By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com NEWS & SPORTS – FREE & LOCAL
STEPHENVILLE (November 7, 2015) — The downward spiral of Tarleton State (2-7) football continued Saturday night with a 43-25 loss to Texas A&M-Kingsville (2-8) at Memorial Stadium.
For the second straight week Tarleton was in position to win early in the third quarter, and for the second straight week, the opponent dominated down the stretch.
Seven days after Angelo State score the final 36 points to beat the Texans 57-24, A&M-Kingsville scored 26 straight points to break open a 17-17 tie.
Greg Pitre rushed for 186 yards and three touchdowns while adding 41 yards and a fourth touchdown receiving to lead A&M-Kingsville, which defeated a Lone Star Conference opponent for only the second time in more than three years.
Myles Carr was just 15-30 for 166 yards but passed for three Javelina touchdowns. He also rushed for 78 yards.
Tarleton senior Le’Nard Meyers moved into a tie for second in career receiving touchdowns at Tarleton with 25. He had just four receptions and 66 yards, but scored twice, including a 39-yard strike from Woerner to finish the scoring late in the fourth.
That last strike was too little, too late, thanks to an A&M-Kingsville run that began with a 19-yard Joe Te’o touchdown run less than two minutes into the second half. Jose De la Garza hit a 25-yard field goal to open up a two score lead later in the third, and Pitre scored on a 34-tad pass from Carr in the opening minute of the fourth.
The first safety Tarleton has allowed in four years came when linebacker Jared Mosley dropped Joseph Sadler in the end zone to make it 36-17 with just more than eight minutes left, and less than three minutes went by before a six yard TD burst by Shawn Vasquez to finish the A&M-Kingsville scoring.
Tarleton, which had just 86 yards after halftime and only 281 total, will be home again next week despite the loss. The Texans host Oklahoma Panhandle State at noon on Saturday. They set the single game school scoring record in a 84-47 thumping of OPSU just two weeks ago.
Tarleton defensive back Jamarquis Durst amassed 18 tackles, 15 of them solo, and two tackles for loss. Linebacker Cody Burtscher had 11 total tackles.
Jabari Anderson rushed for 59 yards and Sadler 54 with a touchdown. Meyers was the leading receiver for Tarleton, followed closely by Dominique Martin with three catches for 64 yards.
Zed Woerner was just 12-27 passing for 175 yards, two touchdowns. He was sacked times and tossed an interception.
Tarleton spotted A&M-Kingsville an early 10-0 lead but rebounded to tie the game at 17-17 by the intermission.
The Texans scored the final 14 points of the half, beginning with an 8 yard TD from Woerner to Meyers in the last minute of the first quarter. The Texans also had an impressive 14 play, 86 yard drive that culminated in a six-yard TD run by Joseph Sadler to tie it up with 2:40 remaining in the half.
The Texans began by spotting A&M-Kingsville 10 points. Woerner was picked off by Joe Crowe to set up a 29-yard TD from Carr to Anthony less than 90 seconds into the game. A low snap was dropped on a punt attempt to end the second Tarleton possession, but A&M-Kingsville had to settle for a 28 yard Jose De la Garza field goal.
Tarleton got on the board with a 43-yard field goal by Blake Barnes with 6:13 left in the first. A&M-Kingsville resounded with an 11-yard TD from Carr to Torrey Thomas for the 17-3 lead that dissipated over the rest of the half.
The Javelinas visit West Texas A&M next Saturday.
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