SAN ANTONIO -- The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs erased a 17-point, second-half deficit Saturday evening and secured a 42-38 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference win over Trinity University.
The win is TLU's first victory over the Tigers in San Antonio since 1976. The Bulldogs were 0-6 against Trinity in San Antonio and 2-11 overall since the two teams re-started the area rivalry in 2000.
TLU improved to 2-0 overall and to 2-0 in the SCAC. The Bulldogs are one win shy of clinching the SCAC football conference championship.
TLU faces Austin College for the outright conference title on Oct. 12 in Seguin's Matador Stadium. The SCAC does not have an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs.
Trinity dropped to 1-1 overall and to 0-1 in the SCAC.
TLU trailed 31-14 at the half after allowing 330 yards of total offense to the Tigers. The Bulldogs also endured a string of eight plays in the first half inside the Trinity 7-yard line that did not yield points.
The Bulldogs came out of the locker room and reeled off four touchdown drives in the six total drives of offense in the second half. TLU was stopped at the Trinity 1-yard line on four plays in the second half but rallied for touchdown drives of 38 and 85 yards to take the lead for good.
TLU ran out the clock on its final drive with a one-yard run by
Marquis Barrolle (Ingleside/Ingleside) on 4th-and-1 at the Trinity 33.
"Just a big team effort," said
Brent Peavy, who threw for 317 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 85. "It didn't have anything to do with me. It was all the guys included. We had maybe the worst first half we ever had in our life. Second half we came back. We knew what we had to do to win this game, and we came back."
Brent Peavy (Houston/St. Pius X) hooked up with his twin brother Cameron (Houston/St. Pius X) for touchdown passes of 66 and 22 yards in the third quarter. The 66-yarder to Cameron brought TLU within 10 points with 10:32 to play in third quarter. The 22-yarder moved TLU within three, 31-28, with 5:11 in the third.
TLU took its first lead of the second half on an
A.J. Saucedo (San Antonio/Central Catholic) scoring run of 23 yards. Saucedo gave TLU its first lead of the game, back in the first quarter, with a 33-yard scamper just 32 seconds into the game.
Saucedo rushed for a career-high 105 yards on 15 carries. TLU rushed for 277 and collected 594 yards of total offense.
After Saucedo's second TD run, Trinity responded with a Robert Broyles TD pass to Cody Sandman. The 17-yard connection went 69 yards and took 1:58 off the clock.
TLU mounted its game-winning drive with 9:40 to play in the fourth. When Barrolle scored on a 2-yard swing pass from Peavy, the clock read 5:19. TLU's 13-play drive covered 85 yards and took 4:21 off the clock.
Peavy hit
Dustin Hannon (Tyler/Whitehouse) for 12 yards on a 4th-and-4 play from the TLU 46 to keep the game-winning drive alive. Barolle then accounted for 33 of the remaining 42 yards with three rushes for 31 yards and the 2-yard touchdown.
The Bulldogs needed a final defensive stand to preserve the win. Trinity started the drive with a 52-yard pass from Broyles to Matthew Kennemer that took the Tigers down to the TLU 22. After a two-yard gain on a quarterback keeper, Broyles was sacked on the next play by TLU defensive end
Ethan Powell (Florence/Florence). The sack forced a 3rd-and-18 and knocked Broyles out of the game. Back-up quarterback Stephen Smith threw two incomplete passes from the TLU 30 to turn the ball back over to TLU.
The Bulldogs ran out the final 1:46 on the clock with a pair of first downs - the first one on a
Brent Peavy rush of 21 yards to the Trinity 42.
"This was just a great team victory," said senior Brad Snowden, TLU's preseason All-American linebacker. "There were tons of things that could have gone either way. I give Trinity a lot of respect. They are a really good football team, and I wish them the best this year. But we just put it in our heads that this was going to be our game, and we were going to go out and get it. I'm really proud of the guys. This definitely is a family."
Snowden tallied nine tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss.
Ty Johnson led TLU with 21 tackles (12 solo, nine assists). Powell recorded seven total tackles, a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.
"Our theme has been pounding the rock, and that's what we had been telling them, that we just had to keep pounding the rock," said
Danny Padron, TLU's head coach now in his fourth season at TLU. "We just had to keep being physical and keep after them. Our guys came back. We had to make some plays on defense, and we did that."
TLU has its bye week next Saturday and does not play again until the TLU Homecoming game on Sept. 28. The Bulldogs face Southwestern Assemblies of God at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, in Seguin's Matador Stadium.
Trinity hosts Sul Ross State next Saturday at 1 p.m. in San Antonio.
Notes: TLU Director of Athletics
Bill Miller, a 1977 graduate of Texas Lutheran, was a starting defensive back on the 1976 team that defeated Trinity University in San Antonio that season...TLU's 1976 team advanced to the NAIA-II National Semifinal after winning NAIA Championships in 1974 and 1975 with Head Coach Jim Wacker...The Bulldogs are 10-17 all-time against the Tigers.
