MARSHALL, TX -- Texas Lutheran football (3-5, 3-4 ASC) earned a come-from-behind 20-13 victory over East Texas Baptist University (4-4, 3-4 ASC) on Saturday afternoon at Ornelas Stadium in Marshall, TX. Down 13-6 at halftime, the Bulldogs held the Tigers scoreless in the second half bolstered by a Bulldogs defense that forced three turnovers. A 10-yard receiving touchdown by Jacob Forton (Spring Branch/Smithson Valley) from Seth Cosme (Angleton/Angleton) proved to be the difference in Texas Lutheran's first road victory of the season.
Cosme completed 9 passes for 103 yards to go along with a team high 86 yards on the ground. Running back DaKory Willis scored on a 42 yard rush early in the third quarter as a part of his 82-yard rushing day while Jacob Forton ran for 62 yards on 19 carries.
The Bulldogs defense had it's most disruptive performance to date - taming the Tigers offense the entire second half. The Bulldogs defense flew around breaking up 4 passes, collecting two interceptions and Kaine Buchanan (San Antonio, Texas/Louis D. Brandeis) blocking an extra point. Freshman Anthony Jackson (Angleton/Angleton) and sophomore Markel Turner (San Antonio/Taft) both collected a team-high 10 tackles with Turner adding a sack. Freshman Ian Ochoa (Edinburg/Robert Vela) added 9 tackles and an interception - the first of his career. Sultan Abdullah (Sweeny/Columbia) also retrieved his career interception in addition to 6 tackles.
The Tigers opened the scoring on their homecoming scoring a touchdown early in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead that they would carry into the second quarter. The Bulldogs would get on the board early with the first of two field goals of the afternoon from senior kicker Juan Ocampo (Lockhart/Lockhart) to shrink the Tigers lead to 7-3. East Texas Baptist would respond with a touchdown the very next to drive to extend their lead to 13-3 after Kaine Buchanan blocked the extra point. The Bulldogs would add another Ocampo field goal to shorten the Tigers lead to 13-6 at halftime.
The Tigers would not find the end zone for the remainder of the game as the Bulldogs capitalized on two touchdowns in the third quarter to steal a come-from-behind victory at Ornelas Stadium - spoiling East Texas Baptist's homecoming festivities.
Texas Lutheran returns to Bulldog Stadium on November 6 to host the Southwestern Pirates for Senior Day. Kickoff is set for 1 PM. All streaming and stat links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.
