COMMERCE, Texas – Justin Houghtaling connected with 10 different players as he threw for a season-high 263 yards on Saturday afternoon as West Texas A&M lost to Texas A&M-Commerce, 41-16, at Memorial Stadium. The passing total was nine yards short of the sophomore quarterbacks career-high set last season against Tarleton. The loss drops the Buffs to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in Lone Star Conference play.
THE BASICS
The Matchup: #18 Texas A&M-Commerce 41, West Texas A&M 26
Records: #18 Texas A&M-Commerce (7-2, 5-1 LSC), West Texas A&M (5-4, 3-3 LSC)
Venue: Memorial Stadium
Location: Commerce, Texas
The teams traded punts to start the game before West Texas A&M orchestrated their second-longest drive of the season to take a 7-0 lead with 6:15 remaining in the first quarter. Justin Houghtaling was a perfect 5-for-5 on the 12 play, 83-yard drive that was capped off with a 3-yard run from Marshawn Brown. The sophomore started off with a pair of completions to Brandon Blair and PJ Leonce. After consecutive rushes, he connected with Blair for the second time for 19 yards on 3rd and 4 from their own 34-yard line. He would pick up a first down with his legs on the next play before connecting with David Leonty for 13 yards. Facing another 3rd down, he found Payton Gonzales for 22 yards to put the Buffs inside the red zone. Brown would scored on 1st and goal from the Lion 3-yard line for his first career touchdown. The Lions would respond with a 7 play, 67-yard drive to tie the game at 7-all after the first quarter of play.
A sack and fumble proved costly for WT as the Lions turned into points to take a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter. The Buffs would force a punt on the Lions next possession that gave the offense their best starting possession of the game at midfield. Houghtaling found Gonzales for 46 yards on 3rd and 8 to put the Buffs at the Lions' two-yard line. Leonty would score on the next play as the freshman recorded his first touchdown of his career. The extra point was no good as the Buffs closed the gap to 14-13 with 6:34 remaining before halftime. The Lions would add a field goal before halftime after blocking a John Cummings punt.
After allowing the Lions to score touchdowns on their first two drives of the second half, the Buffs cut the deficit to 31-16 on Michael Shipley's 38-yard field goal with 5:22 remaining in the quarter. Trailing 34-16 at the start of the 4th quarter, WT continued to move the ball on the Lions defense with Hougthaling finding Juwan McCall for 17 yards on 3rd and 6. Two plays later, Houghtaling's pass was intercepted and returned 84 yards to take the deficit to 41-16 with 13:11 remaining in the game.
The Buffs didn't give up as they drove down the field on their next possession with Houghtaling connecting with Semaj Mitchell for 51 yards to get into Lions territory. Brown was close to getting his second rushing touchdown of the game but fumbled the ball at the 1-yard line that was recovered by TAMUC in the end zone for a touchback.
Houghtaling finished with a season-high 263 yards completing 21 of 32 passes to 10 different wide receivers while Brown had a team-high 29 yards rushing and a touchdown. Gonzales was the top target with four reception for 79 yards with Mitchell adding 61 yards on three receptions.
Joseph Barron had a team-high eight tackles, seven solo, and a tackle for loss as Keimone Davis added seven of his own. Eric Collins finished with six tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack bringing his season to three.
UP NEXT
WT will host Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday, Nov. 3, at the final game at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
