Abramowitz

Conway, Ark. - After back-to-back blowouts on the road, the Warriors returned to Young-Wise Memorial Stadium after a much-needed bye week to open up conference play.

With the 5th-ranked Trinity Tigers coming to town, there might have been cause to expect another rough day for Buck Buchanan's young team.

It was anything but.

Hendrix out-performed Trinity in several significant statistical categories. The Warriors ran 65 offensive plays to Trinity's 45, picking up 17 first downs while holding onto the ball for well over half the game (37:03). Jacob Wood was 20-27 for 227 yards, with two Warrior receivers eclipsing 90 yards receiving -- 94 yards for Tajae White on 10 touches and 99 yards for Kanyn Utley. Hendrix was able to reach the red zone four times, but could only convert once, with Auvic White scoring from a yard out to make it 14-7 midway through the third quarter. Of note, the Warriors were 3 of 4 on 4th down conversions.

But it was the Warriors defensive performance that really shone. The defense had given up a combined 119 points to Washington University in St. Louis and Howard Payne in the two games prior, while Trinity entered Saturday's game averaging 452 yards of offense and 41 points per game. They were only able to muster half of that total, with the Warriors defense holding the high-powered Tiger attack to 260 total yards and 15 first downs. Before White's rushing TD in the third quarter, Trinity faced 4th and 1 from their own 30, and Parker Turley and Jacob Bremmon combined to bring Trinity's Justin Carmouche down behind the line to gain to set the Warriors offense with ideal field position. The Warrior secondary held Trinity's All-Region QB Tucker Horn to 177 yards, while giving up just 83 yards on the ground.

The Warriors head to Jackson, Miss. next week to take on the Millsaps Majors.