KINGSVILLE, Texas – From the first play of scrimmage, the Texas A&M-Kingsville football program appeared to be in the driver's seat against Western Oregon on Saturday at Pepsi Field at Javelina Stadium for Family Weekend sponsored by Pueblo Tires & Service. Much like the end result, however, the hosts would come up short in a 13-7 loss to close the non-conference portion of the campaign.

"It was a good football game," said head coach Daren Wilkinson. "Unfortunately, we came out on the losing end, but that game is what football's supposed to be about with two teams playing hard-nosed defense.

"It was difficult for either team to get yards on offense and we hurt ourselves with some of our mistakes. I thought our defense played exceptionally well but we beat ourselves on offense with missed opportunities and that's the disappointing part."

The Javelinas (2-4) held the Wolves (3-3) to 210 yards from scrimmage, coupled with one interception and three sacks, but the visitors ended up on top at 13-7 by the time the dust had settled.

The first chance the Hogs had on offense appeared to be in their favor after junior transfer Koy Detmer Jr. (Somerset, Texas) found classmate Tyler Wilson (Bay City, Texas) over the middle for 48 yards into WOU territory, but a timely strip from Nate Proctor Jr. that was scooped by Dominic Akina gave momentum back to the Wolves following a 40-yard return to the TAMUK 41.

Western Oregon converted the turnover into an early lead after Adrian Saldana connected for a 43-yard field goal and a 3-0 advantage with 11:36 remaining in the first.

Neither side would yield from there, with 10 punts, one missed field goal and a failed fourth-down conversion punctuating the remainder of the first half. The Hogs had a fourth-and-one on the WOU 43 that got stuffed for no gain before a TAMUK 49-yard field goal attempt went wide left to keep the score unchanged heading into the locker room.

The Wolves extended their lead on the opening possession of the second half when Ty Currie completed a six-yard slant route to Anthony Bradley for a 10-0 Western Oregon lead at the 10:53 mark.

The Blue and Gold had the response on the following WOU drive after junior Jordan Semanat (San Antonio, Texas) made a leaping grab at the Wolves' 31 and followed up with a handful of cutbacks on his way to a pick-six.

It was Semanat's third interception of the year, looking ignite a spark for the Javelinas as the lead was trimmed down to 10-7 at the 8:22 mark of the stanza.

The contest turned into another back-and-forth affair as neither the Wolves nor the Hogs could make a dent in the other's defense, but it was Saldana who put the pressure on with a booming 55-yard field goal with 11:03 to play in the fourth to give Western Oregon a 13-7 cushion.

TAMUK appeared to have a spark when junior Donovan Moore (San Diego, Calif.) took a punt at his own 10 yard line from Andrew Gross and sprinted his way for 61 yards back to the WOU 29 to put the Hogs on the brink of another comeback attempt.

Unfortunately, the effort came up short as two incomplete passes on a third-and-five from the Wolves' 11 turned into the last gasp for the Blue and Gold. WOU converted a pair of first downs in the final 3:30 of the game to hand the Javelinas their fourth loss of the 2018 season.

Detmer Jr. went 11-for-16 on his passes for 136 yards but had to exit the game late in the second quarter after getting shaken up on a strip-sack from Proctor Jr. Redshirt-sophomore Casey Rosellini (Cypress, Texas) came in for Detmer Jr. and played the remainder of the game under center.

Eight receivers tallied a catch in the contest, led by Wilson's four catches for 80 yards.

Redshirt-senior Devonte Williams (Houston, Texas) led the defense with 10 tackles and was helped by redshirt-sophomore Tre'Michael Tutt (Channelview, Texas) who added nine tackles, two for loss, one sack and a QB hurry.

Senior Brandon Jones (Houston, Texas) and redshirt-sophomore Nick Stiff (Cypress, Texas) each contributed to the defensive unit's season-high three sacks as the pair turned in one apiece.

The month-long homestand will officially come to an end next week as the Hogs resume Lone Star Conference play with a game against No. 4 MSU Texas at Pepsi Field at Javelina Stadium for Kingsville Community Appreciation Weekend sponsored by Legends at Kingsville. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT.

To keep up-to-date with Javelina football, follow the program on Facebook at /JavelinaFootball and on Twitter @JavelinaFB

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