KINGSVILLE, Texas – West Texas A&M forced four turnovers and held on for a 35-23 victory on Saturday night in a physical game to spoil Homecoming at Javelina Stadium in Lone Star Conference action against rival Texas A&M-Kingsville.
 
Nick Gerber finished the night going 11-of-15 thru the air with 153 yards and a pair of touchdown, Jarrod Compton was dominant as the junior from Lubbock Coronado registered 179 yards of total offense with 147 of those coming on the ground with two scores. Noah Bogardus led the way in the receiving core with three catches for 64 yards and a TD.
 
Defensively, Satchel Escalante was the spark for the Buffs as the Casa Grande, Arizona native registered 12 total tackles (seven solo) to go along with two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fourth down stop inside the red zone. JT Cavender also registered 12 tackles in the win to go along with a pick while Eric Collins had eight tackles with two of those for a loss.
 
The Javelinas took the early advantage as an illegal block call on the opening kickoff forced WT to start from their own seven yard line, the first offensive play resulted in WT's second safety of the season for the 2-0 TAMUK advantage. The WT defense used a Michael Smith sack on third down to stop a short-field drive by the Hogs and give the Buffs the ball.
 
The Buffs locked in offensively on their next drive as a Compton 48 yard rush highlighted a six-play drive that spanned 80 yards by WT that was capped off by Jordan Johnson two yard run for the 7-2 lead. The Buffs forced another TAMUK punt followed by a 41-yard catch by Tyrie Tipton on third and long that led to a Gerber six yard touchdown run for the 14-2 lead with 2:10 left in the first.
 
The WT defense came up with another stop on the next Javelina drive as a Zadock Dinkelmann pass went right to Escalante for the game's first turnover but the Buffs couldn't convert that into points as they punted the ball away. Escalante would pick off his second pass on as many drives on the next TAMUK possession as the Buffs converted this time with a 30 yard strike from Gerber to Noah Bogardus for the 21-2 lead.
 
The Buffs forced the third turnover of the night later in the second quarter as a fumble on a Brayden Welch punt was recovered by Caleb Ollison, WT failed to turn that into points as a missed field goal from 28 yards out to keep the score at 21-2. TAMUK would respond with a 12-play drive that spanned 70 yards as Gilbert Garza connected from 27 yards out to make it 21-5 headed into the locker room.
 
Kingsville marched down the field on their first drive of the second half as they marched 75 yards on 10 plays finished off by a Christian Anderson one yard score to make it 21-12. The Buffs would punt on their next drive as the Hogs started at their own one yard line, Garza would hit from 37 yards out to cut the WT lead to 21-15 with 54 seconds left in the third.
 
WT would add to their lead on the first play of the fourth quarter as Gerber found Compton wide open on a seam route up the middle for a 32-yard touchdown to run the lead to 28-15. Kingsville looked to respond as they marched down the field but another big play by Escalante, this time a stop on fourth and one at the two yard line kept the Hogs off the board.
 
The Buffs would punt inside of their own goal line as Kingsville drove down the field again, Wade Freeman found Ryan Martinez from five yards out followed by a bobbled point-after snap that turned into a Javelina two-point conversion to cut the lead to 28-21 with 3:25 left. TAMUK chose to onside with two timeouts left as the Buffs recovered, Compton rushed for 20 yards to open the drive followed by a Johnson one yard touchdown run to make it 35-23 with 1:32 left.
 
The Javelinas would scramble to try and score in the final minute as a Freeman pass was intercepted Cavender with 30 seconds remaining for the fourth turnover of the night by the Hogs in a 35-23 victory.
 
The Buffs return to Buffalo Stadium for their final two games of the regular season beginning next Saturday night as they welcome the LSC-leading Mustangs of Midwestern State with kickoff set for 6 p.m. in Canyon.