CANYON, Texas – The Buffaloes of West Texas A&M scored on their first two possessions and never looked back as they picked up a Homecoming victory for the sixth straight season on Saturday night in a 49-27 win over the Western New Mexico Mustangs at Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium in front of almost 8,500 fans.
 
The Buffs took an early lead as their defense forced a punt on the opening possession of the game followed by as WT marched down the field 61 yards on seven plays as Ashton Dubose found the endzone from 16 yards out on his first collegiate snap for the 7-0 lead.
 
WT added to their lead on their next possession as a fourth down gamble paid off with a 32-yard touchdown pass from Kanon Gibson to Kenneath Redd Jr. to make it 14-0. The second quarter would start with the Buffs marching down the field again as they went 78 yards on 11 plays finished off by a 21-yard pass from Gibson to Tyrie Tipton to extend the lead to 21-0.
 
The Mustangs finally found a rhythm offensively on their next possession as they finished off a 12-play drive with a Davey Morales four-yard pass from Hunter Davis followed by a two-point conversion to make it 21-8. WT responded on their next drive as a long fourth down catch by Kris Sims setup a Tray'vian McCoy-Gay eight-yard touchdown to make it 28-8.
 
The Buffs made a big play on special teams for the second straight week as Cade Cox hustled down the field and recovered a fumble on the three-yard line but the Buffs would give the ball right back as a fumble on the goal line stopped a scoring chance for WT. The Mustangs cut into the lead right before halftime as Davis found Jeremiah Hartfield on a 53-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-15.
 
WT would extend their lead on the first possession of the second half as a 10-play drive was capped off by a 13-yard touchdown from McCoy-Gay to make it 35-15. WNMU would turn a Buffalo special teams mistake into points as a fumbled punt return setup a Hartfield five-yard pass from Davis but a failed point-after attempt made it 35-21.
 
The Buffs would cash in a Mustang turnover as a fumble forced by JT Cavender and Koby King was recovered by Jimmy Harrison to setup a one-yard Gibson touchdown pass to Shakell Brown to extend the lead to 42-21. WT would take advantage of a short field as the Mustangs couldn't convert on fourth down which setup a Dubose one-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 49-21.
 
WNMU cut into the lead late in the fourth quarter as Davis found Deuce Zimmerman in the back of the endzone on fourth and goal to make it 49-27 following a failed two-point conversion try. 
 
Gibson finished the game completing 17-of-18 passes for 236 yards and three touchdowns while also carrying the ball six times for 29 yards, McCoy-Gay led the way in the backfield with 86 yards on 18 carries with two scores while Tipton caught four passes for 57 yards and a touchdown.
 
Defensively, Cavender led the way with 11 total tackles (five solo) with two of those coming for a loss to go along with a forced fumble followed by King with nine tackles and Harrison with eight. 
 
The Buffaloes hit the road for their longest road trip of the season next Saturday night as they travel to Ellensburg, Washington to take on the Central Washington Wildcats with kickoff set for 8:00 p.m. CT at Tomlinson Stadium.