Garza set a school record for the Javelinas with 31 completions on 42 passing attempts. He passed for 308 yards and three touchdowns.COMMERCE, TEXAS – The Texas A&M-Commerce football team gave #9 Texas A&M-Kingsville all they could handle and then some on Homecoming, but it was the Javelinas who emerged with a 35-34 victory thanks to a few late turnovers at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
It appeared that the Lions (2-5, 2-4) were going to pull off the major upset thanks to a number of big plays. They scored on an 82-yard blocked field goal return by Shea Rodriguez, a 69-yard pass from Adam Farkes to Blake Patton and had two other scores set up by a 74-yard pass to Taylor Fore and a 64-yard kickoff return by Mikell Mair.
The Lions led 27-14 heading into the third quarter and held a 34-21 lead with 9:05 remaining in the game and held possession of the ball. Javelina defensive tackle Dondi Cooks (Mesquite/North Mesquite HS) forced fumbles on the next two Lion possessions and the Javelinas (7-0, 5-0) converted both into touchdowns. The winning play came on a Billy Garza (Brownsville/Porter HS) 26-yard pass to Damian Couthren (Bastrop/Bastrop HS) with 2:45 remaining.
The Lions’ last ditch effort came to a halt when Eric John (Miami, FL/UM-Crookston) picked off a pass with 24 seconds left in the game.
The Lions took the early lead when they forced a fumble inside the Kingsville 30-yard line. They converted two third downs on the drive, including a 1-yard touchdown pass from Adam Farkes to Maurice DuPont with 10:08 left in the first quarter.
Commerce added another score in the first quarter when Ahmed Abo-Mahmood kicked a 38-yard field goal to give the home team a 10-0 lead.
The Javelinas finally got on the board when they drove 73 yards in 10 plays at the start of the second quarter. Garza completed a 17-yard pass to Couthren for a key third down conversion and then Connell Davis (Gregory/Gregory-Portland HS) took it the rest of the way picking up 14 yards to set up a first-and-goal and then he scored from one-yard out with 14:23 to play in the second quarter.
After the Lions missed a field goal on their next drive, the Hoggies drove 63 yards and had a chance to tie the game, but Christian Brom’s (McAllen/McAllen HS) 35-yard field goal was blocked by Anthony DeGrate and returned 82 yards for a touchdown by Shea Rodriguez. The 10-point swing gave the Lions a 17-7 lead with 8:47 left in the half.
The Javelinas responded quickly as they drove 53 yards in six plays. Garza found Fred Winborn (N. Hollywood, CA/Grant HS) wide open in the endzone on a 17-yard pass on third down. The Brom extra point cut the lead to 17-14 with 5:30 remaining in the half.
The Lions added to their lead when up back Mikell Mair burst through the middle on the kick off and raced 64 yards before being tackled at the Javelina 16-yard line. The Hoggie defense stopped Commerce, but not before Abo-Mahmood kicked a 26-yard field goal.
In the second half, the Javelinas went three-and-out on their first drive and the Lions hit for another big gain. Adam Farkes connected with Blake Patton on a 69-yard scoring strike to give the home team a 27-14 lead less than three minutes into the third quarter.
The Hoggies would drive deep into Commerce territory two more times in the quarter, but each time they were relegated to a Joseph Vela (Harlingen/Rio Hondo HS) pooch punts.
The Javelinas finally broke through at the start of the fourth quarter when Garza connected with Larod Roberson (Houston/Elsik HS) on the first play of the quarter for a 5-yard scoring strike to make it a one possession game again.
After the two teams traded punts, Farkes found a wide open Fore who raced to the 2-yard line before being pushed out of bounds after a 74-yard gain. Two plays later, Farkes scored on a quarterback sneak to give the Lions a 34-21 lead with 11:17 remaining.
The Javelinas were forced to punt on their next possession and the Lions took over with 9:05 remaining and a 13-point lead. On the second play of the drive, Cooks burst through the line and stripped Marcus Graham. The fumble was recovered by DeIra Glover (Hempstead/Hempstead HS) at the Commerce 15-yard line. Two plays later, Winborn went untouched through the line and scored from nine yards out with 7:45 to play.
The Lions tried to milk the clock on their next drive and picked up two first downs and had a first down in Javelina territory when Cooks stripped Graham again. This time John Reeves (Bay City/Bay City HS) recovered the loose ball for the Hogs.
The Javelinas quickly picked up two first downs, but then faced a third-and-7 at the Commerce 26-yard line. Garza connected with Couthren for the 10th time in the game and he shook off a defender and raced into the endzone with what proved to be the winning score. Brom drilled the crucial extra point with 2:45 left.
The Lions started their final drive at their own 6-yard line. They converted one fourth down, but the clock was starting to run down. A deep pass from Farkes was off the mark and John intercepted it and returned it to the Commerce 8-yard line. The Javelinas went to the Victory formation and the game was over.
Garza set a school record for the Javelinas with 31 completions on 42 passing attempts. He passed for 308 yards and three touchdowns. It was the eighth 300-yard passing game of his career and third of the season. He moved into sixth place on the school’s all-time list with 4,560 yards passing and 36 touchdown passes. Couthren set a career high with 10 catches for 123 yards and the winning score. Winborn carried the ball 13 times for 85 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns. Davis had seven carries for 50 yards and a score. Sherman Batiste (Fort Bend/Marshall HS)) had a season high six catches while Ryan Lincoln (Bastrop/Bastrop HS) added five catches for 61 yards.
Cooks led the Hoggie defense with eight tackles, 1.5 for loss and the two forced fumbles. The Javs had three sacks with red-shirt freshman Matt Romig (Bells/Bells HS) picking up his team-high fourth of the season. They allowed 184 of the 345 total yards by the Lions on three plays. The Lions averaged less than 2.5 yards per play on the other 61 plays.
The Lions were led by Farkes who went 16-for-33 for 247 yards and two touchdowns. He also scored another touchdown on the ground. Graham led the team with 55 yards rushing and Patton had four catches for 88 yards and a score. Stephen DeGrate led the defense with 11 tackles while Rodriguez added nine tackles in addition to his field goal return.
The Javelinas outgained the Lions 431-345 and held a 33:07-26:53 advantage in time of possession. The Javelinas are 7-0 for the first time since 2004.
4 comments:
In news, it's always about what the reporter chooses to leave out. In this case, what about Billy Garza's utter failure in trying to make it as a QB at the University of Illinois. He couldn't cut it there, Juan. What about that? Garza "returned" to South Texas to play for a small college team. Loser, ese!
El Espectro
He is still playing college football. What are you doing ese?
He's problably under a mesquite tree sniffing paint, like all the other loser crabs.
Here we go again; the Mexican crab pulling his Mexican bro back into the water. At least Billy did not give up and has continued to be an asset to the Porter Nation. What have you done to compare?
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