BROWNWOOD, Texas – Dominating on both ends of the ball from start to finish, the East Texas Baptist University football team used 35 second half points in a 57-7 victory over Howard Payne University in American Southwest Conference play. The Tigers are now 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the ASC.

After both teams started off their drives by failing to score, Dru Smith was able to find Richard Johnson for 65 yards and the score. ETBU struggled to find a rhythm at the end of the first quarter. HPU started the second quarter with a ball. But a fumble, which was recovered by Drew Brewster, and an interception by Caleb Taylor would turn the tides of the game. Ryan Travis would kick a 31-yard field goal to make it 10-0. On their next possession, ETBU struck again with Smith, who found Xavier Gray for 78 yards and a 16-0 lead. The Smith-to-Johnson connection worked again for 46 yards as the score was 22-0 at halftime.

The third quarter saw three more scores as Dru Smith ran from nine yards out. Then, linebacker Ty Parsons ran a pick-six back for a touchdown to give ETBU a 36-0 lead. For the third time in the game, Johnson caught a pass from Smith to make it 43-0 after three quarters. HPU would finally get in the end zone in the fourth quarter. But ETBU would answer back with two rushing touchdowns by Brian Baca to finish out the scoring.

Going 16-of-32 passing, Smith threw for 326 yards and four touchdown passes. Johnson was ETBU's top receiver with 164 yards on seven catches with three touchdown recepitons while Gray had 111 yards on three receptions and one touchdown. Taylor and Parsons both had 16 and 11 tackles respectively as well as an interception.
For HPU, Jaxson Durham threw for 17-of-35 with 147 yards. Hunter Batten ran 22 times for 73 yards and scored the only touchdown for HPU.

ETBU will return home against Texas Lutheran University next week with kickoff at 2:00 PM.