KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – Visiting Lindenwood University knocked off Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday night, 41-35 in an exciting, down to the wire finish at Javelina Stadium. (box score)

The Lions (4-2) had a chance to ice the game with 2:24 remaining in the game, but a missed field goal gave the Javelinas (3-3) new life. Daniel Ramirez (Sinton/Sinton HS) drove the team 77 yards in 12 plays, including a fourth-and-10 pass to Jonathan Woodson (Missouri City/Marshall HS) that kept the drive alive. A 20-yard pass to Sherman Batiste (Fort Bend/Marshall HS) gave the team first-and-goal at the 7-yard line. An incomplete pass and two run plays put the ball at the 1-yard line on fourth down. The Hogs went with their Wildcat formation play and were stopped for a loss of two yards allowing the Lions to take a knee for the win.
The Lions took advantage of some early Javelina miscues and poor special teams play in the second half. On the second play from scrimmage Tyler Epstein intercepted a Ramirez pass and returned it 11 yards to the 13-yard line. Two plays later, Therman McGowan scored on a 17-yard run. On the ensuing kickoff the Javs fumbled and the Lions recovered. James Neal booted a 29-yard field goal to make it 10-0 with 12:08 left in the first quarter.

After the teams traded punts, the Lions put three more points on the board before the end of the first quarter. John Uribe connected on a 36-yard pass to McGowan to set up good field position allowing Neal to boot a 41-yarder with 1:32 remaining in the quarter.

The Lions went up 20-0 when Uribe tossed a shovel pass to McGowan and he raced 68 yards setting up an Uribe-to-Andrew Helmick 24-yard touchdown pass with 13:40 left in the second quarter.

The Javelina offense finally started to move on the next possession. Ramirez completed six straight passes and Jai Cavness (Houston/Marshall HS) finished off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, the first of his career. In all, the drive was 12 plays for 91 yards and took up 5:24.

The defense forced a three-and-out giving the Javelinas a short field to work with. This time, it was Woodson scoring from eight yards out to cap a 9-play, 32-yard drive that took 2:30.

The Hog defense forced another punt and two plays later the team took a 21-20 lead on a Ramirez-to-Robert Armstrong (Cuero/Cuero HS) 8-yard touchdown pass with 2:15 remaining in the first half. The score was set up by a 57-yard bomb to Damian Couthren (Bastrop/Bastrop HS).

The Lions made a few adjustments at half time and quickly reclaimed the lead. A 50-yard kick return by Helmick set up his second touchdown reception of the game, a 31-yard screen pass with 13:15 to play in the third quarter.

The Lions took a two-possession lead a little later in the quarter when Mike Bunton juked three Javelina defenders and scored on a 77-yard punt return with 4:41 left in the third quarter.

The Javelinas cut the lead back to six points just three plays later when Woodson scored his second touchdown of the night on a season-long 38-yard scamper.

The Javelinas appeared to be taking control of the game heading into the fourth quarter, but a pair of poor punts allowed the Lions to maintain strong field position. The second of these punts gave the Lions the ball at the Hoggie 35-yard line. Three plays later Uribe found Helmick in the back of the end zone for a third time making it a 41-28 game with 8:29 remaining.

The Hogs would not quit and drove to the red zone, but were stymied. They faced a fourth-and-goal from the 12-yard line when Ramirez calmly fired a bullet to Batiste in the end zone to make it a 41-35 game with 4:49 left setting up the final manic moments of the game.

The Javelina defense had one of their best games in recent memory save a few big plays that ended up being the difference. They accumulated nine sacks and held the Lions to only 44 yards rushing on the evening. Roderick Benman (Oklahoma City, OK/Rogers HS) tallied six tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks in the game from his defensive line position. Jeremy Aguilar (Los Angeles, CA/Roosevelt HS) led the team with nine tackles while adding 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks at linebacker. Rover Angelo Looney (Fullerton, CA/Troy HS) added seven tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, a pass breakup and a sack. Johnny Tivao (Compton, CA/Paramount HS) had 1.5 sacks and Rockeem Collins (Gonzales/Gonzales HS) added 1.5 tackles for loss and a half sack.

The Lions were opportunistic on defense forcing three turnovers, sacking Ramirez five times and breaking up seven other passes. Brock Reed led the team with 11 tackles and two tackles for loss while Cody Fogle had 10 tackles. Sean Gracy led the team with 3.0 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and two sacks.

The Javelinas went over 500 yards of offense for the second straight week. Ramirez went 32-of-53 passing for a career high 341 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He set a school record for most completions in a game in the process. Batiste led the team with nine catches for 90 yards and a touchdown while Armstrong had eight catches for 82 yards and a touchdown. It was the eighth straight game Armstrong has scored on a touchdown reception setting a new school mark. Couthren went over 100-yard mark for the first time in two years finishing with three catches for 103 yards.

Woodson led the ground game with 105 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. He also had five catches for 29 yards. Cavness added 32 yards on eight carries in the most playing time he has had all season.

The Lions gained 301 yards of total offense with McGowan leading the way with 90 yards rushing, 104 yards receiving and a touchdown. Helmick had five catches for 93 yards in all. Uribe was 13-of-23 for 257 yards and three touchdowns.

The Lions won the turnover battle, 3-0 and were penalized 48 fewer yards than the Javelinas.

The Javelinas are back in action next Saturday at Lone Star Conference rival Incarnate Word.
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