CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M forced three turnovers and made big defensive stops all night long as the Buffaloes outlasted the rival #21 Midwestern State Mustangs in Lone Star Conference action in front of almost 7,000 fans at Buffalo Stadium on Saturday night.
 
Nick Gerber finished the game going 12-of-22 thru the air with 117 yards to go along with 18 net yards on the ground, Jarrod Compton carried the ball 30 times for 160 yards and a score while Noah Bogardus caught three passes for 53 yards in the win. The Buffs finished the game with 325 yards of total offense as 208 of those came on the ground.
 
Defensively, JT Cavender was all over the field for the Buffs as the Midlothian native registered 20 tackles (15 solo) to go along with a forced fumble, Chris Thomas finished the 11 tackles followed by Eric Collins with eight as the senior moved into third place on WT's all-time tackles list to pass Carter James (304). The 20 tackles by Cavender is the most by a Buffalo in a single-game since October 11, 2014 when James registered 21 tackles against the Mustangs in a 34-13 win at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium.
 
The first quarter saw a defensive battle as the two teams combined for nine first downs and 125 yards of total offense with five combined punts. The Mustangs got on the board first as they took advantage of a short field with a 43 yard drive that took only three plays ended by a Kylan Harrison six yard TD catch from Dillon Sterling-Cole for the 7-0 lead.
 
The Buffs looked to respond on their next possession as they drove down near the MSU red-zone but sacks on back-to-back plays pushed WT out of field goal range as they were forced to punt again. The Mustangs added to their lead with a blocked punt that went out of the back of the endzone for a safety to make it 9-0. Midwestern State added to their lead right before the half as big plays setup a 25-yard field goal by Ritse Vaes with three second left to make it 12-0.
 
WT looked to take advantage of a fumbled punt early in the third quarter as they finally found the endzone with a 22-yard rushing score by Isaiah Smallwood to make it 12-7. The WT defense made a big fourth down stop on the next MSU drive as Cavender came up with a big tackle on fourth and two but the Buffalo offense couldn't take advantage with another punt.
 
MSU drove down and looked to add to their lead but the WT defense came up big again as Chris Thomas forced a fumble on the one yard line that fell into the hands of Cavender to give Buff Nation some life. WT marched 99 yards down the field on 11 plays as Gerber called his own number from six yards out for the first lead of the game. The Levelland product found Hunter Kaufman for a two-point conversion to make it 15-12 headed to the fourth.
 
WT locked down the Mustangs on the next three drives as they combined for just 19 yards over those three drives. The Buffs looked to add to their lead with 2:15 left in the game as they drove down the field but an interception on the goal line gave the Mustangs the ball back, the WT defense made another big stop on fourth and long from the Buffalo 31 yard line as Tobias Harris picked off Sterling-Cole for his sixth interception of the season and 17th of his career to clinch the 15-12 win.
 
The Buffs close out the regular season next Saturday as they host the Bethel College Threshers with kickoff set for 11 a.m. on Senior Day at Buffalo Stadium.  The Threshers are currently ranked 16^th in the NAIA Top-25 Poll as they enter next weekend with a 9-1 overall mark following a 54-21 win over the University of St. Mary's on Saturday.