GEORGETOWN, Texas -- Quarterback Reece Deitrick (Austin/Canyon) connected with wide receiver Lavonta Henry (San Antonio/Madison) in the end zone with nine seconds remaining before kicker A'Jean Augustine (Houston/Lamar) converted the PAT to help lift Texas Lutheran past Southwestern, 38-35, in a back-and-forth affair Saturday night in Georgetown.

The win marked the fourth straight win against the Pirates with three of the wins coming by a touchdown or less.

The Bulldogs recorded 425 yards of total offense, averaging 7.1 yards per play.

Deitrick, despite not starting the game for the Bulldogs, finished his night 14-of-23 passing with 218 yards and two touchdowns, while adding three carries for two yards. Senior running back Weston Guzman (McAllen/McAllen) anchored the ground game for the Bulldogs with two rushing touchdowns, including a 65-yard touchdown - the longest carry of his career. The McAllen native totaled a team-best 143 yards on 20 attempts, ending the night three yards shy of his career-high. Caleb Camarillo (Gonzales/Southside) registered a season-high 96 yards receiving on four catches, including a 52-yard touchdown. The Gonzales native has now moved into 10th all-time in Texas Lutheran's Division-III history with 1,128 yards receiving.

The Bulldogs defense recorded six tackles for loss and forced two fumbles in the win. Junior safety Justin Navarro (Edinburg/Robert Vela) led the defense with 12 tackles (seven solo). Sophomore Owen Garcia (Austin/Connally) notched TLU's third interception of the season that led to a TLU touchdown. Garcia also forced a fumble, broke up a pass, and recorded a career-high ten tackles. Sophomore Marvin Farris (Rosenberg/Lamar Consolidated) tallied eight tackles, including a career-high three tackles for loss.

After a trio of punts and Owen Garcia picked off former TLU teammate turned Southwestern quarterback Jacob Smith, the Bulldogs scored first on a three-yard rushing touchdown from Guzman. The Pirates responded with a field goal to get on the scoreboard. The Bulldogs found the end zone the following drive as a 16-yard rushing touchdown from Tory Brooks (Hillsboro/Hillsboro), the first of his career, capped off the drive. After another Southwestern drive stalled, Texas Lutheran continued to add on to their lead with a 29-yard field goal from Augustine. A 78-yard touchdown pass from Southwestern narrowed the TLU lead to seven heading into halftime.

After the Pirates tied the game 17-all, TLU regained the lead on a 52-yard connection from Deitrick to Camarillo on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Pirates responded with a touchdown of their own but would attempt what would be the first of three failed two-point conversions on the night. Weston Guzman ran away from the Pirates defense for a 65-yard touchdown to give the Bulldogs an eight point lead before back-to-back touchdown drives would give Southwestern a 35-31 lead.

The freshman quarterback would step up to lead the two-minute drill that saw a number of explosive plays including a 21-yard pass to Dominic Castellanos (Marion/Marion) and a 17-yard carry from Kibreante Williams (Victoria/Victoria West) before Deitrick found Henry in the end zone to ice the game.

Texas Lutheran returns to Seguin next Saturday, Sept. 27, to host East Texas Baptist for their final non-conference game of the season. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 PM with a "White Out" set for the theme at Bulldog Stadium. The game will be broadcast on FloCollege along with KWED 1580 AM with Chris Austin on the call. 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).