
When asked about what he could take away from the game, Harmon emphasized building depth for his team, “We really got to see some younger kids, and kids who might not get to play as much get into the fold and see how they respond to some fast bullets flying at them.”
Harmon also emphasized the improvement in the trust between his players, a major critique of his following the team's loss to Bethel. “We had angles on Bethel last week, the entire day, but the guys weren’t trusting each other and hitting the hole 100 mph, and while these guys weren’t hitting us like Bethel, it was good to see us go out there and build some confidence in each other.”
As the team prepares for another road trip this upcoming weekend, Harmon also spoke on the importance of carrying this level of confidence and energy into every game.
“You don’t go to Wisconsin-Whitewater and win at their place if you’re not confident in what you’re doing, so we need to do a really great job this week of letting our kids know exactly what we want, and be prepared to go up there and execute and be physical.”
The Cru will be back in action on Saturday, Sept.21 at 6 p.m when they travel to Whitewater, WI to take on the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
