CANYON, Texas – The #14 Buffaloes overcame a 14-point third quarter deficit to tie the game but six costly turnovers proved too much as West Texas A&M fell to the Javelinas of Texas A&M-Kingsville, 31-24 in the Lone Star Conference opener on Saturday night in front of 7,337 fans at Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium.
 
The Javelinas took advantage of a Buffalo interception on the first drive of the game as Christian Anderson found the endzone from one yard out for the 7-0 lead. The teams traded punts but the Javelinas forced their second turnover of the night with a fumble recovery on WT's return, the Buffalo defense held tight with TAMUK settling for a 52-yard field goal by Gilberto Garza for the 10-0 lead.
 
Special teams came up big for the Javelinas to start the second quarter as Amos Coleman III blocked a 30-yard Gage Urias field goal attempt to keep the Buffs off the scoreboard. TAMUK looked to add to their lead as they marched down the field highlighted by a fourth down conversion before Preston Steszewski picked off a pass in the endzone to give the Buffs the ball back, WT found a rhythm offensively as Shakell Brown hurdled a defender and stayed on his feet for a 53-yard touchdown reception to make it 10-7.
 
The WT defense held on Kingsville's next possession as they forced a punt followed by a Gerber 40-yard completion to Tyshawn Buckner that led to a 46-yard Urias field goal to send the teams into the locker room tied at 10-10.
 
TAMUK retook the lead on their first drive of the second half as Jacob Cavazos found Walter Ring over the middle from 10 yards, the Hogs would march down the field again on their next drive as they went 78 yards on five plays capped off by a Christian Anderson to extend the lead to 24-10.
 
The Buffs responded as Noah Bogardus caught a 32-yard strike from Gerber followed by a TAMUK fumbled exchange on a punt that led to a Jarrod Compton 15-yard touchdown on the ground to tie it up at 24-24. The Hogs retook the lead again to begin the fourth quarter as Cavozos found Allen Arciles from six yards out.
 
WT held again on defense as they forced what looked to be a downed punt but it was ruled that a Buffalo touched the ball, giving the Javelinas the ball. Ty Dillon switched the momentum with an interception with 2:26 remaining, the Buffs drove down the field but their fifth turnover of the night on a TAMUK interception sealed the 31-24 victory for the Javelinas.

Nick Gerber finished the night going 12-of-26 for 214 yards and a pair of touchdowns while throwing a season-high three interceptions. Isaiah Smallwood picked up a team-high 50 yards on the ground while Brown led the receiving core with 84 yards on three catches with a touchdown. 

Defensively, Christopher Thomas registered 10 total tackles to go along with one sack followed by Carson Otworth with nine tackles, two of those coming for a loss. Dillon and Steszewski both registered interceptions. 

BY THE NUMBERS
2 – Turnovers forced by the Javelinas in the first quarter
366 – Total Yards for the Javelinas compared to 285 by the Buffs
35:23 – Possession time by the Buffs on Saturday night
 
COMING UP NEXT
The Buffs return hit the road next weekend for a battle of the unbeatens at LeGrand Stadium as they take on the #5 Rams of Angelo State with kickoff scheduled for 6 p.m in