CANYON, TEXAS – West Texas A&M Football (3-5, 3-3 LSC) came away with a dominant 69-14 victory over Western New Mexico Saturday evening at Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium. The offenses accumulated 706 yards in the Homecoming win.
WT set the tone early as
Tory Simmons burst for a 16-yard rush on the opening play of the game. The Buffs quickly marched down into the redzone with a 22-yard catch by
Trace Clarkson on the drive.
Contae Cason muscled his way into the end on a two-yard run to cap off a four-and-a-half-minute drive as the score was 6-0. On the extra point, the Buffs opted for a fake as
James Ingham spun past a defender after catching the snap on the hold and cleanly found the end zone to make it 8-0.
Defensively, the Buffaloes forced a three-and-out as their offense got back on the field in under two minutes. Clarkson made his mark on the second drive as he caught three passes for 30-yards including a 23-yard touchdown go-route from the slot.
Ryan Gafford put the ball right in the bucket for the Aledo, Texas native as an extra point by
Alan Anaya made in 15-0.
Now holding a two-possession lead, WT's defense put the offense right back on the field following an interception by
Quincy Eutsay. On a third and five, WNMU tried a slip screen to their running back. Eutsay made a tremendous play in not only recognizing the screen but realizing he would not reach the quarterback and opted to sink back into coverage. With some help by the defensive line to force pressure, Eutsay leaped up and picked off the pass which he then returned for 12-yards to put the offense in great field position.
The offense kept humming for the Buffaloes as they were right back in the red zone. 11-yards out, Cason scored his second touchdown of the evening on a wildcat option play where he jetted up the middle untouched after strong blocks by the offensive line. Anaya tacked home the extra point making it 22-0 in favor of WT as the quarter came to a close.
Western New Mexico opened the second quarter with a two-minute drive that resulted in a 12-yard touchdown pass that got upheld after a challenge by the Buffs. WT went three-and-out on their first drive of the second quarter, but a fantastic punt by Ingham pinned the Mustangs on the three-yard line. WNMU ran an outside zone on their first play backed up but
Campbell Packebush instantly got off his block and tackled the back in the end zone for the safety making it 24-7.
After the teams traded punts, Anaya extended the lead as he sunk a 38-yard field goal after being set up by a 49-yard-deep pass to Clarkson on a post route. That score of 27-7 would hold going into the halftime break.
West Texas A&M's defense forced a punt to open the third as they continued to string stops together. The offense kept rolling as Simmons capped off a 54-yard drive with an 18-yard score following a massive hole created by the offensive line. Simmons accounted for all 54-yards on that drive as the score moved to 34-7.
A fourth down stop resulted in WT getting the ball back as they continued to thrive in the run game.
Isaiah Orlandi took an end-around 44 yards which ultimately set up Cason's third touchdown of 28-yards where he bulldozed a defender and bounced off multiple tackles for the score. WT extended the lead to 41-7.
Western New Mexico found the end zone for the second time on a 57-yard run but were answered by the Buffaloes and
Joseph White who caught a dime by
Colt Mercer on a post route in the end zone for a 32-yard score. The third quarter came to a close with WT leading 48-14.
The stampede continued in the fourth quarter as the Buffs put up three more touchdowns, all accounted for by
Reid Macon. On his first career pass, Macon found a wide-open
Juwan Jones who slipped free off a fake screen for the 20-yard score. His second career pass also resulted in a touchdown after
Antoine Sullivan came down with an incredible 29-yard catch off an inside-out double move from a dot by Macon. For the exclamation point,
Anthony White picked off an underthrown corner route which would lead to a 70-yard touchdown run by the Amarillo native on a read-option. West Texas A&M built up the score to 69-14 which wound up as the final in a dominant showing by the Buffaloes in front of the homecoming crowd.
Top Buffs
- Contae Cason rushed for 71 yards and three scores while averaging 7.9 yards per carry. Cason recorded his second straight multi-touchdown game
- Trace Clarkson snagged seven balls for 127 yards and his fourth touchdown of the season. This was Clarkson's fifth game with 7+ receptions and third game above 100 receiving yards.
- Reid Macon completed all three of his passes for 55 yards and two touchdowns while adding a 70-yard rushing score in his first career game.
Buffalo Bits
- West Texas A&M is now 12-4 all-time against Western New Mexico and have now won four games in a row over the Mustangs.
- The Buffs led the game in first downs (33-15), rushing yards (405-232), yards per rush (9.0-5.5), rushing touchdowns (5-1), passing yards (301-110), yards per completion (15.8-10.0), passing touchdowns (4-1), total offensive yards (706-342), yards per play (9.1-5.3), takeaways (3-0), yards per punt (49.3-39.3), red zone percentage (100%-33.3%), sacks (1-0), extra points made (8-2), and field goals made (1-0).
- Tory Simmons accumulated 116 scrimmage yards (90 rushing, 26 receiving) to go with his sixth touchdown of the season. Simmons averaged 7.5 yards per carry.
- Ryan Gafford started at quarterback and went 14/26 with 201 yards and one touchdown. This was Gafford's first career passing touchdown.
- Miles Hill made a team-high nine tackles (two solo, seven assisted) to go with a hurry. This was his fifth game with 9+ tackles.
- Colt Mercer threw his second touchdown pass of the season while he went 2/3 for 45 yards.
- Antoine Sullivan, Joseph White, and Juwan Jones all caught touchdown passes. This was first score of the season for Sullivan and Jones while it was White's fifth.
- The offensive line constantly created big holes in the run game with 9.0 yards per rush while keeping WT's quarterbacks upright with no sacks allowed.
- Eddy Mpela came away with a sack which was a 12-yard loss.
- Quincy Eutsay and Anthony White both recorded interceptions. Eutsay also made his seventh tackle for loss.
- Campbell Packebush made two tackles with one TFL which resulted in a safety.
- Corey Anthony Jr. added two solo tackles and recovered a fumble.
- Tyler Davis, Mekhi Garmon, Keiondre Lewis, and Jayden Niumata all made tackles for loss. Davis made five tackles with four solo while Niumata was the second leading tackler on the team with seven (five solo, two assists).
- Matthew Bryant made six tackles with three solo and three assisted.
- Alan Anaya went 8/8 on extra points while adding a 38-yard field goal. His field goal tied his season-long while his extra points were a career-high.
- James Ingham rushed for a two-point conversion while totaling 148 punt yards with two that landed inside the 20.
- Caleb Giles and Ian Amegatcher both recorded pass breakups.
- Joshua Hamilton rushed eight times for 50 yards on 6.3 yards per carry.
- Drew Cox accumulated 693 kickoff yards with six touchbacks.
Up Next
West Texas A&M will be back in action on Saturday, October 31 as they travel to Sul Ross State. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m.
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