WTAMU football sees two-game win streak snapped at home by UT Permian Basin

West Texas A&M saw a recent two-game hot streak snapped as the offense never got going and the defense had a first quarter to forget during a 21-7 loss at the hands of UT Permian Basin during a Lone Star Conference clash at Bain-Schaeffer Buffaloes Stadium on Saturday night.

After putting back-to-back wins together over Western and Eastern New Mexico, the Buffs were unable to climb back to the .500 mark falling to 3-5 on the year and 3-3 in the LSC. The Falcons are flying high at 5-4 overall and 4-3 in the league.

All the scoring came in the first 17 minutes of the game. UTPB scored on its first three drives before the Buff defense settled in going up 21-7 at the 12:21 mark of the second quarter.

The Falcons scored on their second offensive play of the game on a deep ball down the sideline from quarterback Issac Mooring to Ben Patterson for a 54-yard pitch and catch going up 7-0.

The WT offense responded marching 75 yards in only five plays with QB Kanon Gibson finding Zorian Stanton on a 33-yard score tying the game up.

UTPB put consecutive touchdown drives together from that point forward as Tyler Cleveland went 17-yards to paydirt then Mooring called his own number on a three-yard TD run.

The WT offense gave itself opportunities to get back in the contest, but costly turnovers turned into point killer and eventually hurt any chance of a rally.

The first big miscue came late in the second quarter. With the Buffs driving at the Falcons 20-yard line Gibson was intercepted by UTPB cornerback Dante Heaggans.

Deja vu happened in the fourth quarter for the Buffs.

Trailing 21-7, and once again driving for points, Gibson looked for Tucker Swoboda in the right corner of the endzone, however, Gibson’s pass was picked once again by Heaggans sealing the Falcons win.

The UTPB defense held the Buffs to 316 total yards and just 98 on the ground.

The Falcons offense was balanced in their 398 total yards putting up 210 passing to go with 185 rushing. Mooring threw for 210 yards on 11-of-20 passing with the lone TD. Patterson caught four passes for 161 yards with a score.

Gibson finished the night completing 17-of-28 passes for 218 yards and a touchdown despite the two interceptions. Running back Tre’Jon Henderson led the way in the backfield with 53 yards on 13 attempts while Swoboda caught six passes for a team-leading 115 yards.

There was some positive news for the Buffs on the defensive side. Senior captain JT Cavender continues to climb the school record books. Cavender racked up 11 tackles against the Falcons putting him at 320 career tackles as he moves into sixth all-time on tackles list.

WTAMU is back on the road continuing Lone Star Conference play at Texas A&M-Kingsville (5-3 overall, 4-2 in LSC) with kickoff set for 7 p.m. Saturday.