The Division II era is now underway at Sul Ross State.
On a cool and cloudy Thursday night, the Lobo football team embarked on its new journey into the Lone Star Conference by hosting West Texas A&M at Jackson Field.
Sul Ross State showed a lot of grit and fight with plenty of big moments, however, in the end, the Buffs came out on top, 42-21.
>> HOW IT HAPPENED:
After a scoreless first quarter, West Texas A&M went on to outscore the Lobos, 21-7, in the second quarter.
The Buffs scored on their first series of the second quarter using a 13-play drive that ended with a three-yard touchdown pass from Sean Johnson Jr. to Shea Whitling with 8:11 on the clock.
A turnover on the first play of the Lobo drive was cut short with a turnover, which allowed West Texas A&M to capitalize on a five-yard touchdown run by Johnson to make the score 14-0.
Sul Ross State had to punt away on its next series after a delay of game penalty made it fourth-and-seven.
The Buffs capped off a seven-play drive with a three-yard touchdown run by Tre'Jon Henderson.
With 57 seconds to go in the opening half, the Lobos erased the shutout when
Andrew Martinez threw a spiral down the sideline to a speedy
Yamil Oaxaca that resulted in a 50-yard touchdown.
Just when the game looked it was getting far out of reach, the Lobo defense lit another spark when
Brendon Martin forced a fumble that resulted in an 82-yard scoop-and-score by
Kameron Dickerson, which cut the deficit to one score at 21-14 with 11:26 in the third quarter.
West Texas A&M was able to score on its next drive as Johnson found the end zone with a nine-yard run.
The Lobos fought back to cut the lead back down to one score by taking advantage of two pass interference calls and two big plays from Yamil and
Diego Oaxaca that helped setup a one-yard shovel pass from Martinez to
Vicente Luevano with 2:52 in the third quarter.
>> RECORDS: West Texas A&M (1-0, 1-0); Sul Ross State (0-1, 0-1)
>> GAME NOTES:
- Martinez finished 10 for 18 with 116 yards passing and two touchdowns.
- Jordan Morales had seven carries for 24 yards, which included a 14-yard run.
- Yamil Oaxaca led the Lobo receiving corps with three catches for 75 yards.
- Quincy Blair finished with 12 total tackles to lead the defense.
- Martin had nine total tackles and a forced fumble while Mark Benard finished with nine total tackles and one tackle for loss.
- Alec Garcia grabbed an interception in the first quarter.
- West Texas A&M had 522 total yards of offense compared to 175 yards compiled by the Lobos.
- The Buffs finished with 383 yards on the ground.
- West Texas A&M quarterback Johnson finished with 306 yards of total offense with five total touchdowns.
- This was the first meeting between both programs since Sept. 29, 1956. The Buffs are now 7-0-2 vs. the Lobos.
>> UP NEXT: Sul Ross State travels to Eastern New Mexico for a 7 p.m. CST matchup on Saturday, Sept. 7.
>> SCORES FROM AROUND THE LSC:
- Midwestern State 18, Missouri Southern 11
- Angelo State at Fort Hays (Postponed)
- Eastern New Mexico 63, New Mexico Highlands 37
- Colorado Mesa 16, Texas A&M-Kingsville 13
