STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton was defeated by Texas A&M-Kingsville, 43-25, in the first round of the Lone Star Conference playoffs at Memorial Stadium Saturday night.
 
Tarleton (2-7) fell behind 10-0 before Blake Barnes drilled a 43-yard field goal with 6:13 left in the first quarter to make it a 10-3 game. It was Barnes' 48^th career field goal.
 
A&M-Kingsville scored on an 11-yard pass from Myles Carr to Torrey Thomas with 1:10 left in the opening quarter for a 17-3 lead over the Texans.
 
On the ensuing drive, Jabari Anderson took the handoff on the first play for 34 yards to the Kingsville 8-yard line. Zed Woener found Le'Nard Meyers for an 8-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone to make it a one-score game.
 
Woerner went 12-of-27 passing for 175 yards and two touchdowns with an interception.
 
Tarleton tied the score at 17 with 2:39 left in the half on Joseph Sadler's 6-yard touchdown run that capped off a 14-play, 86-yard drive.
 
The Javelinas went on a 26-0 run in the second half to pull away from the Texans, who only had 86 yards of offense in the final two quarters.
 
Kingsville had a 19-yard touchdown run by Joe Te'o and a 25-yard field goal by Julio De La Garza in the third quarter. The Javalinas followed with a 34-yard touchdown pass from Carr to Greg Pitre and a 6-yard touchdown run by Shawn Vasquez. Tarleton was also tackled in the end zone for the first safety since 2011.
 
Woerner connected with Meyers in the fourth quarter on a 39-yard touchdown pass across the middle for the game's final points.
 
Meyers finished with a team-best four catches for 66 yards and is now tied with Jeremy Madkins for second on the all-time career touchdowns list. Devin Guinn holds the record with 26 receiving touchdowns.
 
Jarmarquis Durst had a career-high 18 tackles for Tarleton with 15 coming as solo tackles and two for a loss. Cody Burtshcer and Dakota Hesskew posted double-digit tackles with 11 apiece. Torean Sheppard had the only sack for Tarleton.
 
Tarleton will host Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday, Nov. 14 at noon for the final game of the regular season.