KINGSVILLE, Texas – A pair of mistakes on special teams turned into an early deficit on Saturday for the Texas A&M-Kingsville football program at Pepsi Field at Javelina Stadium as No. 12 MSU Texas ran away with the Lone Star Conference contest at 69-14.
"MSU Texas is a very good football team that will expose you when you allow them to," said head coach
Daren Wilkinson, "and we did our share of that tonight. We had two early mistakes on special teams and because of those critical errors, we found ourselves down 14 points to a team that we were beating after getting a three-and-out and driving the ball 50 yards against a really good defense to begin the game.
"What I'm most disappointed in, after going down 41-0 at halftime, is that we challenged the team to go out and win the second half, and we came out and went three-and-out with an interception before MSU Texas takes the next play for a score. We need to cut down on the mistakes if we want to start competing."
The Javelinas (2-5, 0-4 LSC) took their first offensive series deep into Mustang (6-1, 4-1 LSC) territory, but had a 30-yard field goal blocked and returned for the first score of the game, before a miscommunication on the ensuing kickoff resulted in another MSU Texas touchdown for a 14-0 TAMUK deficit in the first six minutes of the contest.
Paul Manus was the Mustang who got in front of the field goal attempt, and the loose ball was scooped by Josh Wydermyer who returned it 75 yards for the touchdown. Manus also ended up on top of the ball on the following kickoff that was pooched and the Mustangs came away with a short field en route to a 12-yard pass from Layton Rabb to Juwan Johnson at the 9:51 mark.
MSU Texas parlayed the two-score lead into a 41-0 advantage by halftime as Rabb connected twice more with Johnson and once with Tyrique Edwards through the air, while Vincent Johnson sprinted to another on the ground to put the Hogs in deep going into the locker rooms.
The visitors tacked on another touchdown following a Javelina turnover to start the third quarter before junior transfer
Koy Detmer Jr. (Somerset, Texas) found senior
Torrey Thomas (Katy, Texas) for seven yards at the 8:15 mark of the frame to finally get TAMUK on the board.
The senior backfield tandem of
Nick Pelrean (Houston, Texas) and
Jeff Carr (Temple, Texas) accounted for 55 yards on the drive before Detmer Jr. found Thomas on the screen as the Morton Ranch H.S. product easily strolled into the end zone.
Rabb found J. Johnson for the fourth time in the game with 1:51 remaining in the third before he added a rushing score of his own early in the fourth to push MSU Texas' total over the 60-point mark, while senior
Brandon Jones (Houston, Texas) took matters into his own hands in the fourth for a quick spark.
Jones went untouched across the line on a read-option run, stripped the ball from Zach Purcell before tossing him to the ground, scooped the rock at the Mustangs' 41 and saw nothing but open field on the way to his first-ever defensive touchdown in the Blue and Gold with 4:36 remaining in the game.
MSU Texas added one final touchdown on the following onside-kick attempt to set the final score at 69-14.
Jones finished the game with five tackles, 1.5 for loss, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and two QB hurries to lead the defensive unit. Junior
Jordan Semanat (San Antonio, Texas) got his fill in the secondary as he added seven tackles and one pass breakup.
Thomas caught eight passes for 54 yards in the contest, to go with his one touchdown, while Pelrean led the ground game with 61 yards on 11 carries. Detmer Jr. finished his day with 177 yards through the air on 23 completions.
The Javelinas will head out on the road next week to Stephenville, Texas, to take on No. 16 Tarleton for their third ranked matchup of the season. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. CT at Memorial Stadium.
To keep up-to-date with Javelina football, follow the program on Facebook at /JavelinaFootball and on Twitter @JavelinaFB
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