Austin College Falls in Season Opener at TLU

SEGUIN, Texas - Texas Lutheran took a 34-0 lead into halftime and Austin College was unable to stage a comeback after the break, falling 41-7 to the Bulldogs in the team's first game of the season. Austin College is now 0-1 after dropping its first American Southwest Conference matchup since 2005.

Devon Rideaux had a big game on the ground for Austin College, carring 16 times for 110 yards in the loss, while Tyler James completed 11-of-25 passes for 85 yards with one touchdown and an interception. James found Aaron Rideaux in the endzone from six yards out with 2:30 left in the third quarter for Austin College's lone score of the game, at the time making the score 34-7. Rideaux finished with four catches for 37 yards.

Texas Lutheran opened the scoring with a field goal, and then tacked on a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter to make it 17-0 after the opening frame. The Bulldogs added another 17 points in quarter number two, and put their final points on the board early in the fourth quarter to make it a 41-7 final. The Bulldogs finished with 477 yards of total offense, with DaKory Willis and Jacob Forton each rushing for better than 100 yards. Willis had 111 yards to lead all rushers in the game, while Forton had 101 yards and a pair of scores. Seth Cosme finished 7-of-11 for just 51 yards, but three of his completions were for touchdowns.

Jarrett Pleasant led the Austin College defense with eight stops, including seven solo tackles. Kareem Campbell added seven tackles, and Jaxon Reneau made six stops. Robert Ramirez led Texas Lutheran with seven tackles.

Austin College is home next weekend when they host Sul Ross State University with a kickoff time of 1:00 p.m. at Jerry E. Apple Stadium.