'Roo Football Comes Up Short Against TLU

SEGUIN, Texas - Jaylon Talton passed for a career-best 388 yards and five touchdowns and Austin College put up 20 fourth quarter points, but the comeback bid for the 'Roos came up short in a 43-34 defeat on the road at Texas Lutheran University on Saturday afternoon. The 'Roos are now 0-5 overall and 0-3 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play.

Talton completed 21-of-39 passes to get his 388 yards, and Michael Cress and Jacob Brewer also had career days at receiver, with Cress hauling in four passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns while Brewer caught five passes for 127 yards and a pair of scores. Talton found Brewer midway through the first quarter for a 66-yard touchdown strike to get the scoring started on the day, putting the 'Roos on top 7-0 with just over six minutes left in the opening frame.

An early field goal in the second quarter for TLU made it 7-3, and the Bulldogs took the lead on a 61-yard touchdown run by Weston Guzman with 13:01 left before halftime, making it 9-7 after the two point conversion failed. The Bulldogs got another field goal with eight minutes remaining in the second to make it 12-7, and Texas Lutheran would tack on one more field goal from Joaquin Rodriguez with 28 seconds left in the half to make it a 15-7 game at the break.

The lead grew to 22-7 early in the third, as Caden Bosanko found Lavonta Henry for a 35-yard scoring strike with 10:21 on the clock. That remained the score until three and a half minutes left in the period, when the 'Roos took over at their own 10-yard line, and on the first play of the drive, Talton connected with Cress for a 90-yard touchdown to pull Austin College to within one score at 22-14. However, Texas Lutheran's Eugene Robinsion IV took the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown to quickly make it a 29-14 game heading into the fourth quarter.

Austin College cut it to 29-22 early in the fourth, with Talton finding Cress again for a touchdown, this time from 29 yards out. The Bulldogs would respond with 14 unanswered, though, pushing the margin to 43-22 with under four minutes to play. The 'Roos continued to fight back, however, with Brewer catching his second touchdown pass of the day with 2:12 left, this time from six yards out to make it 43-27 after the conversion attempt failed. Austin College kept battling until the final whistle, getting one more touchdown pass from Talton, this time finding Dauvo McDonald for a 10-yard score as time expired, making it a 43-34 final.

Austin College won the total yardage battle, out-gaining TLU 516-to-458. Barrett Hudson led the 'Roos on the ground, gaining 54 yards on 11 carries, and Talton added 49 rushing yards on 11 attempts. Brady Dygert had a game-high 13 tackles and forced a fumble, and Colton Gerken had 10 stops. Ian Sharpshair had seven tackles, including 3.0 for loss and 2.0 sacks. Guzman led TLU offensively with 146 yards on 16 rushes, finding paydirt three times, and Bosanko was 21-of-35 for 196 yards and a score.