Texas Wesleyan earns first playoff bid in school history with 49-7 win over Langston
The Texas Wesleyan Rams won their third Sooner Athletic Conference title in school history and made the NAIA playoffs for the first time with their 49-7 victory over the Langston Lions on Saturday at Crowley ISD Multi-Purpose Stadium.
After the historic victory senior running back Ernest Ceasar said this season had gone exactly as expected.
“I can say it, it’s expected. This was what we expected, okay, going back into the last few years, my freshman year, it was the turnaround for TWU, we didn’t win anything, but it was like, okay, Texas Wesleyan they’re here now. Back to my sophomore year, that was the first year we was able to win conference, and then last year, we didn’t like how the [season] ended...So coming into this year, we knew that no matter what, we had to dominate anybody that came into our spot,” said Ceasar.
Former Rams head coach Joe Prud’homme, who was integral in restarting the program in 2017, served as honorary captain for the senior night game and was honored at halftime by TWU president Emily Messer.
Head coach Brad Sherrod said Prud’homme deserves a lot of credit for this senior group and how they’ve developed as players.
Quarterback Carson Rodgers was facing suspension for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties he received the week before, so backup Cole Francis took the reins of the Texas Wesleyan offense. The offense got off to a slow start but rebounded to secure the win.
“It’s a little bit tougher. You know, we were without Carson today, but I thought Cole went in there and did a heck of the job. I thought players rallied behind him,” said Sherrod.
Francis was 15 of 29 for 203 yards and an interception while adding a rushing touchdown.
In Rodgers’ absence, Ceasar stepped up with 212 rushing yards, his highest total of the season, and six rushing touchdowns, including his NAIA-leading 33rd rushing touchdown of the season.
Coming into the game the Rams knew they could attack the Lion rush defense.
“We knew that going into this week, and we just knew we had to be physical like we knew that’s what we could do best, and it was due, time was due for me to have 200 yards,” said Ceasar.
Ceasar’s 33rd rushing touchdown set the all-time NAIA single-season record formerly shared by former Lambuth University star JoJo Jones (1994) and Tabor College’s Roger Butler (2005).
Ceasar said breaking the record on senior night was special though he didn’t initially realize he had.
“It was a lot of emotions, but just getting a touchdown, it made me feel like I honestly, I always feel like I did something, but it made me feel like accomplished like I don’t want to get complacent, or none of that, but it made me like, I actually felt like I can enjoy myself, and I just did something,” said Ceasar, “But I honestly did not know. I keep saying this, I did not know until I got on the sideline.”
Sherrod said he was proud of the season the senior running back from Beaumont had.
“It’s special to have to break that record here, and to do it at home senior day, and for us to clinch it at home, to do all those things, and for him to have a year that he’s had. I’m really, I’m really proud of and I’m really happy for him,” said Sherrod.
The Rams’ defense was stifling all game.
“It all starts up front. You know, our defensive line, I think is playing really well. They have been all year. I think we got some really good players in Arian Baht, Daniel Aigbogun and [Easton] Schultz, we got a lot of guys there that play hard,” said Sherrod, “We have actually built some depth during the season, and I’m very happy about that, which hopefully can help us as we continue on this run.”
The Rams will have a chance to complete their first undefeated regular season in school history next week when they play Louisiana Christian University at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Wildcat Field.
This story was originally published November 9, 2024 at 4:48 PM.
