STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton football guaranteed itself a winning season for the first time since 2013 with a 28-6 nonconference victory over Western Oregon on homecoming at Memorial Stadium.
 
With the win, Tarleton improved to 6-3 on the season. The Texan defense held the Western Oregon offense, who came in averaging 33 points per game, to only 235 yards of offense. The six points allowed is the lowest point total all season for the Texans, who forced three turnovers and had five sacks in the game.
 
Xavier Turner tied a career-high with three rushing touchdowns in the game, which he did against West Texas A&M on Sept. 23. It's the third multi-touchdown game of the season for Turner.
 
The Texans took their first offensive possession of the game 73 yards on nine plays that ended with quarterback Zed Woerner finding Del'Michael High for an 18-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead. It was the fourth touchdown reception of the season for High.
 
Two drives later in the first quarter, Turner capped off an 11-play, 60-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run for a 14-0 first-quarter lead. Neither team would score in the second quarter, giving the Texans their second first-half shutout of the season.
 
Western Oregon scored its only touchdown of the game on its first drive of the third quarter on a 1-yard run up the middle, but missed the extra point attempt, keeping the score 14-6.
 
The Texans pushed the game back to a two-score game on the ensuing drive when quarterback Derek Kiser connected with Savon Rollison on an 80-yard pass that set up Turner's 1-yard touchdown run for a 21-6 lead in the third quarter. Rollison finished with a game-high 109 yards on three catches, his first 100-yard receiving game as a Texan.
 
After Jackson Burrell came up with an interception on defense in the fourth quarter, the Texans took over at midfield and Turner would later punch in his third touchdown of the game, this time from 13 yards out for a 28-6 lead and the game's final points. Turner finished the game with 60 rushing yards and a career-high nine catches for 26 yards.
 
The Texans had 354 yards of offense, led by Kiser's 198 passing yards and 30 rushing yards.
 
For the Texan defense, Devin Hafford led the team with 13 tackles, including a forced fumble in the first quarter that was recovered by Chase Varnado. Basil Jackson had his seventh double-digit tackle game of the season, recording 11 with two sacks. EJ Speed returned to the defense after missing the last four games due to an injury and had 10 tackles and an interception on the game's final play. Tyrell Thompson, Marquis Lomax and David Fangupo all recorded sacks for the defense.
 
Tarleton will make its final road trip of the season as they travel to No. 5 Midwestern State on Saturday, No. 4 at 2 p.m.