SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran rallied from a 43-28 third-quarter deficit to defeat East Texas Baptist 55-49 on Homecoming night at Bulldog Stadium as sophomore sensation Marquis Barrolle (Ingleside/Ingleside) rushed for 247 yards and two touchdowns.
 
The Bulldogs, ranked 18th in the latest AFCA Coaches' Poll, are 6-0 for the second consecutive season.
 
ETBU dropped to 3-2 overall with its first loss to a NCAA Division III team in 2014.
 
The Bulldogs scored touchdowns on five consecutive possessions in the second half, starting the streak with an eight-play TD drive covering 48 yards and ending it with a 12-play, 90-yard drive that took 6:25 off the clock late in the fourth.
 
In between those two scoring drives, the Bulldogs went four plays and 83 yards, two plays and 62 yards, and three plays and 19 yards for key touchdowns.
 
ETBU led 21-7 in the second quarter and 43-28 with 1:42 to play in the third quarter.
 
"That's not a good thing for a 62 year old," said Danny Padron, TLU's fifth-year head coach, regarding the Bulldogs need for a comeback. "We don't need too many games like that because they are liable to cart me off on a dadgum stretcher. We're happy with the win."
 
"We felt like we could run the ball against these guys. We got to do a better job. Of course, the throws were really critical for us, the one-on-one guys. Then (ETBU) ended up having to play the pass a little bit, and that opened up the run for us."
 
The Bulldogs scored on the last play of the third quarter on a 39-yard pass play from Trenton White (Sachse/Sachse) to tight end Conner Baird (Kyle/Lehman), cutting the ETBU lead to 43-35.
 
About three minutes later, the Bulldogs were back in the endzone with a White TD pass to Caleb Oliver that covered 54 yards. Another three minutes passed before A.J. Saucedo (San Antonio/Central Catholic) scored on a two-yard run, bringing TLU's lead to 48-43.
 
The 48-43 lead for the Bulldogs was the team's first since the opening quarter, when TLU led 7-0 with 4:50 to play in the first.
 
Barrolle opened the TLU game scoring with a seven-yard run in the first. He then scored TLU's first TD of the second half, on a 3-yard run, with 12:07 left in the third.
 
Barrolle topped the 1,000-yard rushing mark in the first half and now has 1,152 yards on 171 carries with 12 TDs through six games. The school record for rushing yards in a season is 1,208, set by Royce Johnson in 1972.
 
On the TLU drive that took 12 plays, covered 90 yards and took 6:25 off the clock in the fourth quarter, Barrolle carried the ball six times for 44 yards and produced three first-down runs.
 
Baird set-up the Saucedo scoring run on the 12-play drive with a 20-yard connection from White that took TLU down to the ETBU 2.
 
For the game, TLU rushed 62 times for 351 yards and scored five rushing touchdowns.
 
Through the air, the Bulldogs completed 20 of 29 passes (all by White) and threw three touchdown passes. J.B. Brown (Refugio/Refugio) joined Oliver and Baird with a TD reception. Brown's 19-yard TD catch late in the third quarter brought TLU within 35-28.
 
White finished the evening with 250 passing yards. He was intercepted twice, on tipped passes, and sacked twice. Oliver led Bulldog receivers with four catches for 71 yards and a score.
 
ETBU QB Josh Warbington completed 22 of 37 passes for 426 yards and recorded four TD passes. He was sacked four times and did not throw an interception.
 
Stephen Alfred and Tyler Bates each caught seven passes from Warbington, each caught two TD passes, and each went over the 100-yard mark. Alfred finished with 165 receiving yards, and Bates collected 137 yards.
 
For the first time this season, TLU did not collect a turnover from an opponent. ETBU gained two from the Bulldogs.
 
ETBU ran 82 offensive plays and recorded 676 yards of total offense.
 
TLU ran 91 plays and piled up 601 yards of total offense.
 
The Bulldogs were 11-of-19 on third down, and ETBU went 3-for-14 on third down.
 
TLU is 6-0 for the second straight season. The Bulldogs enter the bye week with two weeks to prepare for No. 2-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor. The Bulldogs and Cru meet at 1 p.m. on Oct. 25 at TLU's Bulldog Stadium.