CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M's
Tory Simmons rushed for 133 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday night as the Buffaloes scored 27 points in the second half on their way to a 27-19 victory to open Lone Star Conference action over the Angelo State Rams at LeGrand Stadium in San Angelo, Texas. Saturday marked the first win on the road in the Concho Valley by the Buffs since 2018.
Angelo State's defense came up with the first big play of the game on WT's opening offense drive as a fumble setup the Rams with a short field, the Buffs held strong defensively with a missed 44-yard field goal keeping the game scoreless. The teams traded punts on their next possession to end the opening quarter at 0-0.
The WT defense came up with another big stop in the redzone to start the second quarter as
Quincy Eutsay and
Johnny Taylor III got in the backfield for a sack on third down followed by a blocked field goal by
Herschel Craig III.
The Buffs couldn't capitalize as they traded punts with the Rams to wind down the clock, ASU took over with just 1:14 left in the half as a pair of costly WT penalties setup a 79-yard drive capped by a two-yard touchdown pass from Ayden Arp to Donny Bishop along with a botched snap on the kick to make it 6-0 headed into the locker room.
Angelo State opened the second half with a six-play drive that went 75 yards finished off by a Cameron Dischler one-yard rushing touchdown with a failed two-point attempt to make it 12-0. The Buffs put together their best drive of the game in response as WT marched 72 yards on seven plays with
Joseph White making a great catch from nine yards, replay review overturned the call on the field to make it 12-7.
WT kept the momentum on Angelo State's next drive as
Dayton Navy picked off a pass to setup a seven-play drive capped off by a 44-yard touchdown by Simmons at 14-12. Angelo State answered with a scoring drive of their own as a Dischler 15-yard rushing score gave the Rams a 19-14 advantage.
The Buffaloes took advantage of a personal foul penalty while also being on the right side of an overturned fumble call following replay review on their next drive, WT converted a fourth down conversion and Simmons found the endzone from 10 yards with a failed two-point attempt as the Buffs took a 20-19 lead with 7:54 left.
WT added to their lead later in the quarter as a turnover on downs led directly to a 49-yard touchdown rush by Simmons one play later to make it 27-19. The Rams wouldn't go down without a fight as they marched deep into WT territory late in the quarter before Eutsay stopped Arp on fourth down to give the ball back to the Buffs with WT running out the clock for a 27-19 win.
Knox Porter completed 23-of-35 passes for 159 yards and a touchdown.
Trace Clarkson grabbed a team-high 10 catches for 74 yards while White added 39 yards receiving with a score. Defensively,
Lucas Jarnagin had 10 total tackles (eight solo) with one of them coming for a loss followed by
Miles Hill with eight tackles of his own.
The Buffaloes return to Canyon next weekend as they welcome the Midwestern State Mustangs to Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium for LSC action with kickoff set for 7:00 p.m. in Canyon.
