MARSHALL, Texas – Twelve seniors were honored at Ornelas Stadium on Saturday in their final game of 2016 against Sul Ross State University. ETBU fell to the Lobos, 47-18, but finishes the season at 7-3 tying the second most wins in program history. ETBU says good bye to Verry Jackson, Derrick Ledet, Cam Peters, Sam Williams, Marcus Harris, Jourdan McNeill, Torrance Leonard, Tyler Scott, C.J. McGill, Onisokien Osuamkpe, Travis Danford, and Desmond Oliver.

ETBU was held to a season low 331 yards of total offense with 228 yards passing and just 103 yards rushing. Dru Smith threw three touchdown passes all to Xavier Gray. Gray finished with a career day with three touchdowns and had his second career 100-yard receiving day with 100 yards on nine receptions. Dominic Haggerty led the team with 45 yards rushing.

Defensively, Caleb Taylor posted a career day with 20 tackles which is second best ever in a game behind Greg Washington's 21 in 2001 and 2003. Ty Parsons finished with 15 tackles which gives him 100 on the year. He is the first player to have 100 tackles since Washington did in 2003 with 122.

It was a rough first half for ETBU as they had less than 100 yards of total offense and couldn't find a way to jump start their offense. It wasn't until the 9:26 mark in the third quarter that ETBU finally found the end zone when Gray caught a 19-yard pass from Smith to make it 30-6. Just over a minute later, Gray caught a nine-yard pass from Smith to come within 18, 30-12. Then with 11:45 left in the game, Gray finished off the scoring with his trifecta of touchdown catches from 10-yards out for a 33-18 score. SRSU then scored two touchdowns in the final six minutes making it 47-18.

ETBU finishes one of the better years in program history at 7-3 and were ranked for nine straight weeks this season. They were as high as 15^th in the nation and also had several individual awards. The 12 seniors that leave the program won 21 games in four years and captured a tie for the 2015 American Southwest Conference Championship.