SEGUIN, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran football team (0-2) trailed by one possession late in the fourth quarter versus Howard Payne (2-0) but the comeback effort fell short in a 28-18 defeat Saturday evening at Bulldog Stadium.
Weston Guzman (McAllen/McAllen) led the Bulldogs air and ground attack, rushing for 71 yards on 13 attempts and added a career-high 119 yards receiving on six catches including a 69-yard touchdown. In the Bulldogs first game without
Caden Bosanko,
Reece Deitrick (Austin/Canyon) led the Bulldogs with 144 yards passing with one touchdown and one interception on a 7-for-20 clip while
Micah Casson (Killeen/Copperas Cove) was 9-for-25 for 96 yards and a touchdown.
Justin Navarro (Edinburg/Robert Vela) led Texas Lutheran with eight tackles while
Eddy Brown (Coldspring/Coldspring-Oakhurst) and
Nicola Pari (San Antonio/Churchill) recorded seven tackles apiece, marking career-highs for both players.
Texas Lutheran accumulated 240 passing yards alongside 148 rushing yards combining for 374 yards of total offense. The Yellow Jackets held the advantage in time of possession with 31:35 compared to 28:25 for the Bulldogs.
After the two squads traded punts and turnovers on downs to start the game, Texas Lutheran went 84 yards to score the first touchdown of the game on Saturday, capped off by a 69-yard touchdown from Guzman, the longest play of his career.
Reece Deitrick found the running back down the TLU sideline before the running back showed why he is an All-American in track and field, running away from the Howard Payne defense.
Howard Payne responded by marching 80 yards on seven plays to tie the game at 7-7. Following a blocked punt, Howard Payne doubled their lead to 14-7 and would carry that advantage into halftime. The Yellow Jackets extended their lead with the first drive in the second half, taking a 21-7 lead.
The Bulldogs cut into the deficit with their first drive in the second half, scoring on a 35-yard field goal from
A'Jean Augustine (Houston/Lamar). The following possession
Eddy Brown would block a Howard Payne punt deep in their territory but the Bulldogs were unable to take advantage of the momentum swing as they would have a 35-yard field goal blocked by the Yellow Jackets.
Turnovers from both squads started the fourth as a fumble from
Weston Guzman was immediately followed by an interception from freshman
Andrew Silva (Sinton/Sinton) but would lead to nothing as the Bulldogs would punt it away in the following possession and continue to trail 21-10.
Micah Casson would lead the Bulldogs final scoring drive of the night as TLU went 50 yards on ten plays as Casson connected with
Ja'Mare Nichols (San Antonio/Roosevelt) for a six-yard touchdown before connecting with Guzman on a sprint out for the two-point conversion to bring the score to 21-18 with 1:50 remaining in the game.
TLU failed to recover the onside kick which led to the Yellow Jackets icing the game on the ensuing possession with a 33-yard touchdown run.
Texas Lutheran travels to Southwestern on Saturday, Sept. 20. Kickoff from Georgetown is scheduled for 7 PM with the game being broadcast on YouTube. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.
For more information on Texas Lutheran football, follow the Bulldogs on X (Twitter) and Instagram (@TLU_Football) and as always you can find updates on all Texas Lutheran athletics on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics on X (Twitter,) @tlu_athletics on Instagram, and @tlubulldogs on Facebook).
