ALPINE, Texas – Taking care of business in West Texas, the East Texas Baptist University football team notched a 48-13 win over Sul Ross State University for their first win of the year. ETBU is now 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the American Southwest Conference.
 
Brian Baca finished with 211 yards and two touchdowns on 20-of-34 passing. Jeremiah Robertson would rush for three touchdowns on 115 yards rushing while Samarick Paul (one TD) finished with 61 yards receiving to lead all Tiger receivers. Donovan Graham led all Tigers with five tackles while Terrance Allen had an interception and KJ Kelley forced and recovered a fumble.
 
Both teams would have two early first quarter possessions with no results. ETBU's second drive would end with a fumble as the Lobos would recover in ETBU territory. But facing second and goal, SRSU would throw a costly interception to Allen and ETBU took over. ETBU took advantage of the turnover and would go down the field in seven plays and 80 yards to score on a Baca pass to Justin Ward pass for an early 7-0 edge.
 
In the second quarter, ETBU put up a five play drive ending with Robertson scoring from 25 yards out. Three possessions later, ETBU would get the ball back and have their longest drive to that point in the game with a 12-play, 69-yard drive. It ended when Baca connected with Samarick Paul for 17-yards and a 21-0 lead at halftime.
 
The Tigers received the second half kickoff and would march down the field in 11 yards and 73 yards and score. This included a critical fourth down conversion as Baca connected with Jalen Blanton for 26 yards while Robertson would end up in the end zone for his second score of the day to make it 27-0. The Lobos would get on the board with a 47-yard touchdown run to bring the score to 27-6. ETBU would then answer back with Robertson scoring from one yard out for his third touchdown of the day as the lead grew to 34-6 by the end of the third quarter.
 
The Lobos would have an opportunity to score at the beginning of the fourth quarter only to see ETBU force a fumble and recovered by Kelley. ETBU capitalized on the turnover with a nine-yard rush from Ward to improve their lead to 41-6. While SRSU would score on a fourth down play on the ensuing possession, ETBU sealed the win with Keshoyn Alexander running for 13 yards to the end zone for a 48-13 final.
 
ETBU returns home next week and will look to even their record when they host Belhaven University at 2:00 PM.