STEPHENVILLE — In front of the greatest crowd that Tarleton State Football has ever hosted at Memorial Stadium in Stephenville, Texas, the Texan defense stymied the Bearcats all night to lift the Purple and White to victory.
There were 22,251 fans at Saturday’s game between Tarleton State and Southwest Baptist on Family Weekend, surpassing last year’s all-time record crowd of 20,237 at the homecoming game. Already this season, the Texans set a new record crowd for a home opener, seeing 20,127 fans through the turnstiles just two weeks ago in the first-ever United Athletic Conference game against North Alabama.
The Texans (3-1, 1-0 UAC) improved to 2-0 at home this year with their 27-13 win over the Bearcats (1-3, 0-0 GLVC) on Saturday. Tarleton now leads the all-time series 3-1 and beat SBU in back-to-back years, also winning by a 14-point margin a season ago (24-10).
Tarleton allowed just 29 net rushing yards on the night on 33 attempts, forcing 0.9 yards per carry by the Bearcats. The Texans had an interception return for a touchdown, forced 10 punts, had 11 SBU plays go for negative yardage, including four sacks, and allowed just one first down conversion on third or fourth down the entire night, as SBU went 1-of-16 on third down and 0-of-2 on fourth down.
Keep in mind, Tarleton State was also missing several key starters on the night on both sides of the ball. On defense, the Texans were without their senior leader linebacker Qua’Shawn Washington and their top defensive back Jalen Carr. On offense, the top two Texan receivers were both out, Darius Cooper and Jaden Smith, as well as the starting tight end Dawson Hearne.
To start Saturday, the Texans held a moment of silence for Bob Glasgow, a distinguished former Texas Senator and Tarleton State alumnus, who passed away early Friday morning. Tarleton State dedicated the game to him in honor of him and his amazing life achievements.
After the national anthem and the first-ever Sophomore Run, the Legend of the Texan Rider returned for Family Weekend. The legendary Texan Rider led the team onto the field on horseback for the first time since 2014.
When play kicked off, Tarleton started with the ball, but SBU stalled a promising opening Tarleton drive with an interception at the Bearcat 40-yard line. But it was no worry for the Purple and White, who forced a punt and then scored on the following drive, a 59-yard march, capped off by a Kayvon Britten 10-yard touchdown rush. That was his fourth rushing touchdown of the year, and fifth total.
The next six drives ended in punts as the first quarter ended with Tarleton ahead 7-0.
After Southwest Baptist picked off Gabalis for a second time early in the second quarter, they got on the scoreboard with a 19-yard field goal to make it 7-3 Tarleton. The Bearcats added a field goal several minutes later and the teams headed to the locker room with Tarleton ahead 7-6.
The Texans, notoriously a second half team this year, won the final 30 minutes 20-7.
On Tarleton’s first drive of the second half, the Texans drove down for a 32-yard field goal by Adrian Guzman to make it 10-6. Southwest Baptist’s next drive ended in a funky way, with a punt seemingly giving Tarleton the ball on their side of the field, but it was ruled later that the punter had his knee down at the SBU 10-yard line trying to field a skipped snap. Tarleton took advantage with another field goal, this time Guzman from 28 yards out to make it 13-6.
The Texans then made it three straight scoring drives to start the second half, this time finishing with a touchdown, a 28-yard back shoulder fade to Keylan Johnson from Gabalis. This was Johnson’s fifth receiving touchdown in two games at home this season.
Tarleton led 20-6 headed to the fourth.
Southwest Baptist cut the lead in half with their lone touchdown of the game, a 1-yard rush by Abel Carter to cap off a 75-yard drive with 10 minutes to go to make it 20-13 Texans.
On the Bearcats’ next possession, it was the Tarleton defense that iced the game, with Ty Rawls picking off Collin Sutton at the 16-yard line and returning it for a touchdown to make it 27-13.
Gabalis completed 18-of-33 passes on the night for 217 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Britten led the running backs with 54 yards on 10 carries (5.4 YPC) and a score. Benjamin Omayebu had nine catches for 99 yards, and Johnson had two catches for 33 yards and a touchdown.
Sterling led the Texan defense with 2.5 tackles for loss and a team-high eight tackles, to go with a pass breakup. Four Texans had a sack; Charles Perkins, Ahmir Crowder, O’tay Baker and Keldric Williams. Rawls had three tackles and a quarterback hurry to go with his pick-six.
The Texans have started 3-1 for the second straight year. They’ll now head to Southeastern Louisiana for a matchup in Hammond, Louisiana, at Strawberry Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 30, at 3 p.m. CT.
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