Box Score CLEVELAND, Miss. – The No. 14 Tarleton State Texans fell for the first time in 2013, dropping a heartbreaker to Delta State 38-36 at Parker Field-McCool Stadium in Cleveland, Miss.
 
Just as they did last season, DSU managed to kick a late field goal against the Texans in order to pull out the win. The Texans trailed 35-33 late in the fourth quarter, but a field goal from Blake Barnes gave Tarleton a 36-35 lead with 1:10 left to play in the game.
 
DSU would take the following kickoff 46 yards and Tyler Sullivan's first pass was complete for 13 yards to give the Statesmen a first down in Texan territory. Sullivan then ran the ball for 13 yards and followed  it up with a 14-yard completion to Casey Osbourne for a first down at the Tarleton 16-yard line.
 
Sullivan's next attempt was incomplete and DSU called on Sciorrotta for a 33-yard attempt. His kick was good and DSU took over the lead 38-36 with 7.0 seconds left in the game.
 
DSU's squib kick was returned by Tandy and just as he was about to go down, he tried to pitch the ball away and in the process, Tarleton recovered the ball but time ran out on the clock giving DSU the two-point win.
 
The two teams combined to net 919 yards of total offense with the Texans (5-1) gaining 430 total yards (338 pass, 92 rush) and the Statesmen (4-2) netting 489 total yards (422 pass, 67 rush).
 
Tarleton would set a new school record for total offensive plays as they tallied 106 plays in the game. The 106 plays breaks the previous school record of 102 plays that was set back on Oct. 12, 1996 against West Texas A&M.
 
Jake Fenske completed a career-high 34 passes for 240 yards and Aaron Doyle completed 14 passes for 98 yards. Meanwhile, Sullivan completed 33 of his passes for 422 yards for the Statesmen.
 
The Texans turned over the ball on its first possession, but following a three-and-out by DSU, Tarleton managed to take an early 3-0 lead on a 27-yard field goal from Barnes.
 
The Statesmen countered though with a nine-play 71-yard drive that ended with a 14-yard touchdown from Tyler Sullivan to Casey Osbourne to give DSU a 7-3 lead with 4:13 left to play in the first quarter.
 
Tarleton came right back with a touchdown of its own as Fenske capped off a 16-play, 79-yard drive with his one-yard dive into the end zone. Barnes' PAT gave the Texans a three-point lead, up 10-7 with 13:36 left to play in the second quarter.
 
DSU was forced to punt the ball on another three-and-out, but on Tarleton's Aaron Doyle was sacked on the next possession, which resulted in a fumble and then a scoop-and-score for the Statesmen. DSU's Diego Lubin forced the fumble and Chris Norman recovered the ball at the three-yard line before running it into the end zone to give DSU the lead, 13-10 with 11:10 remaining in the first half.
 
Bubba Tandy returned the ensuing kickoff 61 yards to the DSU 30-yard line, but he was brought down by a horse collar tackle, so the Texans would begin its next drive from the Statesmen 15-yard line. Four plays later, Fenske found Andre Plata from four yards out and Tarleton regained the lead, up 17-14 with 9:42 left in the second quarter.
 
Mo Fennell fumbled the ball on DSU's next possession, Marc Martinez recovered the ball at the DSU three-yard line and just one play later Doyle found the end zone to extend Tarleton's lead 24-14 with 9:30 left to play in the first half.
 
Martinez forced and then recovered his second fumble of the first half when DSU took over on offense and that gave the Texans the ball at the DSU 45-yard line. Tarleton managed to get the ball into the red zone, but turned the ball over after failing to convert on fourth-and-five from the six-yard line.
 
DSU managed to drive down field, but the possession stalled at the Tarleton 33-yard line and the Statesmen were forced to punt. The Texans followed with its own punt and again DSU managed to drive into Tarleton territory, but Vince Sciorrotta's 47-yard field goal was short of the goal posts and the Texans took the 10-point lead into the break.
 
Zach Henshaw tallied 86 all-purpose yards in the first half, gaining 36 yards on the ground and 50 yards on five catches.  Le'Nard Meyers picked up where he left off last week, gaining 47 yards on five catches and Fenske went into the locker room having completed 19 of his 28 passes for 158 yards and the one touchdown.
 
Marquis Wadley, Charles Moore and Devin Figures led the defense at the break with six tackles each.
 
The Statesmen would cut the deficit to just three points with 8;23 left to play in the third quarter when Sullivan connected with Ricky Hunt from 52 yards out, making it a 24-21 game in favor of the Texans.
 
Late in the third quarter Sullivan found Hunt for 43 yards and later connected with Osbourne for another touchdown, this time from 14 yards out, and DSU took over the lead 28-24 with 52 seconds left to play in the third quarter.
 
Barnes would pull the Texans within a point of DSU with his 31-yard field goal with 12:00 left to play in the fourth quarter, but just 26 seconds later Sullivan found Patrick Bethley for his fourth TD of the game to push the lead to 35-27.
 
For the second time on the night, Tandy returned the ensuing kick for more than 50 yards to give the Texans great field position and then nine plays later Doyle found his way into the end zone for a second time. The Texans elected to go for two points, but the conversion was no good and Tarleton trailed 35-33 with 7:35 left to play in the fourth quarter.
 
The Texan defense would force another three-and-out, forcing DSU to punt the ball with just under seven minutes to play. The punt would roll out of bounds at the Tarleton 33-yard line and the Texans would take over on offense with 6:42 left to play in the game.
 
The Texans were forced to go for it on fourth down and inches to go when Doyle found Tandy for the grab and the first down. Doyle would then find Clifton Rhodes III for a seven-yard catch, but a false start penalty would make it second-and-eight to go.
 
Doyle's next pass was incomplete, he then found Rhodes again for another Tarleton first down at the DSU 26-yard line. With less than four minutes on the clock, Doyle's next attempt was incomplete, but he and Rhodes again connected for five yards. Doyle's next pass was complete to Jeken Frye giving the Texans a first down at the DSU 14 yard-line.
 
Two plays later Doyle rushed for 17 yards to give Tarleton a first down and goal situation inside the DSU five-yard line. Doyle's next two rushes would gain zero yards and DSU was forced to call a timeout with 1:18 left to play in the game.
 
Doyle's number was called again on the third down play, but he was bottled up at the three yard line and DSU called its second timeout of the half, forcing Barnes to come in for a game-leading 20-yard field goal. Barnes would connect on the chip-shot field goal and Tarleton led 36-33 with 1:10 remaining.
 
With the loss, Tarleton snaps a five-game win streak to open the season and an active win streak of eight consecutive wins. It marks Tarleton's first road loss since falling to 41-21 to West Texas A&M on Sept. 29 last season.
 
Henshaw finished the game with 59 yards on the ground and 50 yards receiving for 109 all-purpose yards. Rhodes led all receivers with 10 catches on the night, while both he and Meyers tallied 74 yards in the game.
 
Wadley finished the game with a team-high 11 tackles and Dashaun Phillips followed with nine.
 
Tarleton will return to Tarleton Memorial Stadium next weekend to host A&M-Commerce in a Homecoming contest for the Texans. Kickoff between the Texans and Lions is set for 6 p.m. next Saturday, Oct. 26.