Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score Midland, Texas—In what promised to be a good pairing, the Panhandle State football team took an opportunity to rack up near record-breaking numbers on Texas Permian Basin Saturday evening.

Coach Gaskamp and his Aggies earned their first Lone Star Conference victory in grand fashion at Grande Stadium, taking the 54-44 win with over 700 yards of offense and a single-game school record of 610 yards in passing. Panhandle put up 750 yards of total offense on the Falcons, the second-highest yardage in school history, just five yards shy of the 1961 record of 755 yards against Western New Mexico during the Jim Holder era.

Gaskamp and his staff challenged the offense during the course of the week to perform better and the head coach commented saying, "They really responded! Shane Truelove was the dude and I'm so happy for him and his record-breaking performance."

Truelove's 610 yards in passing shattered the school record which was also set under Gaskamp's reign; Caleb Holbrook threw for 407 yards against Oklahoma Baptist during his senior season back in 2014. In this week's performance against the Falcons, Truelove was on-target connecting on 40-of-49 attempts through the air. The senior QB totaled four touchdowns with the pass and entered the end zone himself with a seven-yard keeper that gave the Aggies their first score of the day on the opening drive of the first quarter.

The Aggies added another TD on their second drive of the game which started with Truelove's longest completion, a 62-yard missile to the hands of running back Rod Moore. A nine-yard reception by Andrew Hernandez on the next play put the Aggies on the UTPB 6-yard line, and on 2nd-and-1 Moore ran it in giving the Aggies a 14-0 lead with only four minutes taken off the clock.

UTPB then took five plays 75 yards into the end zone on the next series with the help of a 31-yard rush and a long, 42-yard pass that put the points on the board for the Falcons (14-7). The Aggie offense was shut down on the next drive as Truelove took his first sack of the day on third down for a loss of six yards. A healthy, 60-yard punt by Jacob Test put the Falcons on their own ten-yard line to start the next series; they opened with a pass which was intercepted by Panhandle's Darryn Cain at the UTPB 32 and sent in for another Aggie TD on the very next play. Truelove found receiver Devyn Williams on a 22-yard pass to give the Aggies a 21-7 advantage midway through the first quarter.

Panhandle's defense then allowed the opponent to run the ball 79 yards on eight plays putting another six points up for the Falcons; the extra point attempt failed and the score at the end of the first quarter was 21-13 with the Aggies in the lead.

Although the Aggies dominated on time of possession in the second quarter, owning over ten minutes of that period, it would be their only scoreless stanza in the game. UTPB however, took the opportunity to add another seven points and give the Aggies something to think about during the break. At halftime the score was a little too close for comfort at 21-20 with the Aggies holding a narrow one-point lead. After two quarters of play Truelove had already accumulated 319 yards of passing and the Aggies had close to 400 yards of total offense already on the books (396).

Both defenses came out strong to open the second half. Panhandle was held to their second three-and-out series with another Falcon sack on Truelove in the Aggies' opening possession, and then the Aggie D came through with a three-and-out stop on the Falcon's first drive to force a punt. The Aggies got off with good field position starting near midfield and, after a four-yard rush by Xavier Jones and a five-yard penalty by UTPB, Truelove aired things out with a 52-yard pass complete to the hands of Williams for the Aggies' fourth touchdown of the day. Panhandle's defense held the Falcons to a field goal for the remainder of the third quarter, while the Aggies added yet another TD on a Truelove pass to Andrew Hernandez. With three quarters in the books, the Aggies held a comfortable 35-23 lead going into the fourth quarter.

The final fifteen minutes were action-packed as both teams combined for 40 points in the fourth quarter. The Falcons fired first narrowing the gap to 35-31 on the first series. Truelove then went 4-for-4 in the Aggies' next drive and bumped the lead up to eleven points (42-31). A quick score on the play after kickoff left the Falcons with a four-point deficit (42-38) and then Rod Moore rushed 33 yards in two plays to give the Aggies another double-digit cushion at 48-38. UTPB marched right back into the Aggie end zone taking nine plays 74 yards for a six-point gain. With each team missing on the PAT attempts the score stood at 48-44 with less than five minutes left in the game. Truelove led the Aggie offense back for the eighth and final touchdown of the day completing 4-of-5 passes to set up a seven-yard rush by Williams that would cap off the victory at 54-44. The Falcons forged back in the final minutes, but fell four yards short of the end zone as time ticked out.

UTPB ended the day with 523 yards of total offense, 322 in passing and 201 in rushing and scored on 4-of-5 red zone chances. The Aggies did as they aimed to do and went 5-of-6 in red zone opportunities, but failed to convert on fourth down going 0-of-3.

Individually the Aggies were led by Devyn Williams who owned a game-high of 270 all-purpose yards, and a high of 223 yards receiving. Williams accounted for three touchdowns and averaged 6.5 yards in two rush attempts. Senior Rod Moore led the game in rushing with two TDs on 16 carries for 88 net yards. Receiver Andrew Hernandez also had a good day scoring one touchdown over 13 completions that totaled 154 yards. PB's leading receiver was Terrell Davidson who had eight catches for 85 yards; the Falcon's leading rusher was Jordan Williams who averaged 5.2 yards per carry on 15 attempts for a net of 78 yards on the ground. Quarterback Kameron Mathis went 27-of-49 for 322 yards passing and four TDs; the Falcon QB has two interceptions on the day.

On the defensive side of the ball Panhandle's leading tacklers were Marcus Jones with eight tackles and Byron Edwards, John Pitts, Brandon Gipe and Jawan Purifoy who each had seven tackles in the game. Edwards also contributed two pass breakups and one interception. The Aggies had zero sacks on the Falcons, who got away with two. UTPB's defense was led by Chris Hoad and Emilio Solis who totaled 13 and 12 tackles respectively; Hoad was also credited with .5 sacks.

Gaskamp spoke on the defensive efforts saying, "Defensively our lack of depth caught up with us and we've got to try to figure out how to get our best 11 on the field." He added, "We are still having major problems on special teams which we have got to get fixed if we want to have any chance to win the rest of the year." The head coach concluded, "But, I am extremely proud of the historical win and the first LSC win in school history. Getting a double digit win on the road in this league is quite an accomplishment."

Panhandle Football will be back at home this week for another Lone Star Conference matchup with a familiar opponent, as the Aggies host Tarleton State Saturday, Oct. 29 at No Man's Land Stadium. The Aggies fell to Tarleton twice last season and will seek redemption on their home field. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. but Coach Gaskamp would like to see a huge turnout for the pre-game tailgate that starts at 10:30 a.m. The Little Aggies Cheer Camp is also scheduled for Saturday and registration is still open with information available online at opsuaggies.com on the Cheer page.