By Stephen Sherwood, Staff Writer

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders faced the Endicott College Gulls for the Family Weekend match at Crusader Stadium on Sept. 19, 2026.  

This was the Crusader’s first home game of the 2026 season. Both teams entered the game with a 2-0 record, hungry for a third win.

Endicott came out strong with an eight-play drive for 74 yards, leading to a touchdown. UMHB failed to respond as Endicott’s defense forced the Crusaders to punt after a short drive. The Gull’s offense found a gap in the Crusaders defense completing a wide open 62-yard pass, scoring their second touchdown of the game. Following the kick, Endicott took a 14 point lead against UMHB. 

Football Head Coach Larry Harmon said “settling into the game took us a little longer than you would expect.” 

UMHB found greater success in the second quarter with a touchdown by running back Maurice Moore, earning the Crusaders their first points of the game. UMHB defensive tackle Devon Freitag sacked Endicott’s quarterback during the next drive, forcing Endicott to punt to UMHB. Wide receiver Zeke Saldana outpaced two of the Gulls defenders and scored UMHB’s second touchdown. After a successful kick by Ryan Purser, the Crusaders tied the score 14-14.

The Gulls fizzled out after successful defensive plays by the Crusaders, including forcing a fumble. Though it was recovered by Endicott’s offense, Saldana caught a 28-yard pass in the endzone to score the Crusaders third touchdown, shortly after another kick by Purser, UMHB took the lead 21-14. 

“Once we settled down, the rest of the half was in control,” Harmon said.. The Crusader offense threw an interception on the second play of the drive, which the Gulls capitalized on with a touchdown, tying up the score 21-21 with less than a minute left in the half.Harmon said, “… as a coach, you just can’t forgive yourself for letting something like that happen.”.

The second half started slowly with UMHB ending their first drive of the quarter with a field goal attempt by kicker Purser from 27 yards out that missed its mark. Endicott was held to a 3-and-out by the Crusaders giving the offense another opportunity. The offense then made a small series of plays but were held to another field goal attempt at Endicott’s 39 yard line. Crusader kicker Gibson Granger took the kick from 51 yards out, causing UMHB to miss another scoring opportunity. Following a long third quarter of slow moving possessions by both teams Endicott was the first and only team to score in the third quarter, rushing into the endzone for the lead, 21-28.

UMHB put on a strong offensive performance but were held to another field goal attempt, leaving more points on the field. After a strong offensive possession the Crusader defense forcedEndicott into a fourth down field goal attempt deep in UMHB territory, the Crusaders blocked the kick, maintaining a one score game, linebacker Joey Johnson recovered the ball for UMHB. Harmon said “I thought we had control of the game. We stalled out in the high red zone… we got down there three times and had to kick field goals. Some of it was our own doing.” 

The Crusader offense stormed 86 yards down the field. A short pass of 11 yards was thrown to tight end Will McClintock in the endzone. With less than a minute remaining in the game, the Crusaders were about to tie the game with a kick from Granger, but after a blocked kick, Endicott won the game 27-28.“We gotta execute the kicking game part of it and it’d be a different story, we wouldn’t be talking about a one point loss,” Harmon said about the conclusion of the game. The Crusaders face Keystone College on Oct. 3, in Crusader Stadium.