PUEBLO, Colo. – In its first game in nearly two years, the No. 5 ranked Texas A&M University-Commerce football team downed No. 12 ranked Colorado State-Pueblo, 12-6, at the ThunderBowl on a windy Thursday night in front of 6,590 fans.
The Lions start the season 1-0 for the eighth straight time. Thursday night's win was the first for the Lions over the Thunderwolves in three meetings. The 12 points for A&M-Commerce are the fewest in a win since September 1, 2017 at North Alabama.
The Thunderwolves won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, putting the Lions offense on the field first.
Starting on its own 32-yard line, A&M-Commerce went three-and-out to start the game. The punt from
Mitchell McGarry (Tannum Sands, Queensland, Australia) was returned to midfield. On the Lion defense's first drive,
Elijah Earls (San Antonio - Stevens) came up with a sack on third down to force the punt.
The first points of the game came off the leg of CSU-Pueblo kicker Dean Faithfull at the 4:02 mark of the first quarter. The Lions defense stopped the Thunderwolves at the goal line. On the drive, an interception by the Lions was nullified by a penalty.
At the end of the first quarter, CSU-Pueblo led 3-0. Faithfull's 36-yard kick to start the second quarter sailed wide right.
The Lions drove into Thunderwolves territory for the first time in the evening on three straight first downs, but were forced to punt.
The 2021 season's first points came via a 30-yard field goal by
Jake Viquez (Rockwall) at the 6:01 mark in the second quarter for A&M-Commerce. The ensuing kickoff was muffed by CSU-Pueblo with
Carandal Hale (Greenville) returning the fumble.
The Lions offense - boosted by a Thunderwolves' penalty - capitalized on the miscue as Viquez converted a 29-yard kick to make it 6-3 at the 4:27 mark in the second quarter.
The wind picked up rapidly during the second quarter at the Thunderbowl. CSU-Pueblo used the wind to its advantage to convert a 33-yard kick as time expired on the first half. Faithfull went 2 for 3 in his field goal attempts in the first half. The teams went into the halftime locker room tied at 6-all.
Viquez and the Lions had the wind at their backs in the third quarter and the Rockwall native converted a 40-yard attempt to give A&M-Commerce a 9-6 lead at the 10:02 mark.
He extended the Lion lead to six on a 52-yard field goal at the 6:07 mark in the third quarter. The distance of 52 yards on that kick is the second-longest in program history.
He also came in on punt duty in the second half and had two punts. His four field goal makes fall one shy of the program single game record.
The Lions defense stalled every Thunderwolves drive in the third quarter and forced them to punt into the wind. The offense took advantage of the great field position to score six points in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Thunderwolves' first field goal attempt with the wind at their back went wide-left as did the Lions' attempt on the other end.
Xavier Morris (Converse – Judson) came up with an interception in the fourth quarter to stall another CSU-Pueblo drive.
Darius Williams (Fort Worth – Arlington Heights) had the hurry on CSU-Pueblo quarterback Devin Williams, forcing the early throw.
The Thunderwolves got the ball with 4:38 on the clock down six and drove into Lions' territory, but the defense made held up and forced a completion on fourth down. They did get the ball back with five seconds left, but the flea flicker attempts were stopped by A&M-Commerce around midfield.
NOTE: Complete statistics are currently unavailable due to technical difficulties at CSU-Pueblo.
UP NEXT
The Lions take on the Midwestern State Mustangs at Choctaw Stadium in Arlington on Saturday, September 11. Kick-off is set for 6 p.m. for the neutral site Lone Star Conference game.
Ticket information for the game can be found at
LionAthletics.com/Arlington
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