MARSHALL, Texas – A sluggish start by the East Texas Baptist University football team led to a 55-27 loss to Texas Lutheran University. ETBU fell behind 17-0 by the beginning of the second quarter and had to play from behind the rest of the night.

ETBU had only 253 yards of total offense and was led by Jourdan McNeill's three rushing touchdowns and 65 yards rushing. Kendall Roberson added 42 yards rushing. Tyler Bates caught only three passes for 47 yards. Josh Warbington was 17-of-25 with an interception for 162 yards.

Scoring on their first two possessions of the game for a 10-0 lead, Texas Lutheran's offense had control the entire game. ETBU threatened on their first possession when they were trailing, 7-0, driving to the Bulldog's 12-yard line but didn't convert at fourth-and-one. Dominic Haggerty put ETBU in great field position after he took the kickoff back 76-yards to the Texas Lutheran 21-yard line. Four plays later, Texas Lutheran stopped an ETBU fourth-and-one and took over on downs. They then marched 88 yards to the ETBU 13-yard line and finished with a 30-yard field goal making it 10-0. On Texas Lutheran's first possession of the second quarter they made it 17-0 when they went 87 yards for a touchdown.

From that point on ETBU could not match the Bulldogs offensive power. ETBU punched in their first touchdown with 11:22 left in the second quarter from eight-yards out on McNeill's first touchdown of the night. After Texas Lutheran made a field goal at the 4:20 mark, ETBU responded with their own drive. They went 12 plays and 68-yards ending with McNeill's second touchdown as 1:13 was left to play cutting the lead to six, 20-14. That is all the closer ETBU would get as Texas Lutheran would score 35 points in the second half. ETBU would go scoreless in the third quarter and then add 13 points in the fourth quarter.

Sam Williams had a defensive highlight in the fourth quarter with a pick-6. He grabbed an interception at their own four-yard line and jetted 96 yards for a touchdown. That score made it 41-20 with 10:58 left to play. Five minutes later McNeill scooted in from two yards out for his third touchdown of the day.

ETBU finished with 253 yards of total offense while Texas Lutheran had 649 yards of total offense. ETBU's defense did have three interceptions with picks by Williams, Garrett Gibson, and Marcus Harris.

ETBU travels to Brownwood, Texas, next Saturday facing Howard Payne University at 2:00 p.m. in American Southwest Conference play.