WAXAHACHIE, Texas – Scoring 21 points in the first quarter, the East Texas Baptist University football team ran away once again with a victory over Southwestern Assemblies of God, 59-17, to open the 2017 season. ETBU had three series that they scored in under one minute with one series under 30 seconds.

"There are a lot of things we have to work on but this was a good start. The offense looked solid but the defense looked impressive," said head coach Scott Highsmith.

ETBU's defense record four sacks, seven tackles for loss, one forced fumble and recovery, and three interceptions. Ty Parsons collected 19 tackles to lead the team as nine were solo tackles. Anton Clark, Dylan Bowman, and Hardy Hill all ended up with interceptions. Drew Brewster had 1.5 sacks while Parsons added another.

Dru Smith picked up where he left off from the 2016 season passing for 265 yards and four touchdowns going 14-of-24. Brian Baca added 106 yards passing. Smith and Baca spread out the receiving as Xavier Gray had two receptions for 110 yards. Richard Johnson had 69 yards receiving and two touchdowns while Jeremiah Drake and Tarek Beaugard both had a touchdown reception .Jeremiah Robertson led the team with three rushing touchdown on eight carries for 27 yards while Dominic Haggerty had 10 carries for 61 yards.

Ryan Travis led all special teams going eight-of-eight in extra points and added a 32-yard field goal for 11 points. Kentavious Miller opened up his career at ETBU with 72-yard punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter to make it 56-10.

ETBU finished with 485 yards of total offense passing for 371 yards and rushing for 114.

ETBU will travel to Georgetown, Texas, on Saturday to start American Southwest Conference play against Southwestern at 7:00 p.m.