Records were broken and a victory was captured.
It was exactly the way the Sul Ross State football program wanted to end the season.
On Saturday afternoon, the Lobos won a nail-biter over the Southwestern University Pirates, 44-41, at Jackson Field during Senior/Family Day.
Sul Ross got on the board with a 25-yard field goal by Elijah Medina with 13:09 in the opening quarter after
Jaylen Bussey grabbed an interception on the second play of the Pirates' first offensive drive.
On the seventh play of Southwestern's next offensive series,
Xavier Minjarez picked off quarterback Damian Gomez.
The Lobos extended their lead to 10-0 when Korbin Covarrubiaz threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Austin Ogunmakin with 7:36 left in the opening quarter.
Southwestern answered back with a 15-play drive that was capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by Gomez.
Sul Ross was forced to punt on its next drive. The Pirates were able to tie up the score at 10-all with a 31-yard field goal by Charlie Fournier with 7:41 in the second quarter.
After a couple of four-and-out situations for both offenses, the Lobos got into Pirates territory after Vicente Luevano caught a 38-yard pass to get the offense onto the Southwestern 17.
Covarrubiaz came through in the clutch with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Ogunmakin, which gave the Lobos a 17-10 lead with 1:19 left until halftime.
Southwestern cut the deficit to four after Fournier made a 43-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.
To start the second half, the Lobo receiving corps made some big plays as Eddie Sinegal caught a 31-yard pass while Luevano kept the chains moving with a 23-yard catch.
A pass interference call on the Pirates aided the Lobos as they marched down to the Southwestern two-yard line.
Ozias Wright was able to punch it into the end zone from two yards out to make the score 24-13 with 12:29 on the clock.
The Pirates came right back with a big 37-yard reception by Jojo Wilson that put Southwestern at the Sul Ross three-yard line.
Landry Gilpin topped off the drive by scoring on a three-yard run to cut the deficit to four.
There was a lull on the offensive side as both teams endured some four-and-out situations. Southwestern had a chance to get behind within one, but Fournier missed a 53-yard field goal attempt.
Sul Ross marched into Pirate territory when Covarrubiaz threw a 22-yard pass to Gus Charles. Covarrubiaz then showed off his running skills as he sprinted into the end zone from 46 yards out to make the score 31-20 to end the third quarter.
Bussey came up with his second interception of the game to begin the fourth quarter. The Lobos were unable to capitalize on the turnover this time around.
On the third play of Southwestern's next offensive series, Jade Rios caused a fumble on a rush by Gilpin. Dayln Dunbar grabbed the loose ball to put the Sul Ross offense back out on the field with 11:31 on the clock.
Southwestern spoiled the drive for the Lobo offense when Payton Vaughn grabbed an interception.
The Lobo defense then came up in the clutch once again as Eli Gomez picked off Gilpin.
Sul Ross capitalized on offense with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Covarrubiaz to Luevano with 7:28 left in the contest.
Down 38-20, the Pirates began their comeback.
Gilpin connected with Wilson for a 27-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion was successful with a rush by Christian Reeves.
The Pirates weren't able to recover the onside kick as Sul Ross was able to retaliate with a quick two-play drive that ended with a 38-yard touchdown pass from Covarrubiaz to Luevano.
Sul Ross wasn't able to convert the two points as the score was 44-28 with 5:58 remaining.
The drama began when Gilpin threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell Garrett. The two-point conversion was failed to cut the deficit to 10.
Sul Ross was unable to get any points on its next drive after a missed 32-yard field goal attempt.
Southwestern answered back with an eight-play drive that resulted in a 25-yard touchdown pass from Gilpin to Dugan Sexton with 1:50 left.
The Pirates attempted an onside kick, but the ball soared out of bounds to give the Lobos the ball with a minute and a half left.
Sul Ross finished with 469 total yards of offense while the defense recorded four interceptions, six sacks and eight tackles for loss.
>> RECORD-BREAKING PERFORMANCES: Senior linebacker Ronin Williams entered the game with 262 career tackles.
He was just four tackles shy of breaking the school record for career tackles held by Dusty Hill from 2001-2004.
Williams accomplished that feat by tallying 17 total tackles along with three tackles for loss and two sacks.
Breaking records can be a great thing, but at the end of the day being able to win the final game of a long-storied career is more important than anything else.
"I have people around me that allow me to do such a thing," Williams said. "I'm very grateful. Records are meant to be broken and I'm sure someone's going to break it in due time. I'm blessed.
"That's all I wanted in the end. The record wasn't that big of a deal, but to get a win in my last football game ever — that's going to last forever with me."
Luevano had been on the brink of breaking the single-season school record for touchdowns. He led the receiving corps with seven catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns.
He now has 12 touchdowns on the year, which surpasses the mark of 10 that was shared by Lee Carothers (2012), Luis Uresti (2001) and A.C. Hood (1998).
"It wasn't a goal coming into this season," Luevano said. "I just got closer and closer to it. This team … the bond we built this year is crazy. It felt good with a dub at the end, and to get the record with it too made the game so much better."
>> FANTASTIC FRESHMAN: Covarrubiaz finished with 337 passing yards while he was responsible for five touchdowns. He completed 23 of 37 passes while also rushing for 33 yards on seven carries.
"It was a real big win for the seniors," Covarrubiaz said. "A big part of it was making sure that everybody stayed calm and did their job. It just comes down to everyone doing their job.
"Coach trusted me again and I came out and showed him I could do it."
>> HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION: The culture of Lobo football is changing.
Sul Ross doubled its win total from last season and also finished 3-1 at home, the first winning record at Jackson Field since 2016.
In addition, the Lobos wrapped up American Southwest Conference play with a 4-4 record. Sul Ross had not finished at .500 or better in conference play since 2016.
>> HEAD COACH REMARKS:
"I'm glad that are team pulled it out, found a way to win. Just to be .500 in conference, have a winning home record and our seniors finally get to start building the program how they wanted, and they left a legacy with the last win at home. I'm glad that we broke those records. It's definitely a surreal experience, but I'm happy for our guys to want it more than the other team, too." — Barry Derickson on winning the final game of the season
"I'm extremely proud of a local area guy throwing as well as he has. He's stepped up from fourth string to now being our starting quarterback. He's such a dynamic quarterback. We're excited for his future. You can't ask for more than that. I'm just happy that our guys are finding success." — Derickson on Covarrubiaz
"Our coaching staff has worked their tails off since last year. We had to pick up the pieces of a lot of stuff. I'm just so excited for what we have to build off of now. For us to have doubled our win total, to have the culture slowly change — it's definitely exciting here. It's going to be an exciting experience to be at Sul Ross." — Derickson on changing the culture of the Lobo football program
>> RECORDS: Sul Ross 4-6 (4-4); Southwestern 4-6 (3-5)
