Nov. 15, 2003

Final Stats

ABILENE, Texas - Hardin-Simmons' football team closed out its regular season with a 61-14 whitewashing of Austin College, Saturday afternoon in American Southwest Conference action at Shelton Stadium. HSU now must put its hopes in the selection committee for a NCAA bid.

The Cowboys jumped out early behind a Lance Moore 4-yard touchdown run that capped a 12-play, 73-yard drive in which Moore carried five times for 33 yards and vaulted over the 1,000-yard mark on the season. Austin College responded with an impressive drive capped by a Derek Ruthardt 4-yard run.

HSU struck big on the first play of the next drive, when Triandos Sherrard went 80 yards on a screen pass when he faked a guy out with a shake and Garet Black pancaked the only guy with a shot to catch him as he raced 80 yards down the sideline for the score.

The Cowboys stopped the Kangaroos again on the next possession and Lance Moore went 26 yards for another score making it 21-7 with 14:08 to go in the first half. On Austin College's next possession Adam Parker blocked a punt and Levi Steele scooped and scored from five yards out to make it 28-7 with 13:00 to go in the half. It is the second time Parker had blocked a punt this season that was picked up and taken for a touchdown.

After another quick possession by Austin College the Cowboys scored in one play, this time a 74-yard run by Moore. It give the Cowboys touchdowns on three straight touched of the ball and put the game out of reach at 35-7 with 1:16 to go in the first half.

Travis Jones then came on and engineered a 5-play, 67-yard drive and Donta' Hayward capped it with a 7-yard run, making it 42-7 with 7:19 to go in the first half. Jones added two touchdown drives in the third quarter. Jones finished his stellar career with a 20-yard touchdown run late in the third, after he had hit Matt Moskosky for a 30-yard touchdown on the previous possession. Jones ended his career at HSu with 3,035 passing yards as both a starter and back-up. He led the Cowboys to the NCAA Semifinals as a sophomore starter.

Ross Reedy scored AC's last touchdown on a scramble play from J.R. Ohr, as Ohr found him in the back of the end zone. making it 55-14 and HSU ended its scoring on a 15-yard run by Jake McLean to make it 61-14.

Moore finished the day with 156 yards and three touchdowns. Jones was 8-for-11 for 174 yards and a touchdown and also ran three times for 31 yards and a score. Neal was 8-of-9 for 176 yards and a score. Triandos Sherrard had 184 yards of all-purpose yardage 64 on a punt return, 41 on a kickoff and 79 yards on two catches. Anthony Renfro led the defense with 21 tackles, which is the second most in HSU history. It gave him the team lead in tackles for the season.

HSU closes out the season with an 8-2 mark and Austin College fell to 3-7. HSU is the American Southwest Conference tri-champion, making it the ninth time in 11 years they have won or shared the conference title.