Written by: Quincy Bentley | Sports Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following an eventful homecoming week, Western students and fans were eager for the highlight of the weekend, the homecoming football game. The Western Wolves took on Texas A&M Kingsville in a high-stakes, much-anticipated match. With both teams entering with strong records \u2014 Wolves at 5-0 in conference play and Kingsmen at 3-2 \u2014 this game was set to be an exciting showdown that would test each team\u2019s grit and endurance.
Jordan McCarty started the game off with a 6-yard run into the end zone, while freshman kicker Keaton Emmett finished it off with an extra point, adding a total of seven points to the scoreboard for the Wolves. It wasn\u2019t long until the opposing offense responded though, as the Kingsmen followed up with a touchdown and extra point of their own.
Going into the second quarter, the score was tied at 7-7. Both teams were getting stops on the defensive end, but Andrew Simpson\u2019s impressive interception midway through the quarter shifted momentum in the Wolves\u2019 favor. Things were looking great for Western, as they continued to gain yards and attention from fans, but unfortunately, they weren\u2019t able to capitalize off of Simpson\u2019s play. The possessions continued to go back and forth, but the Kingsmen were able to score seven points right before halftime, making the score 7-14 in Texas A&M\u2019s favor going into the half.
In an intense third quarter, the Wolves faced an uphill battle as their opponents widened the gap with a touchdown and extra point. This set the score to 7-21. However, a strong run from redshirt sophomore Jermaine Land revived the Wolves’ offense, putting them in position for a much-needed touchdown. Soon after, the Wolves struck, with a crucial touchdown pass and a successful kick to narrow the Kingsmen\u2019s lead to just seven points. Their defense held strong, stopping the opposing offense and leaving the Wolves trailing 14-21 as they headed into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter started with a bang as the Wolves pulled off an impressive series of plays. A well-placed throw found senior wide receiver Damon Hickok, who made an acrobatic catch for a massive gain. Another pass to Hickok set the Wolves within 20 yards of the end zone. The next play, redshirt sophomore Kainoa Sayre had a strategic run, placing them only three yards from tying the game. Despite their efforts, a costly fumble on third down turned the possession over. Yet shortly after, the Wolves\u2019 defense kept the dream alive, capped off by an outstanding interception from redshirt junior Daron Ulrich Jr. However, they couldn’t convert on their final chances, even after blocking a critical punt. Ultimately, Texas A&M ran out the clock, leaving the Wolves just shy of a comeback.
The Wolves \u2014 5-3 overall, 5-1 Lone Star Conference \u2014 have a chance to redeem themselves next week as they travel to take on Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Contact the author at howlsports@mail.wou.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Written by: Quincy Bentley | Sports Editor Following an eventful homecoming week, Western students and fans were eager for the highlight of the weekend, the homecoming football game. The Western Wolves took on Texas A&M Kingsville in a high-stakes, much-anticipated match. With both teams entering with strong records \u2014 Wolves at 5-0 in conference play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2222,245,3759,4173,4170,111,73,1205,4165,4171,1788,4169,819,2014,4172,4167,246,683,3446,4174,4168,4175,684,66,553,39,4166],"class_list":["post-21586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","tag-athlete","tag-athletics","tag-conference","tag-division-2","tag-end-zone","tag-exercise","tag-football","tag-homecoming","tag-line","tag-loss","tag-ncaa","tag-physical","tag-play","tag-quarterback","tag-record","tag-score","tag-sports","tag-student","tag-team","tag-texas","tag-touchdown","tag-weights","tag-western","tag-wolves","tag-workout","tag-wou","tag-yard"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21586"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21590,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21586\/revisions\/21590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}