Photo – Sara Carpenter

Lion Football wins eighth straight Homecoming game, beating HCU, 31-3

COMMERCE – Make it eight wins on Homecoming weekend for the Texas A&M University-Commerce football team, who collected a 31-3 win over the Houston Christian Huskies inside Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium on a windy Saturday afternoon. 

Houston Christian scored the first points of the game, a 47-yard field goal by Nery Enriquez, but the Lions scored the next 31, including 24 in the second half, to collect their fourth straight win and improve to 5-2 on the season. The Lions are 3-0 in Southland Conference games this season, which tied for the conference lead. HCU is 2-5 overall and 1-3 in conference games. 

Coming into Saturday, the Lions had won seven straight homecoming games and extended it to eight. 

Battling solid winds all afternoon, the first five drives for the Lions were punts. Andrew Armstrong (Dallas – Bishop Dunne) caught his 12th receiving touchdown of the game in the second quarter on a 15-yard pass from Eric Rodriguez (Fort Bend Travis) to break open the scoring. 

The Lions started that drive at HCU’s 15-yard line as the Huskies’ punt went just 11 yards into the wind. A&M-Commerce could not muster up any other points in the remainder of the first half. 

The second half began with a 49-yard field goal from Emmanuel Adagbon (Mesquite Horn). The Lions added seven more points on the ensuing drive as Michael Noble (Orange, Calif.) had an interception return for 32 yards. 

Cameron Nellor (Mt. Vernon) rushed in a touchdown from six yards out to make it 24-3, and J.T. Smith (Klein Oak) had a 15-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. The Lions outgained the Huskies 166-96 on the ground. B.J. Phillips, Jr. (Denton Guyer) rushed for 56 yards. 

In the air, the Lions had the 209-107 advantage. Rodriguez went 17 for 30, tossing a touchdown. For the sixth time this season, Armstrong had a 100-yard receiving game. He had 102 yards from six catches on Saturday. 

Mitchell McGarry (Gregory Portland) averaged 34.5 yards per punt in his ten attempts, with his most extended punt recording 63 yards with the wind behind him. 

Defensively, Dee Walker (Moultrie, Ga.) and Kendall Paul (Dallas – Bishop Dunne) recorded six tackles each, while Kion Hurd (Columbus) had a forced fumble. Both Noble and Max Epps (Spring – Dekaney) had an interception.

UP NEXT

The Lions welcome Incarnate Word, ranked in the top 10 in NCAA FCS, next Saturday to Commerce, with kick-off scheduled for 2:00 pm.