A bend but do not break defense of
host Texas A&M University-Commerce made two crucial stops on
fourth down to withstand a late rally by Southeastern Oklahoma
State for a 19-14 victory on Saturday night at Memorial
Stadium.
With the last five meetings decided
by an average of 3.8 points and a five-point lead, facing a fourth
and six at the Lions' 13 yard line and :23 left in the game, junior
defensive back Marlin Terrell stopped SOSU
receiver Brandon DeFrance immediately after a reception to preserve
the victory.
A&M-Commerce (2-3, 1-1 LSC
North) junior running back Marcus
Graham ran the ball 24 times for 110 yards and a
touchdown in the win. It is the second-straight 100-yard game for
the Round Rock, Texas native. Senior quarterback Adam
Farkes completed 21 of 34 passes for 224 yards and a
touchdown. Sophomore linebacker Danny
Mason (pictured; photo by Patrick
Green) had a game-high 15 tackles and Terrell added eight
stops.
Southeastern Oklahoma (1-4, 0-2 LSC
North) quarterback Logan Turner was 16 for 32 and 131 yards and two
touchdowns for the Savage Storm. SOSU relied on a two-back attack
including Jamaal Evans, who had 28 carries for 125 yards and Baylen
Laury, who had 11 carries for 98 yards.
A&M-Commerce got on the board
late in the first quarter with its third defensive touchdown of the
season when senior A.J.
Billings picked up a fumble and raced 70 yards for the
early advantage. The Lions missed the extra point attempt and held
a 6-0 advantage.
The Lions relied on the strength of
Graham for its next scoring drive, running the ball five times for
53 of his game-high 110 yards. His final carry went 14 yards for a
touchdown and put the home team up by a 14-0 margin.
A&M-Commerce added to its lead
on the next drive but this time it was through the air. Farkes
completed eight of 10 passes with five-different Lions catching a
pass during the drive, including senior Julian Hayes on a 10-yard touchdown strike. His favorite target
was freshman Kenzee
Jackson, who had four of his eight receptions during
the drive.
The Savage Storm mounted a drive
late in the opening half but a Chris Peoples field goal sailed wide
left.
A&M-Commerce went into halftime
with a 19-0 lead, its first lead at the intermission on the season.
The two teams played a field possession battle for the remainder of
the contest.
On their fourth drive of the second
half, following three-straight rushes by Jamaal Evans, Turner found
Ryan Shelley for a 15-yard touchdown completion to cut the Lions'
lead to 19-7.
To start the fourth quarter, Eric
Walker picked off his second pass of the contest and ran it back 65
yards to the A&M-Commerce 20. Following the same recipe of its
earlier scoring drive, following a rush by Evans, Turner and
Shelley connected for the second time to cut the Lions lead to
19-14 with 14:24 left in the game.
On the ensuing drive, the Savage
Storm held the Lions on a 4th and 2 play with 12:20 to go. SOSU
marched down to the Lions 21 before they faced a 4th and 4 play.
Stepping up to make the play for the Lions on the sweep was
redshirt freshman Joel Wren,
who tackled Evans and held him to just a one-yard gain.
Each team had the ball two more
times but the game was not decided until the fourth and six play
made by Terrell.
The Lions will next take to the
road to face Northeastern State in Tahlequah for a 2 pm kickoff on
Saturday, Oct. 9.
