"We're in the game, men": A look at how TLU Football earned its first Top 25 win since 2019
SEGUIN—The texts and calls started coming not long after Saturday’s game went final in San Antonio. Pretty soon, Neal LaHue’s phone was inundated, with family and friends alike congratulating Texas Lutheran’s third-year coach on the first Top 25 win of his collegiate coaching career. At the Texas Lutheran athletic offices on Monday morning, countless people extended the celebration, dropping by to congratulate LaHue and his team on a job well-done.
“I told our kids in our meetings yesterday that I’ve probably gotten more text messages than I’ve had since I’ve been here, and they probably are too,” LaHue said on Monday morning. “People are excited about the victory.”
And they have every reason to be. TLU pulled off what D3football.com’s Greg Thomas called “maybe the most shocking upset loss of the week”, referencing the Bulldogs’ season-opening 35-20 defeat of 13th-ranked Trinity, a program that was 29-1 in regular season games over the previous three years. It was a fitting description. At least for those watching from afar.
TLU hadn’t come close to beating Trinity in either of the two prior matchups, and the Bulldogs’ last win over the Tigers in San Antonio was recorded nine years ago in 2015. All signs pointed towards a Trinity victory, despite the talent that graduated off the Tigers’ 10-2 squad last fall. Hansen Ratings, a go-to source for Division III football analytics, gave the Bulldogs a mere 4.5% chance of winning.
But in Seguin, a different sentiment was felt through fall workouts, and even dating back to last season. It was not necessarily a feeling that a 15-point win over Division III’s No. 13 team was in store, but rather a confidence that the program was embarking upon a mountaintop after a couple of years spent navigating through a valley. A valley that included untimely injuries and multiple losses by single digits, including five losses by 10 points or fewer in 2023 alone.
Needless to say, on the surface, TLU’s 2-8 record last fall painted one picture of the program. Saturday’s performance laid out a far different one.
“The big question was about our record last year,” LaHue said recently. “Well, a lot of these guys are returning, and if you watched us practice and play late in the year, you would understand that these guys never quit. And they worked extremely hard in the offseason.”
“Culture” is a buzzword within the world of college athletics. Many say it is overused. But true good culture typically stands out when present, and one of the best indications of that within TLU’s program is in the returning production. In a day in age when it isn’t uncommon for talented players to enter the transfer portal for more lucrative opportunities at a higher level—and perhaps even more so coming after a challenging two-win season—TLU kept its main core together. From junior quarterback Caden Bosanko to junior linebacker Tristan Smith, the majority of the stars of the Bulldogs’ season-opening victory were players who walked into the program as true freshmen and have stayed committed through the peaks and valleys that have followed, both individually and program-wide.
“We have over 20 seniors,” LaHue noted. “When I was back here in ‘18 and ‘19, we had 14 or 15 guys. We have a bunch of guys that have stuck it out. I feel like we have a great culture here. The big key is staying here. A lot of guys come for one year and leave, but the guys who stay are going to get something out of this: a great degree and a lot of great memories.
“We have a good nucleus. My biggest thing is, when you go through a tough season where we were in a lot of games, but lost close games, we were playing with guys who we knew were returning, And some young guys as well.”
Against Trinity, that was evident. Especially in the way that TLU responded coming out of the locker room at halftime. Well aware of the talent level on the opposite sideline, and conscious of the fact that finishing games strong proved elusive at times last season, the Bulldogs made sure to suppress Trinity’s attempts at a comeback. Despite initially starting slow, an offense that featured several returning contributors from 2023 took charge in the form of consecutive fourth-quarter scoring drives, widening the margin to 28-13 and sealing the win.
“We’re in the game, men,” said Lahue of his message to his team at halftime. “That’s what we told them. ‘We’re in the game so let’s go finish it.’ That seemed to be a little of a problem last year, and we talked about that in fall camp. We warned our kids that [Trinity] was going to come out firing on all cylinders to try to get back in this game. We did not do a great job offensively [in the third], but our defense held strong. In the fourth quarter, we kind of came back alive. You don’t want to sit on a lead, but you don’t want to be reckless either. We knew we had to keep throwing the ball to stay in it, because they were definitely winning the run defense game against us.”
Bosanko led the offense with poise, especially late in the game, as he eclipsed the 200-yard passing mark for the third time in his career, throwing for 240 yards on 21 completions. And it was a good thing too, considering the fact that TLU accumulated just 43 rushing yards, an average of a mere 1.2 yards per carry. But it wasn’t just the offense that was on point. On special teams, Smith blocked a punt in the opening quarter, returning it for a touchdown and earning him a spot on the D3football.com Team of the Week, the first such honor for a non-kicker at TLU since the 2015 season. And sophomore linebacker Tyler Ward, in his TLU debut, had two sacks of Trinity quarterback Ryan Back, contributing to six total tackles.
The last time TLU took down a ranked opponent was 2019, and interestingly enough, that win also came on the road. No. 6 Hardin-Simmons the victim of the upset on that early October afternoon in Abilene, as the Bulldogs scored three defensive touchdowns in a 38-27 win. The offensive coordinator for TLU that season? LaHue. It was his second season on Carl Gustafson’s staff, as the Bulldogs went 8-2 that fall.
He spent a brief time as Texas A&M-Kingsville’s offensive coordinator in the two years that followed, and now five years after that upset win in Abilene, LaHue helped engineer yet another Top 15 win in the Lone Star State. He still looks back on his two years in Seguin from 2018-19 with fond memories, as it was his first collegiate coaching job, and ultimately led to the position he is in now.
“When I came over here with Carl, I had retired as the head coach at Hays High School,” LaHue remembers. “I was enjoying it. It was a great fit, getting rid of the head coaching title and all the responsibilities that go with it. The thing I take away from those two years is how much I enjoyed the kids. And Division III football, in particular, how special it is. You’re not on an athletic scholarship. I enjoyed the way the kids went about the business and how tight knit of a group we were.”
2019 was also the last time TLU had a winning season in a non-Covid year (the Bulldogs went 3-2 in an abbreviated 2021 spring season). But the 2024 season couldn’t have started any better. And perhaps that means better things are still to come over the next nine games for LaHue and his squad, who host Centenary on Saturday evening in Seguin.
“We didn’t play the perfect game,” LaHue noted on Monday, having already shifted the focus away from the Trinity win and onto the SCAC opener. “It’s a great win for our program, we can build on that, but we don’t need to just be sitting around and patting ourselves on the back. Centenary played a JV schedule last year, and we played them late with our JV and they beat us. So we’re not taking them lightly.. We’ve enjoyed the [Trinity] win. It’s time to move forward, learn from it, both good and bad, and get better from Week 1 to Week 2.”
Numbers of the Week
1659 career digs for LeTourneau Volleyball’s Morgan Nix, a new program record. The graduate student etched her name atop the all-time digs list in Friday’s sweep of Moravian, with 29 digs, surpassing the previous record of 1,582 set by Alli Bordelon from 2012-2015.
1 time in the history of Southwestern men’s soccer that the Pirates have been ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll. That piece of history was made earlier this week, when Southwestern made its poll debut at No. 21 with a 3-0-1 overall record. In four matches, the Pirates have allowed just one goal, and are tied for the third-lowest goals against average (.250) in Division III men’s soccer.
7 wins for Hardin-Simmons athletic teams last weekend, which was the most victories on a fall weekend for the Cowboys and Cowgirls since 2010. The remarkable feat was accomplished by HSU football’s 38-6 road win at ASC rival Howard Payne, HSU Volleyball’s trio of wins in East Texas, a 5-0 shutout of McMurry by men’s soccer, and wins over Roanoke and Lynchburg for women’s soccer. Talk about a successful weekend.
23 goals scored by Concordia’s Kallie Krenz during her five-year career with the Tornadoes, tying the program record for all-time goals scored. Krenz proved Concordia’s lone goal in the 6-1 loss to top-ranked Cal Lutheran on Sunday and will be a key part of the Tornadoes’ offensive attack moving forward this season.
8 service aces by Texas Lutheran’s Brylie Nedd in a 3-1 victory over UT-Dallas last Saturday, the most in a match by a TLU player since the 2015 season. It was also one shy of the program’s single-game record, as Nedd is tied for the SCAC lead in service aces this season, with 14.
Game of the Week: No. 24 Southwestern (7-0) at Mary Hardin-Baylor (10-0) (Volleyball)
Southwestern has had its fair share of success on the court within the last decade, but this is the first 7-0 start for the Pirates since 2021, when they went 25-6. Back in the Top 25 this season following a challenging 12-14 campaign last fall, Southwestern heads to Belton with plenty of momentum. But the hosts, UMHB, are steadily adding to their campaign for a national ranking and building a worthy NCAA Tournament resume behind a 10-0 start. It is the best start for the program since 2021 as well—the only previous instance in which The Cru has won 10 matches to open a season. This is a matchup many within Region 10 have been hoping for since the two last played in 2019. Both will play three matches prior to their meeting on Saturday evening, and in the case that both go 3–0 to open the weekend, this could end up being one of the best contests of the weekend nationally.
Other games we’ll be keeping an eye on…
Trinity (TX) at Belhaven | Football | Saturday | 6:00 pm: Both teams are looking for Week 2 bounce-back wins after starting 0-1, and this marks the first-ever meeting between the two. Both reached the 2023 playoffs after winning their respective conference titles, and are aiming for similar success this fall with new contributors on both sides of the ball.
Southwestern at Puget Sound | Football | Saturday | 3:00 pm: Can the Pirates acheive their first 2-0 start since 2019? We’ll find out as Southwestern heads to the West Coast on Saturday afternoon.
No. 23 ETBU vs No. 9 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps | Volleyball | Saturday | 6:00 pm: While Southwestern at UMHB stands out because of the undefeated records and the fact that the two are in-state opponents, this matchup between the Tigers and Athenas has plenty of national relevance considering both are ranked within the Top 25. Both programs have scheduled strong in non-conference play, and
Texas Lutheran at Hardin-Simmons | Men’s Soccer | Friday | 7:00 pm: TLU is 3-0-1, coming off a 2-0 weekend in Ohio, and HSU is 2-1-1, riding a two-game win streak. This ASC vs SCAC duel in Abilene features an interesting matchup between one of the ASC’s highest scoring offenses (HSU has scored 13 goals in 4 matches) and one of the SCAC’s top defensive teams (TLU is one of 4 SCAC teams that has played at least 4 matches with fewer than one goal allowed per match).
Hendrix at Austin College | Women’s Soccer | Sunday | 11 am: Hendrix has gotten off to a solid 2-0-2 start to 2024, highlighted by wins over UDallas and McMurry, as well as a 0-0 draw against D1 UAPB. Austin has by far the best record in the SCAC thus far, at 5-0-1, having allowed just one goal in six matches, while scoring 14.
“This year, we’re doing a book called Chop Wood, Carry Water. It really goes back to what we were talking about a while ago about building our house, and how everything comes down to honing your craft, training your craft, and being men of integrity and discipline. It’s very interactive where the guys get to go up and speak and share. So they’re not always hearing from me. They hear from me a lot on the field and off the field. They get to learn from each other and grow together while we’re reading this book…Our goal for them is one, yes we want to win on the field, but we want [them] to win in life.”
–ETBU men’s soccer head coach Chris Crawford on the Texas Tiger Podcast talking about the impact of discipleship within his program and the Tigers’ 3-1 start to the 2024 season
Listen to the podcast with Chris Crawford
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