SEGUIN, Texas — The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs defeated the Centenary College Gents 28-20 on Saturday afternoon at Bulldog Stadium.
With the win on Saturday, the Bulldogs secured the second undefeated home season at Bulldog Stadium (5-0) since the stadium opened in 2014, joining the 2024 squad in the achievement. The Bulldogs also secured an outright SCAC regular season championship – their third straight – on Saturday.
Elijah Favela (Converse/Judson) totaled 124 yards, going 10-of-17 through the air with one touchdown. Near the midpoint of the first quarter, the sophomore dropped the ball in the bucket for senior Ja’Mare Nichols (San Antonio/Roosevelt) for a 25-yard touchdown to take a then14-point lead.
Nichols led the receiving room with 82 yards and a touchdown. Nichols caught a 50-yard pass in the fourth quarter, which would be the most explosive play either squad on Saturday. Nichols has accounted for 311 yards and a SCAC leading four touchdowns in conference play.
TLU leaned heavily on senior Javin Logan (Houston/North Shore) and James Garza (Canyon Lake/Canyon Lake) on Saturday as the Bulldogs rushed for 167 yards on 52 carries. Logan led the way with 109 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries.
The TLU defense was anchored by Troy Tomaselli (San Antonio/Cornerstone Christian), Owen Garcia (Austin/Connally), Marvin Farris (Rosenberg/Lamar Consolidated), and Travonne Woodley (Killeen/Shoemaker). Tomaselli and Garcia led the group with eight tackles each with Garcia adding three tackles for loss, a sack, and a pass break up. Farris and Woodley combined for 14 tackles (seven each) and recorded a sack apiece. Andrew Silva (Sinton/Sinton) added seven tackles of his own in addition to two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
Silva set the tone for the Bulldogs on what was a somber yet celebratory day on Saturday. On the opening kickoff, Silva came down and negated the Gents opening return by forcing a fumble and giving the Bulldogs the ball in excellent field position to start the game. It took six plays to go 30 yards on the Bulldogs opening drive before Favela ran in on a designed quarterback run to give the Bulldogs the early lead.
A few drives later, Silva helped the TLU offense again by forcing his second fumble of the game to give the Bulldogs the ball on the 23-yard line. Favela would connect with Nichols for a 25-yard touchdown to take a 14-0 lead.
The two teams traded turnovers to end the period as Silva recovered a fumbled snap before a pick-six from Favela led to the first Gents points of the afternoon.
TLU responded with its longest drive of the day, driving 83 yards on 15 plays and 7:24 of game clock over the first and second quarters that was punctuated by a one-yard rushing touchdown from Garza. Centenary closed the half with ten unanswered points, including a SCAC record 53-yard field goal, to shrink the TLU lead to 21-17.
The score remained the same through the third but TLU would find pay dirt one last time early in the fourth as Logan scored on one-yard rushing touchdown to extend the TLU lead to 28-17. Centenary threatened late but the TLU defense held their ground limiting the Gents to a field goal and forcing a turnover on downs with 15 seconds remaining as a tackle from Dylan Anaya (Harlingen/Harlingen South) and Freddie Padilla (San Antonio/Churchill) sealed the game by stonewalling the Gents at the one-yard line.
Prior to Saturday’s game, Texas Lutheran honored its 20-member senior class in Senior Day festivities. Also prior to Saturday’s game, the Bulldogs paid tribute to former teammates, A’Jean Augustine and Deyreck Dean, who passed away early Monday morning in a single-car wreck by entering the stadium with their uniforms leading them out of the tunnel and accompanying them to the coin toss while adorning helmet stickers donning their initials. Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to their respective friends and families.
Texas Lutheran will play in their second-straight SCAC Championship game next week at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Bulldogs will have a rematch with Hendrix in the title game on Nov. 14 at 3 PM at the former home of the Arkansas Razorbacks. The winner of the contest will receive the conference’s auto-bid to the NCAA Tournament. The game will be broadcast on FloCollege. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com. Tickets are available here.
For more information on Texas Lutheran football, follow the Bulldogs on X (Twitter) and Instagram (@TLU_Football) and as always you can find updates on all Texas Lutheran athletics on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics on X (Twitter,) @tlu_athletics on Instagram, and @tlubulldogs on Facebook).