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Sept. 27, 2008

Final Stats

Kingsville, Texas - The #6-ranked West Texas A&M Buffaloes continued their amazing string of road victories with a 55-35 win at Texas A&M-Kingsville, Saturday night before 8,219 at Javelina Stadium. The Buffs have now won 20-consecutive regular-season road contests, dating back to the final game of the 2004 season.

The win improves WT's record to 5-0, 1-0 LSC South, while TAMU-K falls to 3-2, 0-1 LSC South).

Playing their first home game of the season, the Javelina's struck first, taking a 7-0 lead on their second possession as quarterback Billy Garza completed a 16-yard pass to Damien Couthren with 5:06 to play in the first quarter. The Javelina drive consumed 12 plays and 80 yards. The Buffs drove to the Javelina 17 yard line, but the drive bogged down.

James Chandler kicked a 34-yard field goal to pull the Buffs to within 7-3 as the quarter drew to a close.

The Buff defense then stepped up, as Caleb Randolph forced a Jareko Taylor to fumble after a nine-yard recption. Jared Brock pounced on the ball and WT was in business at the Javelina 30-yard line.

Keith Null passed four yards to A.J. Ruffins to move the ball to the 26, and a 15-yard personal foul against A&M-Kingsville moved the ball closer. Null then found Carl Johnson over the middle on a 6-yard reception for the touchdown, putting the Buffs on top, 10-7.

Keeping the momentum, the Buffs' struck again on their next possession. Key were two passes, one from Null to Charly Martin for 21 yards, then a 18-yarder from Null to Anthony Clark, and a nifty 17-yard pass and run by Wayne McKnight that put the ball at the TAMU-K eight yard line. Null then connected with Martin for an 8-yard TD strike. Chandler's PAT put WT ahead, 17-7 with 9:32 to play in the first half. Additionally, Martin's 8-yard reception gave him the WT career lead in receiving yardage lead, surpassing Brad Bailey (1992-94, 2,677 yards).

Following a TAMU-K punt, the Buff offense went at it again. Back to back completions from Null to Martin accounted for 67 yards to move the Buffs to the Javelina 13-yard line. Following a short run by Flemming, Null connected with A.J. Ruffins for a 10-yard strike, to up the WT lead to 24-7. The drive took 1:20, going 80 yards in four plays.

The Buff defense, which had allowed just one first down since the initial Javelina drive, continued to clamp down. Marcus Brigham blocked an A&M-K punt, the Buffs again took over in Javelina territory. A 17-yard Null to Martin combo, followed by a 7-yard toss to Raymond Johnson moved the ball to the eight yard line, where Keithon Flemming punched it in on an 8-yard rush. WT led 31-7 at the half.

To this point, Null had completed 20-of-23 passes for 261 yards and three TDs, including a string of 14-in-a-row. Martin had six catches for 118 yards, and the game was only half completed.

The fireworks continued, as on the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Null hit Martin for a 97-yard TD strike, upping the lead to 38-7.

The Javelina's struck back with Garza connecting with Chase Nesbitt for a 9-yard TD pass to close the gap to 38-14 with 13:24 to play in the third quarter.

Keithon Flemming scored from 27-yards out to up the Buffaloes' margin to 45-14 with 10:23 to play in the third. The drive featured a 25-yard pass to Anthony Clark, a 24-yard toss to Martin, another 9-yard pass to Clark and a 14-yard completion to Seth Hayden, setting up Flemming's TD run. An incompletion midway through the drive halted Null's completion string at 19-consecutive pass completions.

A Billy Martin 2-yard TD run made the score 45-21 as the teams headed into the fourth quarter, when Curtis Jefferson thwarted a developing Javelina drive with a nifty one-handed interception and 21-yard return into TAMU-K territory.

Hopes of another WT score were dashed when TAMU-K defensive back Eric John made a jumping interception of a Null pass in the end zone. TAMU-K took advantage, driving 80 yards, with Daniel Ramirez finding Ryan Lincoln for an 11-yard TD strike, making the score 45-28 with 10:17 to play in the game.

James Chandler's 27-yard field goal upped WT's advantage to 48-28 with just over eight minutes remaining. But Jabir Perkins' 91-yard kickoff return pulled the Javelina's within 13, at 48-35 just seconds later.

Any thoughts of the Javelinas' making a run were put down when Buff safety Darnell Johnson stepped in front of a Kendrick Carter pass at the WT 18 and returned it 85 yards for a game-icing touchdown and lifting the Buffs' to a 55-35 victory.

"We were just running our offense," said WT head coach Don Carthel. "We weren't doing anything special. Keith (Null) was just making his reads and throwing to the open man."

"Our defense really stepped it up and made some big plays, too. I'm disappointed in the way our kick coverage teams played tonight. They put our defense in a hole several times, but we managed to come out in good shape."

The game was Martin's first-career 200+ receiving performance. He finished with 10 catches for 263 yards and 2 TDs (just 14 yards shy of the WT single-game receiving yardage mark), while Null completed 35-of-49 passes for 545 yards and four TDs, marking his first-career 500-yard passing game and his fifth career 400+yard passing performance (and first of this season).

Also, the Buffaloes' 601 yards in total offense was second only to the 637 posted two weeks ago against Azusa Pacific.

The Buffaloes return home next Saturday, Oct. 4, when they meet Midwestern State in the Buffs' homecoming contest, presented by the High Plains Chevy Dealers. Kickoff at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium is slated for 6 p.m. CDT.