KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – It was the same old story for the Texas A&M-Kingsville football team as they had a potential game-tying drive stopped inside the 5-yard line with under four minutes to play on Saturday night at Javelina Stadium. Visiting Abilene Christian grabbed the win, 42-34, on the strength of quarterback Mitchell Gale’s arm.
Gale was 30-of-42 passing for 408 yards and three touchdowns. He directed the #16 Wildcats (7-2, 6-1) on a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to overcome the 34-28 deficit they faced. Daryl Richardson’s 2-yard run followed by Morgan Lineberry’s extra point gave the Wildcats the lead and then Gale hit Taylor Gabriel with a 39-yard touchdown pass with 9:42 to supply the margin of victory.
The Javelinas (5-5, 3-4) showed off a big play offense putting together five scoring drives of two plays or less. Running back Jonathan Woodson (Missouri City/Marshall HS) scored the team’s first four touchdowns on an 87-yard run, a 24-yard run, an 80-yard run and a 60-yard reception. He finished the game with a career high 228 yards rushing along with four catches for 96 yards. He finished the night with 343 all-purpose yards.
The game began ominously for the Javelinas as they turned the ball over on their first possession. The defense was able to force a punt and Woodson raced past the Wildcats on the first play from scrimmage to give the Hoggies a 7-0 lead with 11:53 left in the first quarter.
The Javelinas pulled off a surprise on-sides kick and recovered the ball. Unfortunately, they were not able to capitalize as Nathan Baggs picked off a Daniel Ramirez (Sinton/Sinton HS) pass.
The Wildcats quickly tied the game at 7-7. First, Gale connected with Ben Gibbs on a 53-yard pass and then hit Darrell Cantu-Harkless with a 6-yard touchdown pass with 10:13 to play in the first quarter.
The Wildcats took the lead on their next drive. They went 51 yards in eight plays and Richardson scored on a 5-yard run with 6:04 to play in the quarter.
After the teams traded fumbles, the Javelinas had the ball in great position after Demontrelle Smith’s (Reddick, FL/North Marion HS) 11-yard fumble return. On the second play from scrimmage, Woodson juked a defender and strolled in from 24 yards out to tie the game with 2:27 left in the quarter.
The action remained fast-paced into the early parts of the second quarter when the Wildcats would take a 21-14 lead. Charcandrick West carried the ball three straight times once ACU got into the red-zone and scored from six yards out with 9:34 remaining in the first half. The teams traded punts the rest of the half and that is how the scored remained heading into the break.
It looked like the Wildcats would go up by two scores early in the third quarter. They took the opening kickoff and drove 56 yards in 12 plays, but Lineberry’s 37-yard field goal attempt went wide right.
The Javelinas responded with Woodson going 80 yards on the second play from scrimmage to tie the game. In the process, he became the first player in school history with two 80+ yard runs in the same game.
Abilene Christian did not need long to reclaim the lead. Gale connected on three straight passes for a total of 78 yards and hit Darian Hogg for a 27-yard touchdown with 8:49 left in the third quarter.
After trading punts, the Javelinas got the ball back at their own 40-yard line. This time Ramirez hit Woodson out in the flat and he did the rest as he made three defenders miss and then raced for a 60-yard touchdown to tie the game, 28-28 with 4:44 left in the third quarter.
The Javelinas would take the lead less than a minute later. First, Marcus Sanders (Houston/Westfield HS) sacked Gale forcing a fumble that was recovered by Montez Singleton (Decatur, IL/St. Theresa HS). Then, Ramirez connected with Sherman Batiste (Fort Bend/Marshall HS) on a pretty 24-yard pass into the corner of the end zone. The extra point was blocked by Nick Richardson and the Hogs led 34-28 with 3:46 left in the third quarter. The block set the stage for the Wildcats’ fourth quarter comeback.
After the Wildcats took a 42-34 lead the Javelinas started the next drive at their own 9-yard line with 9:35 left in the game. A 30-yard run by Woodson got the team out of trouble. They picked up four first downs to get to the ACU 19-yard line. Facing third-and-10, Ramirez scrambled for 16 yards to give the team a first-and-goal. After three plays, the Javs had only picked up one yard. On fourth down, Ramirez lofted a pass into the end zone, but it fell just short of Jake Willingham’s (Van Alstyne/Van Alstyne HS) outstretched hands. From there, the Wildcats were able to run out the clock.
The Wildcats put up 598 yards of total offense and 30 first downs. Richardson finished with 109 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns while West added 71 yards and a touchdown. Hogg had nine catches for 156 yards and a touchdown while Taylor Gabriel had seven catches for 109 yards and a score.
The Javelinas put up 531 yards of offense and 16 first downs. Ramirez finished the night 15-of-27 for 253 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Batiste had five catches for 92 yards and a touchdown to lead the receivers.
Woodson entered the game as the nation’s leader in all-purpose yards and joins former Javelina great Johnny Bailey as the only two players in school history with at least 2,000 all-purpose yards in a season. Woodson has 929 yards rushing, 533 receiving and 705 yards on kick returns for 2,167 all-purpose yards.
Javelina linebackers Jeremy Aguilar (Los Angeles, CA/Roosevelt HS) and Sanders each had big games. Aguilar finished with 16 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a half sack. Sanders had 12 tackles, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble. Rockeem Collins (Gonzales/Gonzales HS) added a career high 11 tackles while Smith had seven tackles and two pass breakups.
The Wildcat defense came into the game averaging 4.1 sacks per game and picked up three more. Rob Boyd led the team with two tackles for loss and a sack. Aston Whiteside had five tackles and a pair of forced fumbles.
The Javelinas close out their season next Saturday at Lone Star Conference rival Eastern New Mexico at 2 p.m.
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