Commerce – Texas A&M-Commerce quarterback Trent Miller threw for 225 yards and three touchdowns as the Lions beat the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas 24-7 at Memorial Stadium. Click here for final stats.
The loss dropped the Javelinas to 0-2 while A&M-Commerce improved to 1-2.
The Javelina defense came up with another solid effort, allowing just 254 total yards, but two Javelina turnovers inside their own 30-yard line led to a pair of Lion touchdowns.
The Hog offense turned the ball over five times and had five drives inside Lion territory that didn’t result in points including one first half drive that was stopped at the A&M-Commerce six yard line.
A&M-Kingsville had just 129 total yards in the game. Billy Martin led the Hogs in rushing with 54 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown and J.R. Hausey had five receptions for 32 yards.
Redshirt freshman David Garza (Laredo United) started the game and completed 7 of 16 passes for 39 yards. True freshman Kolten Thigpen (Hondo) came off the bench in the second half and completed 4 of 15 passes for 48 yards and led the Javelinas on their only scoring drive of the game.
“The defense was on the field too much,” said Javelina head coach Bo Atterberry. “We have to start producing more on offense and give those guys a rest. Small things make big things happen and we’ve got to pay more attention to detail.”
The Javelina defense stopped the Lions on their first drive of the second half at their own 12-yard line and a short 28-yard punt gave the Hogs first and ten on the Lion 40.
A pass interference call on a third and nine from the Commerce 39-yard line gave the Hogs a first down on the Lion 26 yard line. But Garza fumbled while scrambling and the Lions recovered at the Lion 33-yard line.
It was the fourth time the Javelinas had driven into Lion territory without scoring.
The Lions then put together a 14-play, 56-yard drive that took nearly eight minutes off the clock. Once again the Hogs defense bent, but didn’t break, stopping the Lions on third and one from the Javelina 10 yard line as Commerce had to settle for a 27-yard field goal by Chris Quiroga to make it 17-0 with just under three minutes left in the third quarter.
Clavens Charles returned the kickoff 34 yards to the Javelina 48-yard line and Billy Martin (Pittsburgh) ripped off a 33-yard run on the first play from scrimmage to give the Lion 19-yard line. Kolten Thigpen (Hondo), who entered the game for the first time, completed a 10-yard pass to fellow true freshman George Reyes (Bandera) on third and four to give the Hogs a first and goal at the three. Martin then ran it for the Hogs first touchdown of the season to cut the lead to 17-7 with 50 seconds left in the third quarter.
After the defense stopped the Lion offense on its first two drives of the second half, Thigpen fumbled and the Lions recovered on the Javelina 23-yard line with ten and a half minutes left in the game.
A 15-yard penalty after the Lions fumbled which would have forced a third and long gave them the ball at the 14 and on the next play Miller connected with Meldrick Rice for a touchdown to make it 24-7 with 10:10 left in the game.
The Javelinas couldn’t take advantage of Lion mistakes in the first half while A&M-Commerce hit on a big play and converted a late Hog fumble into a touchdown to grab a 14-0 halftime advantage.
The Javelina defense picked up where they left off on the first drive of the game, allowing Commerce to drive to the Javelina 30 yard line, but the Hogs stopped the Lions on third and three and forced an incompletion on fourth down.
The script changed however on the second drive as the Lions got a 52 yard touchdown pass from Trent Miller to JaMichael Palmer to give A&M-Commerce a 7-0 lead with 5:03 left in the first quarter.
Cody Smith’s 51-yard punt pinned the Lions back on their own 12-yard line and then the Hog defense pushed them back to their own five.
Then Commerce punter Berat Kllapija uncorked a 31-yard punt to give the Hogs a first down at the Lions 36-yard line. But on second down, Garza was pressured and stripped of the ball and while the Javelinas recovered, the loss went all the way back to the 50-yard line, ending the threat.
The Lions out-gained the Javelinas 124 to 29 in the first quarter.
The Lions had another scoring threat snuffed out midway through the second quarter after driving to the Javelina 43-yard line. True freshman defensive tackle Dondi Cooks (North Mesquite) sacked Miller to stop the Lions on the Javelina 46.
Kllapija then fumbled the snap on the punt and threw the ball away for an incomplete pass to give the Hogs a first down.
Ryan Lincoln then caught a pass from Garza on third and seven, broke two tackles and gave the Hogs the ball at the Lion 44-yard line.
A&M-Commerce was called for a dead-ball personal foul after a 2-yard pass completion to Hausey to move the ball of the Lion 27.
Raymorris Miller ran the ball to the 18-yard line to give the Hogs second and one, but Miller and Billy Martin each lost a yard on consecutive plays, but the Lions were called for offsides on an attempted field goal attempt by Scott Schlebach. It gave the Javelinas a first and 10 on the Lion 15. Garza completed an eight yard pass to Hausey on first down, threw an incompletion on the next play and Martin was stopped for just a one-yard gain to bring up fourth and inches from just outside the five yard line.
The Javelinas called a timeout, Garza tried a quarterback sneak and lost a yard, turning the ball over to the Lions.
The defense held, forcing a punt from the Lion 13-yard line, but the Javelinas were called for a penalty on the punt return and Ray Hudson fumbled the ball on the first play from scrimmage to give the Lions first and ten at the Hog 25-yard line.
On third and eight from the Javelina 10-yard line, Miller hit Palmer at the back of the end zone for a touchdown and a 14-0 halftime lead.
The Lions had 194 yards of total offense in the first half compared to just 47 for the Javelinas.
Neither team had success running the football, but the Lions were effective in the air completing 11 of 19 passes for 169 yards and two scores.
