Texas Lutheran Falls 27-22 to No. 20 Hardin-Simmons

ABILENE, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran football team fell just short of their upset attempt against the No. 20 Hardin Simmons Cowboys, 27-22, Saturday afternoon at Shelton Stadium in Abilene.
 
Hardin-Simmons (5-1, 3-0 ASC) scored 14 points to end the first half and start the second half to erase TLU's 15-14 first half lead as the Bulldogs were unable to take advantage of two second-half Hardin-Simmons turnovers.

The Bulldogs (1-5, 0-2 ASC) nearly pulled off the upset in Abilene on the Cowboys homecoming as the Cowboys' failed to sustain drives throughout the afternoon and made a number of costly mistakes that swung momentum in the Bulldogs favor.

Caden Bosanko (San Antonio/East Central) threw for 148 yards and rushed for 97 yards tallying two total touchdowns in his second career start. He hit Jacob Wallace (Marion/Marion) on a five-yard touchdown pass to pull TLU within 27-22 with 07:01 left in the third quarter, but neither team was able to find the end zone again.

After spotting the Cowboys 14 points to start off their homecoming game, TLU found the end with 45 seconds remaining in the first - capping a nine-play, 74-yard drive with a three-yard rushing touchdown from DaKory Willis (Flatonia/Flatonia). The Bulldogs would be aggressive early, converting a two-point conversion to Willis to shrink the Cowboy lead to 14-8.

Hardin-Simmons would muff a 54-yard punt from Cameron Welch (New Braunfels/Canyon) early in the second quarter that would be recovered by Blake Lowry (Marquez/Leon) that would set up a one-play, eight yard touchdown drive - an eight-yard rushing touchdown from Bosanko to give TLU a 15-14 lead with 10:40 remaining in the half. Hardin-Simmons would find the end zone with 05:32 remaining in the half to take a 21-15 lead into halftime.

The Cowboys would score on their opening drive in the second half before being shut out for the remainder of the game. The Bulldogs would drive 53 yards to score the next possession on Wallace's touchdown to bring the game to its final score in the third.

Texas Lutheran drove down to the 12-yard line on their final possession but was unable to find the end zone as time expired.

Joshua Stanton (Houston/Lamar) and Jermario Thomas (Jasper/Jasper) led the Bulldogs defensively with eight and seven tackles respectively.

Texas Lutheran returns to Bulldog Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 21, for their homecoming matchup against East Texas Baptist. The game is scheduled for a 4 PM kickoff and will be broadcast on TLU's YouTube Channel, TLU+, along with KWED 1580 AM. Saturday Texas Lutheran Athletics will also induct three former student-athletes: former TLU pole vaulter Ligia Bolivar '13, former TLU baseball player Sean Kistler '13, and former TLU kicker Allen Cain '13 into the TLU Athletics Hall of Fame in a halftime ceremony. All streaming and stats links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.