Box Score STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The No. 23 Tarleton State Texans dropped its first Lone Star Conference game of the season, falling 22-20 to the A&M-Commerce Lions on Homecoming Saturday night at Tarleton Memorial Stadium in Stephenville.
Down 20-14 late in the fourth quarter, A&M-Commerce's Harrison Stewart found Hayden Marsh from 25 yards out to tie the game 20-20 and Marcus Fore followed with a two-point conversion to give the Lions a 22-20 lead with 3:06 left to play in the game.
The Texans drove the field to set up a 39-yard field goal try for
Blake Barnes with 1:10 remaining, but his kick sailed wide-right and A&M-Commerce ran out the rest of the clock to secure the win.
The Lions (6-2, 2-2 LSC) snapped a four-game losing streak to the Texans (5-2, 4-1 LSC) and secured the President's Trophy for the first time since it was introduce to the series in 2010. Tarleton lost at home for the first time this season and fell to 29-24 all-time in Homecoming contests since becoming a senior college in 1961.
Jerome Regal put the Texans on the board first with his two-yard touchdown run with 4:23 left to play in the first quarter, but with 14:48 left to play in the second quarter, A&M-Commerce's Harrison Stewart tied the game with an 88-yard touchdown pass to Vernon Johnson.
The Texans came right back to take a three-point lead on a 26-yard field goal from
Blake Barnes with 9:42 left to play in the first half, but Johnson found the end zone again with a 27-yard pass, this time from Deric Davis with 6:56 left to play in the second quarter that gave the Lions a 14-10 advantage.
Zach Henshaw scored his first rushing touchdown of the season with 4:54 left in the half and the Texans would take a 17-14 lead into the halftime break.
A 22-yard field goal from Barnes with 5:00 left to play in the third quarter would turn out to be the only points scored in the quarter. The field goal gave Tarleton a 20-14 lead at the time and neither team would score again until Marsh's touchdown, 16:54 minutes later.
Both teams struggled with the kicking game on the evening as the Lions' Saul Martinez missed a field goal with 1:39 left in the third quarter and the Texans missing its last three attempts at a field goal with 13:39 left to play in the third quarter, 7:59 and 1:05 left in the fourth.
Tarleton's
Jake Fenske led the Texans through the air, completing 20 of his 33 pass attempts for 274 yards, while
Aaron Doyle completed 12 passes for 109 yards. Stewart completed 24 passes for 279 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Davis had the one pass for 27 yards and a score.
Henshaw led the Texans in both rushing (58 yards) and receiving (137 yards) on the night as he finished the game with 195 all-purpose yards. Le'Nard Meyers led the Texans with nine catches and tallied 96 receiving yards as well. Johnson led all receivers in the game with his seven catches going for 154 yards.
Ki-Janaven Garrett led the Lions rushing attack with 97 yards on 18 carries.
Marquis Wadley and
Dan Jackson led the Texans defensively with eight tackles each. Damian Ward and Jackson both tallied sacks in the game, while
Dashaun Phillips recorded an interception and on pass break-up.
The Lions came into the game leading the LSC with 36 sacks on the season, but the offensive line for the Texans protected both quarterbacks and did not give up a sack to the A&M-Commerce defensive front. Stephen Ford did lead the Lions however with a game-high 13 total tackles.
Isaac Arellano, who averaged 51.2 yards per punt, pinned the Lions back inside the 20-yard line on three of his five punts and he had a career-long 72-yard punt late in the fourth quarter. The 72-yard punt was just four yards shy from tying the school record of 76 yards.
The Texans will travel to Kingsville next Saturday, Nov. 2, to face the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas. With a win over the Javelinas, Tarleton can claim at least a share of the LSC regular-season title. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Kingsville.
