(Photo of Pearce Loth by Dustin Wyatt)

SEGUIN, Texas â€" Texas Lutheran equaled its win total of 2017 by cruising to a 53-7 home win Saturday over Howard Payne.
 
The Bulldogs improved to 6-2 overall and to 5-2 in the American Southwest Conference. HPU fell to 1-7 overall and to 1-6 in the ASC.
 
TLU jumped to a 48-7 lead at the half and was able to sit the majority of its starters for the second half.
 
The TLU defense held Howard Payne to one yard rushing on 27 attempts.
 
The Yellow Jackets tallied 78 yards of total offense. TLU rolled up 601 yards in total offense.
 
The Bulldogs posted 484 yards of total offense in the first half alone and had 316 yards of total offense in the second quarter. TLU put up 38 points in the second quarter.
 
Bulldog senior quarterback Kyle Grona (Fredericksburg/Fredericksburg) tossed four touchdown passes â€" all in the first half. He completed 13 of 19 passes for 281 yards.
 
Grona connected with CJ Romero (Odem/Odem) on TD strikes of 44 and 42 yards. Grona also found Pearce Loth (Rockdale/Rockdale) for a seven-yard score and Charles Robinson (Frisco/Wakeland) for a 75-yard touchdown.
 
Robinson, a junior, caught four passes for a career-best 147 yards. His 75-yard touchdown was the longest of his career.
 
Romero also went over the 100-yard mark. The junior had four catches for 109 yards.
 
Austin Mathews (Houston/Clear Creek) rushed 21 times for a career-best 214 yards in two quarters of action. He scored on a 29-yard run in the second quarter.
 
Junior defensive end Manny Longoria (Geronimo/Navarro) recovered a fumble and rumbled 41 yards for a touchdown. Longoria had a sack for nine yards, three total tackles for loss and two forced fumbles.
 
The Bulldogs recovered four fumbles and had eight tackles for loss against HPU.
 
Defensive end Jackson Worley (Keller/Timber Creek) blocked a punt out of the Howard Payne endzone for a safety.
 
Juan Ocampo remained perfect on field goal and extra-point attempts this year. The freshman from Lockhart (Lockhart) made field goals from 26, 36, and 26 yards. He was a perfect 6-for-6 on extra-points.
 
TLU held the ball for 36 minutes, 16 seconds. The Bulldogs averaged 18.7 yards per completions and 5.1 yards per rush.
 
Derek Dunn (Houston/North Shore) led TLU in total tackles, with eight. Jacob Guercia (Forney/Forney) and Emory Cuzze (Buda/Hays) each had six.
 
TLU wraps up its six-game home schedule next Saturday with a 1 p.m. contest against Sul Ross State University. TLU will honor its 2018 seniors in a pre-game ceremony.
 
The Bulldogs have the home game against Sul Ross and a road contest against Southwestern (Texas) remaining on the 2018 schedule.