KINGSVILLE – The No. 3 Texas A&M University-Commerce football team scored the first three touchdowns of the game and held Texas A&M University-Kingsville to 216 yards of offense on the way to a 38-7 victory, winning the Chennault Cup for the sixth consecutive year.
 
The Lions move to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Lone Star Conference with the win, while the Javelinas fall to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the LSC. The Lions are off next week and are next in action on October 7 at Midwestern State.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Quarterback Luis Perez completed 24-of-32 passes for 319 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. He now ranks third in school history in career touchdown passes with 44.
- Cornerback Yusef Sterling-Lowe intercepted two passes, while defensive tackle Pierre Leonard also intercepted a pass. The Lions won the turnover battle, three to one.
- Kicker Kristov Martinez kicked a season-long 44-yard field goal and made all five PAT attempts. He now ranks second in school history in career PATs at 130, only four short of tying the school record.
- Nine different receivers caught passes for the Lions, led by Shawn Hooks with six receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown. Darrion Landry caught four passes for 98 yards and a score.
- D'Arthur Cowan had four catches for 69 yards and two touchdowns.
- Danny Huckaby and Brucks Saathoff tied for the team lead in tackles with five apiece. The Lions had 11 tackles for loss and broke up nine passes.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lion defense forced the Javelinas into a three-and-out on the opening drive of the game and promptly put points on the board. Perez went over the top to Landry for a 55-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the drive to go up 7-0 with 13:04 left on the first quarter clock.
 
A 37-yard Hooks punt return set the Lions up with a short field on their next drive, and they cashed in six plays later on a Perez scoring pass to Cowan to make it 14-0 with 8:26 left in the first.
 
The Lions methodically worked their way down the field on a drive that wrapped into the second quarter and capped it with a Gabriel Rodriguez 2-yard touchdown rush with 14:00 left in the half to make it 21-0.
 
The Javelinas didn't have a first down until just over 12 minutes left in the second quarter, but their drive fizzled out. The hosts challenged again late in the quarter, but a Sterling-Lowe interception closed out the half with the Lions ahead 21-0.
 
A&M-Kingsville recovered a fumble on the Lions' first drive of the second half and turned the short field into its only points of the game on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Cade Dyal to Nico Brown, cutting the lead to 21-7 with 10:01 left in the third quarter.
 
The Lions needed only three plays to respond, as a 51-yard catch-and-run from Perez to Cowan put them back on the board with a 28-7 lead with 8:44 left in the third.
 
The lead was pushed to 31-7 with 20 seconds left in the third on Martinez' season-long 44-yard field goal, capping a nine-play drive.
 
Sterling-Lowe intercepted his second pass of the night on the second play of the fourth quarter, returning it to the Javelina 20. Two plays later, Perez connected with Hooks for a 20-yard touchdown to put the cap on a sixth straight Chennault Cup win.
 
HEAD COACH COLBY CARTHEL
On the team's performance in the win
I was really pleased with our effort through four quarters. I thought we played really well in the first quarter. We got a little sluggish right before half offensively. But we came back, turned the ball over at the start of the third quarter. We gave them some momentum. They scored but we did a good job of getting back in the game. I was pleased with our guys who went out there and put out the fire and put the game away. We finished up strong and secured a good victory.

On his team's fast start in the first quarter
I'll take that all year. We were able to start fast and guys made some good plays and put points on the board. The defense played really well and I don't think they had a first down in the first quarter. The defense had their number early and played well throughout the whole game. It helps when you start fast and get up on them. It is a challenge every week and it was this week as well. It was a good football team out there and it is tough to win down here in Kingsville. I'm really pleased with a Chennault Cup victory.

On the three turnovers from the defense
Pierre (Leonard) made that interception last year and I told him, 'good luck, that was the last one you will get in your career.' But that sucker found a way to catch another one tonight. Really excited about him. We were plus-two in the turnover battle. When you do that, you give yourself a good chance to win. We stress it on both sides of the ball. I'm really pleased to come out on the positive side there.

Going into the off week and getting ready for Midwestern State in two weeks
I'm looking forward to it. This is my 18th year of coaching and this is the first time we have ever had an off week. I don't know what in the world we are going to do with it. But we are going to back off a little bit and it will give us two weeks to prepare for Midwestern State, which is a game everybody has had circled on their calendar for a long time. It will give us two good weeks of prep to get ready for those guys and get our legs back underneath us. Hopefully we will be clicking on all cylinders two weeks from tonight.

On Sunday's hurricane cleanup in Port Aransas
We are excited to do it. A lot of our players have been affected by this hurricane. Maybe moreso in the Houston and Beaumont area. But everybody knows somebody that was impacted. This is a great opportunity for our program and our kids to get out and help rebuild a devastated area and pay it forward. I know players and coaches are going to work hard tomorrow and have a lot of fun doing it. We will probably be the ones that are really the most blessed by paying it forward and helping those people out. It should be a really fun day for Lion football.