Two third quarter touchdowns and a late
touchdown in the fourth quarter by host Angelo State led the host
Rams to a 21-7 win to the spoil the debut of A&M-Commerce head
football coach Guy Morriss.
Angelo State (1-0) quarterback Josh
Neiswander completed 18 of 34 passes for 241 yards and two
touchdowns in the win. To go along with 332 yards of total offense,
the Rams defense held the A&M-Commerce ground game to 34 yards
on 26 carries.
Texas A&M-Commerce (0-1) recorded only
190 yards of total offense, 156 of which came through the air and
senior quarterback Reid Herchenbach. The Merced,
California native completed 16 of 28 passes for 156 yards.
A&M-Commerce struggled on third down as they went 1-for-14 in
the loss.
Senior punter Juan Velasco
(pictured) had a busy evening as he had to punt the ball 11 times,
five of which landed inside the 20. The 11 punts are the most by
A&M-Commerce since a 14-punt effort against the Rams on
November 8, 2003. Senior linebackers Stephen
DeGrate and Cory Whitfield led the Lions
defense with 11 and 10 tackles, respectively.
The win by Angelo State extend its home
opener winning streak to five games and extended the Lions losing
streak in season openers to three.
A&M-Commerce
got on the board first on a three-yard plunge by Marcus
Graham early into the second quarter. During the drive,
Herchenbach completed a 22-yard pass to Taylor
Fore on first down and two plays later; he completed a
17-yard pass to Adam Jones that set up first and goal for the
Lions. Two plays, Graham ran around the right side for the
touchdown.
Angelo State started the second half with a
five play, 66-yard drive that ended on a one-yard rush by Dwight
Pete to even the score at 7. The Rams took their first lead of the
contest when Neiswander connected on a 55-yard touchdown strike to
Excelle Osborne for a 14-7 advantage. A 16-play, 72-yard drive that
took up 9:42 late in the fourth quarterback as Neiswander completed
a two-yard touchdown strike to Antwon Williams sealed the
Lions' fate.
Next up for A&M-Commerce is a trip to
take on Southeastern Louisiana for a 7 pm
kickoff.
