STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton nearly pulled off its biggest win of the season, but No. 12 Midwestern State scored with 52 seconds left in the game to top the Texans 21-16 on senior night at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
 
Had Tarleton been able to come away with the victory, the Texans would be playing for a Lone Star Conference championship in the final game of the season. Instead, Tarleton fell to 5-5 overall and 5-3 in the LSC standings.
 
Midwestern State scored its only points of the first half on the opening drive of the game with a 29-yard field goal. It was all Joseph Sadler, the senior running back, for Tarleton on its first drive with Sadler rushing for 17 yards and hauling in 76 yards through the air, including a dazzling 46-yard one-handed touchdown catch down the right sideline from Derek Kiser that gave the Texans an early 7-3 lead in the first quarter.
 
The Texan defense played as good as it has all season long throughout the game, especially in the first half. Facing a 4^th-and-8 from the Tarleton-23, Chase Varnado brought down Mustang quarterback Quade Coward to turn the ball over on downs and give it back to Tarleton. Varnado's impact would come into place again late in the second quarter by forcing a fumble that was recovered by David Solomon. Defensive back Dominique Martin had two first-half interceptions to give the senior an LSC-lead five picks on the season. Martin's first interception set up a Sergio Sroka 20-yard field goal that gave Tarleton a 10-3 lead heading into halftime.
 
Tarleton was held scoreless in the third quarter while Midwestern State scored on a pair of touchdown runs by Vincent Johnson to give the Mustangs a 15-10 lead to start the final quarter.
 
The Texans punted on their first two possessions of the fourth quarter, but were able to limit Midwestern offensively to remain in the ballgame. With the ball at midfield for Midwestern, senior linebacker Cody Burtscher recovered a Mustang fumble with five minutes left in the game that gave Tarleton the golden opportunity it needed trailing 15-10. Facing a 2^nd-and-3 at the MSU-15, Zed Woerner, who came into the game for an injured Derek Kiser in the third quarter, threw to Del'Michael High in the corner of the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown that gave Tarleton a 16-15 advantage with 46 seconds remaining. It was High's 10^th touchdown reception of the season, making the junior wide-out the seventh player in school history with double-digit touchdown receptions.
 
Midwestern State completed its first two passes on the ensuing drive to move into Tarleton territory and a defensive penalty set the Mustangs up at the Texan 13 when Adrian Seales ran up the middle for the game-winning touchdown.
 
Defensive coordinator Marcus Patton, who is in his first season with Tarleton after coming over from Colorado Mesa, has limited a Mustang offense that averaged 38 points per game to its two lowest scoring totals over the last three seasons (MSU defeated Colorado Mesa 16-13 last season).
Kiser threw for 141 yards and a touchdown and Woerner came in to throw for 61 yards in the second half. Woerner (50 career touchdowns) is now one touchdown pass away from tying Steve Kelly's career record of 51 touchdowns.
 
Joseph Sadler accounted for 136 yards of offense on a game-high 82 receiving yards and 54 rushing yards. Jabari Anderson led the Texans in rushing with 86 yards, including a season-long 70-yard run. Brant Bailey hauled three passes for 42 yards. Tarleton's top two receivers, Del'Michael High and Bubba Tandy, were limited to only four catches and 53 yards combined (High 28, Tandy 25).
 
The Texan defense had five players record 10 or more tackles with EJ Speed, Basil Jackson and Treston Ridge each recording 11 tackles and Cody Burtscher and Ronnell Wilson adding 10. Tarleton forced four turnovers in the game, marking the fifth time this season they've forced at least four turnovers. Varnado had two sacks and two forced fumbles and Dariet McDuff added one a forced fumble as well.
 
Tarleton will look for its first winning season since 2013 when they travel to Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday, Nov. 12 for a 4 p.m. game.