KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – The Texas A&M-Kingsville football team snapped a two-game losing streak on Saturday night at Javelina Stadium with a 39-21 win over visiting Lone Star Conference rival A&M-Commerce. (box score)

The Javelina (3-2, 1-2) offense went over 500 yards for the first time this season with 405 coming through the air. However, the team struggled with turnovers as they lost three fumbles and threw an interception. The Lions (0-4, 0-2) cashed in on two of the turnovers when Cory Whitfield returned an interception 100 yards for a score in the first quarter and Lawson Schwertner recovered a fumble in the end zone for another score in the third quarter.

The Javelinas committed a turnover on the team’s first play from scrimmage when Cory Whitfield forced a Randall Toney fumble and recovered it at the Javelina 1-yard line. The Hog defense stood strong and forced a field goal by the Lions that was missed.

The Javelina offense took advantage of the reprieve and scored on the next play, a Nate Poppell career-long 80-yard pass to Sherman Batiste with 10:11 left in the first quarter. After the Whitfield interception return, the Hogs responded by scoring the next 19 points of the game.

The Javs took the lead for good early in the second quarter on a botched field goal attempt. Holder Joseph Vela was unable to get the snap down, but reverted back to his high school days as a quarterback and scrambled 20 yards for a touchdown with 14:50 left in the second quarter.

After taking a 13-7 lead, both offenses stumbled as they combined for six punts before the Lions drove all the way to the Javelina 20-yard line late in the second quarter. Jacob O’Neil’s 37-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Ricky Marshall giving the ball back to the Hogs with 1:00 left in the half.

Daniel Ramirez connected with Robert Armstrong on a 69-yard bomb down the sideline all the way to the Lion 5-yard line. The Javs were unable to punch in a touchdown, but Matt Stoll drilled a 27-yard field goal with 31 seconds left in the half giving the team a 16-7 lead heading into halftime.

The Javelinas received the ball to start the second half and promptly drove 70 yards in nine plays. Ramirez hit Vela with a beautiful 26-yard pass down the middle of the field for the score. The two-point conversion failed and it was 22-7 Javelinas with 12:06 to play in the third quarter.

The Javs tacked on another Stoll field goal on their next drive when the offense bogged down inside the red zone. Stoll booted a 29-yarder to improve to 3-for-3 on the season and make the score 25-7 with 7:58 remaining in the third quarter.

The Lions closed to within 25-14 when Tevin Moore sacked Ramirez at the Hoggie 3-yard line causing a fumble that was recovered by Lawson Schwertner in the end zone with 5:37 remaining in the third.

Early in the fourth quarter, it appeared the Javelinas would tack on a few more points, but a bad handoff gave the ball back to Commerce. Fortunately, the Javelina defense stepped up big once again as Rockeem Collins stepped in front of a Ryan Lusby pass and returned it 34 yards for a touchdown, his second interception return for a touchdown in the last two weeks.

The Lions finally put together an extended drive following the Collins touchdown. They drove 61 yards in six plays taking advantage of three Javelina penalties. They scored on Lusby’s 4-yard pass to Adam Jones with 9:55 left in the game.

The Javelinas added a final score late in the game when Ramirez hit Armstrong on a short pass and he made the defender miss and strolled into the end zone for a 42-yard score with 1:04 remaining.

Ramirez finished the game 16-of-29 for 272 yards and two touchdowns while Poppell was 9-of-11 for 133 yards, a touchdown and an interception. It tied a career high in yards for Ramirez and was the first 400-yard passing performance for the Javelinas since 2008. Armstrong finished with a career high 10 catches for 175 yards and a touchdown. Batiste added three catches for a career high 98 yards and Damian Couthren added five catches for 51. The team gained 110 yards on the ground although no one player had more than 34 yards.

The Javelina defense limited the Lions to only 229 total yards of offense with 125 through the air. Yogi Gallegos went 14-of-30 for 104 yards passing while Ryan Lusby was 4-of-8 for 21 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Marcus Graham led all rushers with 53 yards on 10 carries.

For the second straight week Jeremy Aguilar registered double digit tackles with a game high 10. Marquis Singleton added a career high seven tackles while Roderick Benman had the team’s only sack.

Senior wide receiver Damian Couthren reached a milestone with his 100th career catch making him the eighth player in school history to reach the mark. Robert Armstrong has now recorded a touchdown reception in each of his last seven games and has seven on the season.

The Javelinas are back in action on Saturday, October 8 at home against Lindenwood University.
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