COMMERCE – In front of a Memorial Stadium-record crowd of 9,629 fans for Homecoming, the No. 8 Texas A&M University-Commerce football team shut out conference foe West Texas A&M University 36-0 on Saturday. The Lions forced six turnovers, returning two interceptions for touchdowns.
 
The Lions shutout West Texas A&M for the first time since 1996 to run their record to 8-1 on the season and 6-1 in the Lone Star Conference. WT drops to 5-4 on the season and 4-3 in the LSC.
 
The Lions next head to Odessa to take on UT Permian Basin on Saturday. The game starts at 7 p.m. at Ratliff Stadium.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Pierre Leonard, Uriah Harris, Chris Smith and Yusef Sterling-Lowe each had an interception in the game. The Lions now have 16 interceptions on the season by 14 different players.
- The Lions caused six turnovers, their most this season.
- It was the Lions' second shutout of the season and the first time A&M-Commerce has shut out WT since 1996.
- Richard Cooper went over the 3,000-yard mark in his career, becoming the fourth Lion in history to do so. He rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown, his fourth 100-yard game of the season and 15th of his career.
- Luis Perez threw for 215 yards completing 18-of-24 passes with a touchdown.
- Darby Smith led the Lions with 89 yards receiving on three catches. Hayden Marsh had 34 yards and a touchdown catch on four receptions.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions wasted no time, scoring a touchdown on their first possession. On the fourth play of the game, Perez found Smith down the seam. He proceeded to scamper 45 yards to the red zone.
 
Cooper finished the drive off with an eight-yard touchdown. That carry also put Cooper over 3,000 yards in his career at A&M-Commerce. He is just the fourth player in school history to reach that mark. The extra point hit off of the left upright, leaving the score at 6-0.
 
The teams traded punts twice before the Lions again were on the attack to start the second quarter. Perez and Smith again connected on a long pass, this time for 34 yards. He was downed at the three-yard line. That was as close as the Lions would get as the Buffs goal line defense came up with three stops to force a 20-yard Kristov Martinez field goal, making it 9-0.
 
On the third play of WT's next possession, the Lion defense applied pressure, forcing quarterback Ben Arbuckle to throw into coverage where the pass was intercepted by Leonard and returned to the WT 29 yard line. It took the Lions one play to score as Perez hit Marsh in the endzone from 29 yards out to push the Lion lead to 16-0.
 
On their very next drive, the Buffs again coughed up the football, this time on a fumble, recovered by Kieston Carter at the 41 yard line of WT.
 
The Lions again drove down inside the ten but were unable to punch the ball in. Martinez made a 23-yard field goal to give A&M-Commerce a 19-0 lead at halftime.
 
Cooper had 85 yards rushing and a touchdown in the first half. Perez threw for 154 yards and a touchdown.
 
Neither team scored on their first three possessions of the second half. But on a punt return, the Buffs caused a fumble and recovered inside Lion territory.
 
The WT offense completed a long pass to get them close to the red zone but on their next play, Arbuckle again threw an interception, this time to Harris at the Lion 15-yardline. He ran down the left sideline, juking an offensive lineman on his way to the end zone, taking the lead to 26-0. The pick was Harris' first on the season.
 
After receiving the kickoff, the Buffs offense put together their best drive of the game. Arbuckle completed a 40-yard pass and WT was in the red zone for the first time of the game.
 
But the Lion defense again came up with a play, with Chris Smith intercepting the ball inside the end zone and returning the ball 24.
 
The Lions pushed the ball into the red zone with a steady dose of intermediate passes. But the offense again stalled and on the second play of the fourth quarter, Martinez kicked a 38-yard field goal to take the Lion lead to 29-0.
 
After trading possessions, the Buffs had the ball deep in their own territory. Airing the ball out to try and get back into the game, the Lions intercepted the ball and returned it for a touchdown. Yusef Sterling-Lowe made a leaping catch and sprinted 54 yards down the left sideline untouched to the end zone, to cap the scoring of a fantastic night at 36-0.