CANYON – The No. 9 Texas A&M University-Commerce football team scored three touchdowns in the first quarter on the way to a 35-16 win over West Texas A&M University at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium on Saturday evening.
 
With the win, the Lions move to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the Lone Star Conference, while West Texas A&M falls to 3-6 overall and 1-5 in the LSC.
 
The Lions return home for the final home game of the regular season on Saturday, November 4, hosting UT Permian Basin for Senior Day and Military Appreciation Day. Senior Day celebrations will take place pre-game. Dedication ceremonies for Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium will occur just before kickoff, which is scheduled for 4 p.m.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Quarterback Luis Perez became the Lions' all-time leading passer in terms of yardage after completing 30-of-46 passes for 389 yards and three touchdowns. He has now passed for 5,974 yards on 461-of-690 passing with 61 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in his two years in a Lion uniform.
- Receiver Darrion Landry led 11 Lions who caught passes with six receptions for 123 yards and a touchdown. D'Arthur Cowan had six catches for 43 yards and two touchdowns.
- Carandal Hale had 112 all-purpose yards with 44 rushing yards and 68 receiving yards.
- Buck Wilson returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter.
- Tristan Perry averaged 41.8 yards on four punts with a long of 48 yards and two landing inside the WT 20-yardline.
- Brucks Saathoff led the Lions with 12 tackles and a forced fumble. The Lions had six sacks and 11 tackles for loss. Kieston Carter had three tackles for loss. Reggie Kincade had an interception and forced a fumble.
- A&M-Commerce outgained West Texas by a 514-244 margin, averaging 6.9 yards per play and limiting the Buffaloes to 4.1 yards per play.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
After receiving the opening kickoff, the Lions needed only four plays to open the scoring. On the second play of the game, Perez found Landry for a 70-yard completion to get the Lions in the red zone. Two plays later, Perez completed his first touchdown pass of the night to Cowan from 10 yards out, putting the Lions up 7-0 with less than two minutes off of the game clock.
 
The Lions held the Buffs to a three-and-out, but the hosts forced a fumble deep in A&M-Commerce territory on the opening play of the ensuing drive. With a short field, the Buffaloes constructed a three-play, 15-yard drive and tied the game at 7-7 with 9:37 left in the first quarter on a 7-yard touchdown reception by Junior Pome'e.
 
A&M-Commerce put together a strong drive on its next possession, going 82 yards in eight plays to paydirt. A 31-yard completion from Perez to Hale got the Lions to midfield and an excellent completion to Landry from six yards out pushed the Lion lead to 14-7 with 6:11 left in the first quarter.
 
West Texas A&M scored on its next drive, but only registered three points after the Lion defense stood strong in the red zone. Alex Schrag had to settle for a 45-yard field goal after D.D. Fletcher and Saathoff teamed up for a sack on third down. The score was 14-10 to the Lions with 40 seconds left in the quarter.
 
That score was on the board for exactly 15 seconds. Wilson had his foot planted on the goal line when he received the ensuing kickoff, then burst through a hole on the left side of the field and scampered 100 yards for the touchdown, making it 21-10 with 25 seconds left in the opening quarter.
 
Wilson's 100-yard touchdown return ties the school record and is the third recorded 100-yard kickoff return in the school record book. Bob Sloan did so against Midwestern State in 1950 and Marvin Brown had a full-field return against Midwestern State in 1951.
 
The offense slowed down for both sides in the early second quarter. The Buffs were the next team to change the score on Schrag's 39-yard field goal with 5:30 left in the first half to cut the lead back to one score at 21-13.
 
The Lions responded on the next drive with a nine-play, 75-yard effort. Perez kept the drive alive on a third down with a 34-yard completion to Derique Ryan. A 14-yard completion to Cowan in the end zone made it a 28-13 lead for the Lions with 1:11 left in the first half. That score would remain until halftime.
 
A&M-Commerce extended the lead on its second drive of the third quarter, going 65 yards down the field in eight plays. Perez used his legs for a 21-yard rush on a third down to keep the drive alive, then completed a 19-yard pass to E.J. Thompson to get the Lions inside the red zone. Vincent Hobbs carried the ball into the end zone from eight yards out to put the Lions ahead 35-13 with 7:40 to go in the third period.
 
The Buffs constructed a solid drive towards the end of the third quarter and were in a goal-to-go situation before the Lion defense put the clamps on the effort. A 14-yard sack by Travon Blanchard, followed by a big Saathoff hit to force a fumble kept the Buffs out of the end zone, as a 38-yard field goal with 14:02 to play cut the lead to 35-16.
 
WT threatened again on its next drive, with a 29-yard gain on a quarterback keeper and a pass interference penalty. However, Kincade snuffed out the threat, intercepting a pass at the 1-yardline on third-and-goal.
 
A chance for the Lions to extend their lead came up lacking as a 49-yard field goal attempt by Kristov Martinez fell short. The Buffs went over the top on the next play with a 60-yard completion, but a forced fumble by Kincade kept the hosts out of the end zone on the play. Back-to-back tackles for loss on rushing plays by Michael Wallace and Neema Behbahani forced WT to throw the ball, and passes on third and fourth down fell incomplete, handing the Lions the ball.

Senior quarterback Gabriel Rodriguez led the Lions downfield on their final drive. The Amarillo product put on a show for his local fans with a dazzling 15-yard run. A field goal attempt at the gun was missed, leaving the final score at 35-16 in the Lions' favor.