Box Score Season StatsCOMMERCE, Texas – The West Texas A&M football team dropped a 48-21 Lone Star Conference football game Saturday evening at No. 23 Texas A&M-Commerce. With the loss, the Buffs fell to 4-3 on the year and 3-2 in LSC play, while TAMUC improved to 6-1 and 5-0 in conference play.
WT was led by junior running back
Geremy Alridge-Mitchell has he tallied his fifth consecutive game of over 100 yards rushing with 166 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns. WT senior
Anthony Johnson needed just 43 yards to move into the top 10 all-time in career receiving yards as he tallied 58 yards on five receptions. Junior
Jarrian Rhone had three receptions for 31 yards and a touchdown. WT junior quarterback
Preston Rabb went 17 of 38 with one touchdown and three interceptions for 153 yards.
Defensively, the Buffs were led by redshirt freshman
Carter James with seven total tackles and four solo stops. Junior
Ethan Morriss had six tackles with three solo stops as did sophomore
LaPear Willrich and sophomore
Patric Youngman.
TAMUC was led by quarterback Tyrik Rollison who went 24 of 33 with an interception, three touchdown passes and 355 yards. Ricky Collins caught nine balls for 153 yards and two touchdowns. Ricky Cooper had 81 yards rushing on 16 carries.
Texas A&M-Commerce took the early 3-0 lead on its second possession of the game with a 27-ayrd field goal from Saul Martinez. The Lions got the ball back following an interception from Rabb which was his first since Sept. 20. The WT "D" stood tall and forced a punt.
The turn in field position gave the ball back to A&M-Commerce in WT territory. Rollison connected with Jordan Jenkins for 25 yards and back-up quarterback Deric Davis scored from yard out for a 9-0 lead. The extra-point was blocked by Willrich which was his first block of the season.
Rabb passed to senior Anthony Jonson for 14 yards and the first WT first down late in the quarter. Following punts by both teams, WT regained possession at the 11:42 mark and used some nice running from Alridge-Mitchell for four carries for 27 yards and then Rabb hooked up with junior
Jarrian Rhone for a 19-yard touchdown and a 9-7 score.
Following at TAMUC punt, WT took over and Rabb rushed a career-high 48 yards to the TAMUC 20. Alridge-Mitchell then followed with a 16-yard scamper and later scores for a 14-9 WT lead.
It was short lived, however, as Rollison hooked up with Ricky Collins for a 61-yard touchdown and a 16-14 score. TAMUC then converted an onside kick which completely changed the momentum in the game.
The Buffs stopped the Lions for a 4
th and 3 on the WT five. Trever Lasseter threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Theo Wofford for a touchdown on a fake field goal with 3:07 left in the half and a 22-14 lead which was the score at intermission.
"Those two plays, the onside kick and fake field goal for a touchdown really hurt us," WT head coach
Mike Nesbitt said. "We had starting playing better on defense and had gotten the momentum. After those two plays, we were never able to regain the momentum. TAMUC made the plays to win and we didn't."
WT took the ball in the second half and was driving, but a fumble gave the ball back to the Lions at the WT 29. The Buff defense held the Lions to a field goal for a 26-14 deficit. An interception and touchdown, followed by a pick six swelled the lead to 48-14 with 3:21 left in the quarter.
The Buffs responded in kind with an interception by redshirt freshman T.J. Broden and a 45-yard return set the Buffs up at the TAMUC 35. From there, Alridge-Mitchell ran for 20 yards and later scored for a 48-21 score with 11:46 left for the final score of the game.
The Buffs return home for Senior Day 2014 next weekend at 3 p.m. at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium versus Texas A&M-Kingsville.
