CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M Buffaloes sent their 11 seniors out in style on Saturday afternoon as they finished with 580 yards of total offense in a 52-9 Senior Day win over the NAIA's #5 Bethel College Thrashers in front of 5.728 fans at Buffalo Stadium in Canyon.
 
Nick Gerber finished 10-of-16 thru the air with 197 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Caleb Arreloa impressed with 86 yards passing and a score. Jarrod Compton finished off his collegiate career with 111 yards on seven carries with two touchdowns while Isaiah Smallwood carried the ball 14 times for 87 yards in the win. Noah Bogardus was the spark in the receiving core as he caught five passes for 100 yards and a score.
 
Defensively, Cole Oster led the way with eight total tackles (four solo) to go along with a forced fumble while Ty Dillon, Christopher Thomas and JT Cavender had five tackles each. The Buffs forced three Thresher turnovers and allowed just 296 yards of total offense with 269 of those coming on the ground, 150 yards under Bethel's season average.
 
The Buffs took their opening possession of the game 76 yards in six plays as Cason Polivoda connected from 34 yards out for the early 3-0 lead. Bethel responded on their first drive as Mario Quintero broke free for a 46-yard touchdown run but the Threshers missed the point-after to make it 6-3 with 8:46 left in the first.
 
The WT offense continued to click as Brandon Blair went 43 yards on the first play of the drive followed by a 32-yard play-action strike from Gerber to Bogardus for the 10-6 lead. The Threshers responded again as they capped off a 13 play drive with a 22-yard field goal by Logan Demond to make it 10-9.
 
Bethel looked to take advantage of a missed field goal by the Buffs as they converted on a pair of third downs before Oster jumped on a fumble at the line of scrimmage to give WT the ball inside of Thresher territory. Gerber found Tyrie Tipton for 36 yards to get inside the red zone followed four plays later by a Jordan Johnson one yard sneak up the middle to make it 17-9.
 
WT went to their bag of tricks as Mauricio Gonzalez placed a perfect onside kick into the hands of Hesston Marshall followed later by a Gerber 18-yard strike to Caleb Ollison as the Buffs extended their lead to 24-9. The Buffs forced the first punt of the game on Bethel's next drive as the Buffs marched down and finished off the drive with a 13-yard score by Compton to make it 31-9.
 
The Buffalo defense made another big play as Dillon picked off the Threshers on fourth down but the Buffs missed another punt as they failed to turn the turnover into points, taking the 31-9 lead into the locker room. WT added to their lead on their first drive of the second half as they went 55 yards on eight plays capped off by a seven yard run by Johnson to extend the lead to 38-9. 
 
Another senior came up with a big play on Bethel's next drive as Ayrton Payne blocked a Threshers punt followed a few plays later by an Arreola 49-yard bomb to Markell Stephens-Peppers for the 45-9 lead. The Buffs would extend their lead even more to start the fourth quarter as Compton capped off a 12-play drive that went 92 yards as the Lubbock native found the endzone from four yards out for the 52-9 win.