STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton’s Prince Robinson and Daniel McCants earned the Lone Star Conference’s top defense and special teams honor, respectively, for their efforts in Tarleton’s 44-7 rout of West Texas A&M Saturday.
Robinson anchored the Tarleton defensive unit that enjoyed one of its best performances in recent years Saturday night. The junior defensive back from Houston made two interceptions and a tackle while locking down the WT receivers.
His first pick of night bailed Tarleton out of bad field position, as WT was 19 yards away from the end zone in a 16-0 ballgame. Robinson made a diving interception in the end zone to give the ball back to the Tarleton offense and keep WT off the board. He followed up in the third quarter by picking off WT’s first pass of the second half. That interception set up a 21-yard touchdown run by the Texans on the ensuing drive. His two interceptions give him three on the season, which tie him for the LSC lead in total interceptions and the outright league lead in interceptions per game. Robinson also had three punt returns for 16 yards.
Robinson and the Tarleton defense held WT to just 92 passing yards for the contest, the lowest allowed by a Tarleton defense since Sept. 17, 2016, and 123 yards of total offense, which is the first time a Tarleton defense has held a team under 200 yards since Oct. 13, 2012 against Texas A&M-Commerce. The 44-7 win by Tarleton against WT is the largest victory for the Texans over the Buffs since 2001 when Tarleton won 62-3 in Canyon.
Meanwhile, McCants had arguably the most pivotal play for Tarleton Saturday night as his effort in the return game put points on the board and halted a momentum swing just before halftime.
With Tarleton clinging to a 16-0 lead, West Texas A&M put together its lone offensive spark and found the end zone to cut the deficit to 16-7 with just 10 seconds left in the opening half. McCants had an answer, however, as the junior running back and return specialist broke loose for a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown as time expired to swing the momentum back towards Tarleton at the break. It was the only return opportunity for McCants in the game and he made the most of it with his third kickoff return for a touchdown in the last 14 games.
It is the first career award for Robinson and the second honor for McCants, who earned a special teams honor in 2015 as a redshirt freshman.
Tarleton will welcome UT Permian Basin to town next weekend for Family Weekend and the ‘Legends Game’ at Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Stephenville.
Be the first to comment