Chapman Remains Winless, Falls to Hardin-Simmons

Chapman took a second-half lead on the road but couldn’t pick up its first victory as the Panthers succumbed to unbeaten Hardin-Simmons, 19-14, Saturday before a crowd of 2,430 at Shelton Stadium in Abilene, Texas.

Trailing by six points with 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Chapman took a 14-13 lead on Greg Baltodano’s one-yard run and Matt George’s extra-point kick. But the Panthers couldn’t hold the lead, and dropped to 0-3.

Bill Poe’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Todd Bloom in the fourth quarter provided Hardin-Simmons (3-0) with its winning points. An attempt by Poe to run in a two-point conversion failed, but Chapman couldn’t come up with another threat.

Poe completed 18 of 36 passes for 246 yards, as Hardin-Simmons totaled 342 yards of offense.

Chapman fell behind early, when Cowboy kicker Mark Smith made a 32-yard field goal with 7 minutes 58 seconds remaining in the first quarter, and Cameron Creager, who ran for 96 yards in 14 carries, added a 21-yard touchdown run three and a half minutes later, for a 10-0 lead.

Chapman cut the margin to 10-7 in the second quarter on a six-yard pass from Greg Hyland to Dave Vaccaro.

The Cowboys widened their lead to 13-7, when Smith connected on a 26-yard field goal with 8:08 remaining in the third quarter.