­ARLINGTON – Despite putting up 499 yards of offense, Tarleton fell to West Texas A&M 52-38 in the Lone Star Football Festival at AT&T Stadium.
 
Tarleton (0-2, 0-1) held a 14-0 lead after Jabari Anderson's 8-yard run with 14:05 left in the first half. Cooper Cole hauled in an 8-yard pass from Zed Woerner for the game's first of 12 combined touchdowns. For Cole, it was the start of a career day posting a personal best with seven receptions for 83 yards.
 
After Tarleton's second touchdown, senior kicker Blake Barnes connected on the extra point for his 137^th career PAT to give him the Tarleton all-time record, passing Tarleton Hall of Famer J.W. Boren.
 
WT was able to tie the score at 14 on a pair of touchdown runs by Geremy Alridge-Mitchell from 55 and 29 yards out. Alridge-Mitchell posted a game-high 243 yards on the ground for the Buffs.
 
After Barnes' 22-yard field goal to regain a 17-14 lead with 6:33 left in the half, WT capitalized on Tarleton's miscues, including a 43-yard interception return for a touchdown by Davontae Merriweather, that started another 14-0 run to take a 28-17 lead into the locker room.
 
In the third quarter, Chase Varnado, who had nine tackles, scooped up a WT fumble that was forced by Dakota Hesskew's sack and ran untouched for a 48-yard touchdown that cut WT's lead to 28-24 with 12:27 left in the third quarter.
 
After Conner Hollabaugh's 52-yard field goal to give WT a 31-24 lead, Tarleton scored on its next two possessions including another touchdown run from Anderson. Anderson finished with 57 yards on the ground along with the two scores.
 
Tarleton tied the score at 38 on Zach Henshaw's 1-yard touchdown run with 41 seconds left in the third quarter that gave the Texans momentum heading into the final 15 minutes. The senior running back gain 38 yards on the ground and led the Texans with nine receptions for 68 yards.
 
The Buffs, who had 501 yards of total offense, answered back when quarterback Ethan Brinkley connected with Xavier Amey for a 53-yard score that proved to be the game winner.
 
Brinkley and the Buffs added another score less than four minutes later on a 24-yard pass to Dimitri Donald for the game's final score. Brinkley threw for 256 yards and three touchdowns.
 
The 90 combined points are the second most between Tarleton and WT all time behind the 92 points scored in WT's 59-33 win in 1994. It's also the most combined points in the history of the Lone Star Football Festival.
 
Offensively for Tarleton, Zed Woerner had his fourth career 300-yard passing game, finishing 36-of-57 for 327 yards and one touchdown.
 
Running back Daniel McCants logged a career-high 93 yards on eight carries to lead Tarleton in rushing.
 
Kevin Baker led the Tarleton defense with 18 total tackles, while Savion Washington followed with nine including two tackles for a loss.
 
Tarleton travels to Wichita Falls on Sept. 26 to take on Midwestern State at 7 p.m.