Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score Waxahachie, Texas—Aggie football came home empty-handed this week in a 35-42 loss against Southwestern Assemblies of God University on Saturday, Oct. 26.
For the second week in a row, the Aggies began the game with miscues as a botched punt attempt turned into an early opportunity for the Lions. The Lions recovered the football after Antonio Mendoza was tackled while attempting to punt, and began on the Aggies' 33 yard line. After two plays they found themselves in the end zone on a two yard rush to go up 7-0. On the first play of the next possession for the Aggies, a mishandled handoff resulted in a fumble which was recovered again by the Lions on the Aggies' own 18. Again it took only two plays for the Lions to score as they jumped ahead 14-0 with just under three minutes off the game clock.

Though it took a while to get things going, the fast paced Aggie offense finally got rolling on their third possession. Caleb Holbrook found tight end Spencer Grajalva from 20 yards out to cut the deficit in half as they capped off a 12 play-75 yard drive in three minutes. The next Lion possession looked to be headed straight to the end zone until Xazier Murry came away with a huge interception at the 5 yard line of the Aggies. He returned it 16 yards and placed the ball back into the hands of the offense. Led by the ground attack from Chris McClendon and an all-out airier assault by the Aggie receivers, Holbrook eventually found Jemine St. Louis on an 18 yard pass to knot the score at 14.

The next SAGU possession resulted in another touchdown and they regained momentum as they stopped the Aggies on 4th down on their ensuing possession, but the Darkside Defense showed resiliency as Glen Bonner forced a fumble, and Jamel Major recovered it at the OPSU 27 yard line to halt the drive. However, a third turnover on the second botched handoff exchange resulted in a 63-yard fumble return for a touchdown for the Lions, putting them ahead 28-14. The Aggies did not score on their next drive, but a blocked punt attempt by Ricky Backstrom place them inside SAGU's five yard line with less than three minutes remaining in the half. Holbrook connected with JB Frontz for his third touchdown pass of the day, and the Aggies entered the half down 28-21.

The 3rd quarter opened with the Lions marching the ball down the field for what looked like another score until Jamel Major came away with the second Aggie interception of the game when he battled with a Lion receiver and came away with his third snag of the season at the OPSU 34. The Aggies took advantage of the takeaway and evened the score on a seven-yard hookup from Holbrook to St. Louis. SAGU countered with a couple of scores of their own and entered the 4th quarter with a 42-28 lead.

The Aggies had one more quarter to pull off the comeback as they needed 14 points to at least tie the Lions. Utilizing the clock wisely, SAGU burned much of the time away by running the ball, but the Aggies defense forced a punt that only traveled 11 yards and the offense rev'd it up from there. Holbrook found Backstrom on a 30 yard bomb with less than three minutes left in the game which set them up nicely.  Holbrook and St. Louis connected on a score for the third time in the game as they drew within striking distance with time running out. The defense had to stop SAGU one last time to give the offense a chance to tie the game, and they promptly held to it, led by a big time quarterback sack by Allen Maxime. With 24 seconds remaining on the clock, the Aggies could not advance the ball and the game ended on an unsuccessful Hail Mary attempt.

For the game, Holbrook completed 23 of 40 passes for 300 yards and 5 touchdowns. Leading the run game was McClendon who racked up another big game with 115 yards on 23 carries. Andrew Hernandez and St. Louis led Aggie receivers with 7 catches apiece with 81 and 70 yards, respectively, followed by Backstrom who finished with 74 yards on 4 receptions.  The defense was led by Glen Bonner's 11 tackles and forced fumble. Murry and Major both had big games as they tallied 8 and 4 tackles, respectively, to go along with their interceptions.

Head Coach Gaskamp was not pleased with the way the Aggies started the game for the second consecutive week. The turnovers and failed opportunities to execute plays on both sides of the ball cost them an opportunity to win against an exceptional SAGU team.

The Aggies will play their final home game of the season on Saturday Nov. 2 against the Langston Lions; seniors will be recognized prior to the game. Game time is set for 2 p.m. with the 7th Annual OPSU Chili Cook-off taking place at 11 a.m. Aggie fans are invited to come early and sample some of the entries. Don't forget to bring your chair to get the best view of the game from the Mazzio's Zone!