Box Score ARLINGTON, Texas – The Tarleton Texans took a 20-10 lead into the locker room following the first half, but the No. 20-ranked Abilene Christian Wildcats outscored the Texans 24-11 over the final 30 minutes enroute to a 34-31 come-from-behind win over Tarleton in the Lone Star Conference Football Festival held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday.

Tarleton's Aaron Doyle (QB, Jr, Evant) finished the contest with 377 yards passing, completing 39 of his 52 attempts for a pair of touchdowns and one interception. The Tarleton defense held its ground throughout the contest, holding the LSC's Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, Mitchell Gale, to just 279 yards in the air. The ACU QB completed 27 passes on 42 attempts and tallied a pair of TD passes as well.

The Wildcats opened the game with a score, converting an 11-play, 48-yard drive into a one-yard touchdown run from Charcandrick West with 8:38 left to play in the first quarter. Morgan Lineberry's extra point gave the Wildcats an early 7-0 lead, but Tarleton would quickly tie the game and then take the lead with back-to-back touchdowns before the end of the first quarter.

Tarleton put its first points on the board with 5:26 on the clock in the first quarter when Jerome Regal (RB, So, Garland) took it to the house on a 16-yard pass play from Doyle. Blake Barnes (K, Fr, Stephenville) capped off the 9-play, 82-yard drive with his extra point to tie the game at 7-7.

ACU was forced to punt on its next possession, and Tarleton countered with a 10-play, 53-yard drive that ended with Doyle completing a dump-pass to Vaughn Smith (RB, Jr, Menlo Park, Calif.) as he scampered 10 yards into the endzone for another Texan score. Barnes' extra-point attempt was good and the Texans led 14-7 with :26 seconds left to play in the first quarter.

With 12:17 left to play in the first half, Barnes nailed a 28-yard field goal following a 10-play drive that massed 68 yards to give Tarleotn a 17-7 lead. He then kicked a career-long 41-yard field goal at the 4:26 mark to put the Texans up 20-7, capping off an 11-play drive that went for 53 yards down the field.

An offsides call on Tarleton's ensuing kickoff helped give Gale and the Wildcats a short field and ACU took advantage beginning the drive at the Wildcat 44-yard line. Seven plays later, the Wildcats made it a 10-point game with a 27-yard field goal from Lineberry, making it a 20-10 game in favor of the Texans with 1:53 left to play in the half.

The Texans drove the field in the final two minutes of the half, but ACU's Thor Woerner intercepted Doyle's pass at the four-yard line, stopping the drive and the Texans' momentum heading into the half.

Both teams would trade possessions to start the third quarter, but ACU finally got back on the board on Travis Tarver's seven-yard touchdown run with 8:29 left to play. The five-play, 36 yard drive was capped off by Lineberry's extra-point and Tarleton's lead dwindled to just three points, up 20-17.

The Wildcats regained the lead at the 4:03 mark in the third quarter and would end up not relinquishing that lead. Mitchell completed a six-yard pass to Taylor Gabriel and Lineberry followed with his PAT, giving ACU a 24-20 lead.

The Texans were forced to punt and ACU countered with another score to take a 27-20 lead. Lineberry connected on a 30-yard field goal attempt with 12:00 left to play in the contest, capping off a 10-play, 54-yard drive.

Despite a 62-yard scamper from Regal on a second-and-five play, Tarleton would get just three points out of the six-play, 73 yard drive when Barnes nailed a 25-yard attempt to pull the Texans to within four points of the Wildcats, down 27-23.

ACU countered with another touchdown on its next possession, a 16-yard touchdown pass from Gale who connected with Gabriel again for the score. Lineberry's PAT completed a 14-play, 79-yard drive to give ACU a 34-24 lead with 3:12 remaining in the game.

Tarleton would not go away though, scoring on its next possesion as well – a one-yard rushing touchdown from Doyle with 1:02 left and just two timeouts remaining. The Texans were forced to go for the two-point conversion, which they succeeded with a dump pass into the endzone from Doyle to Will McLane (TE, Jr, San Antonio).

The Texans trailed by just three points, but the on-side-kick was unsuccessful and ACU managed to runout the clock to end the game.

The Texans finished the game with 556 yards of total offense, netting 179 yards on the ground and 377 yards through the air. Tarleton's defense held ACU to just 334 total yards (55 rush, 334 pass), but it was the 11 pentalties for 110 yards that seemed to outdo the Texans in Arlington.

Regal finished the game with 105 yards on the ground, gainging 7.9 yards per carry on the day. Doyle tallied 35 yards on the ground and Tarleton's lone rushing touchdown.

Jeken Frye (WR, Jr, El Paso) led the Texans with 10 catches and netting 92 yards receiving. Clifton Rhodes (WR, So, Fort Worth) hauled in nine catches for a team-high 106 yards.

Charles Moore (DB, Jr, Carrollton) led the Texan defense with a team-high 10 tackles (six solo, four assisted). Rufus Johnson (DE, Sr, Dallas) managed to get to the QB three times for a total loss of 13 yards.

The Texans will return home next Saturday, Sept. 22, to host Eastern New Mexico for Family Weekend. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Tarleton Memorial Stadium in Stephenville.