Missouri Southern's Tony Edwards (2) breaks the tackle of Haskell freshman McKerry Wimberly. Missouri Southern waxed Haskell, 51-0, Thursday at Haskell Stadium.

Overmatched? Yes. Overpowered? Indeed.

Yet Haskell Indian Nations University coach Eric Brock was also overjoyed following Thursday night’s season-opening 51-0 loss to Missouri Southern at Haskell Stadium.

“The scoreboard won’t make anybody happy, and they won’t like it when they read it in the paper,” Brock said, “but I’m excited.”

Haskell’s coach was smiling afterward because he knew the Fightin’ Indians, an independent NAIA team, played about as well as they could – particularly in an opener – against an NCAA Division II team from the powerful MIAA.

“I think this team is going to be special,” Brock said. “They’re going to win some games.”

Missouri Southern compiled 587 yards of offense to Haskell’s 121, running 70 plays to Haskell’s 52.

Red-shirt freshman quarterback Victor Ramos, harassed all night, threw three interceptions, but the Indians didn’t lose a single fumble. Important, too, was the fact Haskell was penalized only six times for 49 yards.

“Penalties plagued us the last two years,” Brock said, “and that’s something we’ve been concentrating on.”

In fact, HINU has been one of the most heavily penalized teams in the NAIA over the last two seasons.

Missouri Southern’s defensive line dominated HINU’s young and inexperienced offensive line. Nevertheless, true freshman Quentin Haynes was solid in his collegiate debut with 18 punishing fumble-less rushes for a hard-earned 49 yards.

Meanwhile, Bubba Wills, who rushed for over 1,000 yards last season, saw limited duty, carrying six times for eight yards.

“He has some small ticky-tack injuries,” Brock said of the sophomore tailback, “and we don’t want to see him hurt for the rest of the season.”

Haskell did suffer one serious injury. Senior wide receiver Hunter Smith, who led the Indians in receptions last season, left early with a shoulder injury. Brock said Smith would miss at least the next two weeks.

Smith didn’t catch a pass, but neither did the Lions’ Colin Bado, a preseason All-American who led NCAA Division II in catches last year with 88.

Bado dropped one pass and quarterback Adam Hinspeter missed him on another, but the Lions clearly were more interested in establishing a running game. Particularly impressive carrying the ball was Renard Johnson, a 5-foot-8, 195-pound red-shirt freshman who rambled for 144 yards on just eight carries.

Still, the Indians allowed just one big touchdown play – a 62-yard pass from Hinspeter to wide receiver Tony Edwards, who broke a handful of tackles on his scoring jaunt.

Johnson, Hinspeter, Edwards, Bado and the rest of the first-stringers didn’t play in second half after the Lions cruised to a 37-0 lead at the break.

“They were a good team,” HINU quarterback Ramos said. “We knew what we were coming up again. But everything is fixable, but it’s doable.”

Haskell will meet its first NAIA foe a week from Saturday when South Dakota Tech comes to town for a 1 p.m. kickoff.