CANYON, TEXAS – The Texas A&M-Kingsville football team took its perfect record to West Texas A&M on Saturday night at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium.  Playing in their all white jerseys for the first time all season, the #7 Javelinas shook the monkey off their backs in defeating the Buffalos for the first time since 2004 by a score of 23-17 in overtime.

“We just kept battling,” said Javelina head coach Bo Atterberry. “We had a bunch of emotional highs and lows, but it’s great to come out on top.  This is first time anybody on our team has beaten West Texas.”

A furious rally by the Buffalos (1-4, 0-1) in the final seven minutes set up some overtime dramatics.  The Javelinas (5-0, 1-0) won the toss and elected to play defense first.  “I asked the guys if they were ready to go back out there,” said Atterberry.  “I thought it was very important that we won the toss.”

The Buffalos went backwards on their drive in overtime losing nine yards against a fired up Hoggie defense.  James Chandler, who minutes earlier had tied the game for the Buffs with a 35-yard field goal, was called on to attempt a 51-yarder.  His boot was inches short as it hit the bottom crossbar and bounced back onto the field.

The Javelinas quickly took advantage of their new life.  Fred Winborn (N. Hollywood, CA/College of the Canyons) carried 13 yards and then Ryan Lincoln (Bastrop/Bastrop HS) caught a pass to the 3-yard line.  On the next play Winborn went across for the winning score.

The game began slowly as the defenses played well.  West Texas A&M got on the board in the first.  A Billy Garza (Brownsville/Porter HS) first quarter interception was turned into points two plays later by the Buffalos.  Mark Ford picked off the errant pass at the Kingsville 45-yard line.  On the first play from scrimmage, Taylor Harris connected with Stephen Burton on a 44-yard gain that saw Burton catch a batted ball while lying on the ground.  On the next play, Kelvin Thompson scored from one yard out with 2:56 left in the first quarter.

The defenses dominated the second quarter with each team having potential scoring drives stall out.  Each team missed a field goal in the quarter.

Garza went 8-for-22 for 107 and three interceptions in the first half and the Javelinas were held scoreless in a half for the first time all season.

The Javelinas tied up the game early in the third quarter when they drove 81 yards on seven plays off the opening kickoff.  Garza completed a 32-yard screen pass to Connell Davis (Gregory/Gregory-Portland HS) and then found Sherman Batiste (Fort Bend/Marshall HS) for 28 yards to give the Hoggies first-and-goal at the 4-yard line.  Davis took the handoff on the next play and scored to tie the game 7-7 with 11:53 to play in the third quarter.

The Hoggies took their first lead of the game when Christian Brom (McAllen/McAllen HS) converted on a 20-yard field goal with 1:55 left in the third quarter.  The drive was 11 plays for 55 yards and was helped by a couple of nice runs by Davis and Fred Winborn.

The Javelina offense put together their best drive of the game in fourth quarter when they drove 84 yards on 15 plays to take a 17-7 lead with 7:04 remaining.  Winborn took it in from the 5-yard line on a crucial third down.  The drive ate up 7:07 of the quarter.

The Buffs scored on a 13-play, 94-yard drive with 2:53 to play when Harris connected with Brittan Golden on a 1-yard scoring play.

The Buffs got the ball back after they forced their fifth turnover of the game.  They were able to move the ball to the Javelina 18-yard line before the Hoggies stiffened up.  Chandler’s field goal tied the score and sent the game to OT.

The Javelinas were by Davis who had 85 yards rushing, 65 yards receiving and one touchdown.  Winborn finished with 63 yards rushing and two touchdowns.  Garza finished the game 22-for-41 passing for 284 yards, but did toss four interceptions.  The Javs picked up 432 yards of total offense and had 23 first downs.  Sherman Batiste (Fort Bend/Marshall HS) had six catches for 95 yards and E.J. LeBlanc (Beaumont/Texas State) had six catches for 61 yards.

Marcus Sanders (Spring/Westfield HS) led the defensive effort with 12 tackles, including 1.5 for loss.  Corey Robertson (Denison/Denison HS) made the defensive play of the game when he tackled Harris for a loss of nine in overtime.  As a team, the Hogs broke up 14 passes including four by Michael Talamantez (Laredo/United HS). 

Harris led the Buffs with a 29-for-51 performance passing for 306 yards and a touchdown.  Burton finished the game with 13 catches for 168 yards.  They totaled 355 yards in the game and 17 first downs.  Thompson gained 60 yards on 19 carries.

On defense, Eugene Sims controlled the line of scrimmage for the Buffs with 11 tackles, 3.5 for loss and 2.5 sacks.  Curtis Jefferson had a game high 15 tackles, an interception and 1.5 tackles for loss.  They had 12 tackles for loss on the night for a total of 42 yards.

This was the first overtime game for the Javelinas since beating California-Davis, 27-20 in the 2002 NCAA Division II Playoffs.  They will play host to #14 Tarleton State next Saturday at 7 o’clock in Javelina Stadium.
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