There was a lot to be excited about when watching the West Texas A&M football team for the first time in 2025, but it wasn’t the result the Buff fans were looking for with No. 10 Western Colorado pulling away in the second half for a 45-28 shootout win against the Buffs in the season opener Thursday night at the Mountaineer Bowl in Gunnison, Colo.
The Buffs played toe-to-toe with the Mountaineers for a half only to see a very good WCU team pull away in the second half behind a potent offense outscore WTAMU 24-7 down the stretch for the victory.
WCU (1-0) opened the game up fast going up 21-7 highlighted by a six-yard keeper from quarterback Drew Nash capping off an 84-yard drive at the 11:14 mark of the second quarter. The Buffs offense came to life under new QB RJ Martinez scoring 14 unanswered points to tie the game up at the break when Martinez called his own number for a 21-yard score then connected to Zach Phipps on a 24-yard pitch and catch evening the game up at 21.
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In the second half, the Mountaineers had taken a 28-21 lead before WTAMU tied up one more time on a Martinez four-yard touchdown to Drew Zamar in the third quarter. However, WCU put the game away scoring the final 17 points of the game for the win.
Martinez showed what he could do in his debut for the Buffs as the Texas State transfer went 22-of-37 through the air for 262 yards with a pair of touchdowns. Martinez also added 26 yards on the ground with another score. Running back Jayden Hibbler toted the rock nine times for 91 yards and Zamar led a much-improved receivers’ group with six catches for 66 yards.
Defensively, Canyon graduate and WTAMU linebacker Javin Cash led the Buffs with seven tackles. Caprock graduate and Buff safety Jamel Acosta-Lewis along with David deMenezes had six tackles each followed by Miles Hill and Matthew Bryant with five.
Nash torched the Buffs defense with his arm and his legs. Nash delivered a superb outing for the Mountaineers going 17-of-27 for 173 yards with two touchdown tosses and ran for 95 yards with two more scores.
Up next
The Buffs opens their home schedule Thursday night, Sept 4., hosting the Colorado School of Mines with kickoff set for 7 p.m. at Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium.
Inside the box score
For a look at the box score of West Texas A&M’s game against Western Colorado, please visit https://gobuffsgo.com/sports/football/stats/2025/western-colorado/boxscore/11282