COMMERCE – Ozlo Rigby drilled a 51-yard kick through the uprights as time expired on Saturday night at the Ernest Hawkins Field in Memorial Stadium as the East Texas A&M University football team picked up a 20-17 win over UT Rio Grande Valley during the homecoming game, presented by Brookshire's.
 
The Lions did not trail in the game on Saturday, but the Vaqueros, who came in the game receiving votes in the AFCA poll, tied the game with 5:32 left. The Lion defense made a late stop and the offense traveled 55 yards on nine plays in the final 1:46 of the game with Rigby (Panama City, Fla.) sending the Lion faithful with a homecoming weekend win.
 
East Texas A&M is 2-0 at Memorial Stadium this season, which is the first time since 2022 that the Lions won their first two games at home. Saturday was the second meeting between the two teams, who have now each won on their own turf.
 
The Lions improve to 2-4 overall and 2-2 in Southland Conference play, having recorded wins over a team that is receiving votes in national polls for the second straight season. It was the first game since November 9, 2024, that the Lions did not commit a turnover, having last done so in a win over SFA in the 2024 season.
 
Saturday is also the first time since 2022 that the Lions won on homecoming weekend and now are 61-37-1 all-time on homecoming weekend. UTRGV falls to 2-3 overall and 1-2 against SLC opponents in its second season of sponsoring a football program.
 
The Lions jumped ahead 14-0 early on in the second quarter and both touchdowns were scored by Major McBride (Pottsboro), who ran in a seven-yard touchdown at the 5:15 mark of the first quarter and then added a four-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, which was aided by Elias O'Keefe (Austin – Anderson) recovering a Vaquero muffed punt in the red zone.
 
Just before the end of the first half, the Vaqueros opened their scoring with Aidan Jakobsohn finding Kyran Lee for a seven-yard touchdown pass. The Vaqueros further cut into the Lion lead with a 36-yard field goal from Brysen Gardner in the third quarter.
 
The Lions answered with a 32-yard field goal by Rigby with 3:48 left in the third quarter to go back up by seven. With 5:32 left in the game, Jakobsohn threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Jaydon Smith to tie the game.
 
The Lions used three quarterbacks in the game with Eric Rodriguez (Fort Bend Travis) starting the game and going 6 for 9 for 54 yards in the first half, while Reese Mooney (Denham Springs, La.) played the first drive of the second half, completing one of his two pass attempts for seven yards.
 
Luke Glass (Prestonwood Christian Academy), a true freshman, guided the Lions the rest of the way and went 7 for 14 with 69 yards.
 
Defensively for the Lions, David Spruiells (South Oak Cliff) recorded team-best 10 tackles and Jai Trawick (DeSoto) had an interception on the final play of the fourth quarter to stall a UTRGV drive around midfield.
 
The Lion defense held the Vaqueros to just 72 rushing yards and 265 total yards, while forcing two turnovers.

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UP NEXT
The Lions are on a bye next week and return to the field on October 17 at HCU. Kick-off is set for 6 p.m. in Houston.