Football | 10/29/2017 5:00:00 PM

Box Score Goodwell, Okla.—Panhandle State Volleyball and Football hosted top-ranked teams during an action-packed week of Homecoming festivities on campus.

Aggie Volleyball fell in two four-set contests to the number two and three teams in the Sooner Athletic Conference; losing 3-1 to Southwestern Assemblies of God on Saturday morning , after taking a 3-1 loss to Texas Wesleyan during Thursday night's Halloween Spiketacular event. Kendra Butler led the week in scoring with 19 kills, one service ace and two block assists, followed by Quiara Pointdexter who combined for 14 kills, and 1.5 blocks on the week. Summer Middleton finished the week with 13 kills and one solo block. Setter Julia Ibarra notched a double-double against SAGU with 30 assists and 11 digs and served up two aces in the match. McKenna Clement totaled 38 digs over the two-game stint. The Aggies now hold an 8-16 overall record with a 5-10 SAC record. The team competes in their final home game of the season this Thursday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. Seniors will be recognized prior to the game.

Saturday's full day of Homecoming events was highlighted by and exciting Oklahoma A&M Showdown game at Anchor D Stadium between Panhandle State and No. 8 Langston. The longstanding rivalry brought packed stands to No Man's Land, and fans stayed until the bitter end to watch the winning team ring the commemorative victory bell. Unfortunately, it was the Lions who sounded the toll, defeating the Aggies 27-14 in a full four-quarter battle. The Lions left the field with their undefeated 8-0 record in tact and took the bell as a traveling trophy back to Langston where it will wait to be rung until next year's matchup.

Langston led 21-0 at the end of the first half, scoring seven points in the first quarter and 14 in the second. Panhandle States starting quarterback Brandon Ramon got off to a rough start, throwing an interception on the Aggies' opening play of the game. The Aggie defense held the Lions to just four yards on their second drive giving Ramon good field position on the OPSU 31 for the next possession. Langston's defense put up a strong three-and-out effort, bringing out Jacob Test to punt for Panhandle. Test boomed a perfect punt, which was downed at the Langston one-yard line. Despite a sack on the Lion QB, the Aggie defense allowed a 99-yard drive that took seven plays to enter the end zone.

Panhandle held possession through the end of the first quarter and started the second quarter facing fourth-and-five at the Langston-21. Sterling Claphan came in for the field goal attempt, but the kick landed wide-left leaving the Aggies down 7-0. The Lions followed up with an eight-play series and over fifty yards rushing that resulted in another Langston touchdown. Panhandle State sent in DJ Scott after Ramon threw his second pick of the game that led to another Lion TD. Scott suffered two sacks totaling ten yards in the Aggies' last drive of the second half; the drive ended as Langston forced a fumble in the red zone on a rush by Orlando Haymon. The Lions recovered and ticked the time out on the first half, leaving the field with a 21-0 lead.

The second half did not start any better than the first for the Aggies. The opening kickoff was received by Nick West for seven yards, but another forced fumble was recovered by the Lions at the OPSU-32. The very next play ended in Aggie's end zone with a 32-yard rushing touchdown which increased Langston's lead to 28-0. Scott's first pass on the ensuing drive landed in Lion hands for the Aggies' third interception of the game. The Aggie defense stepped up to shift momentum with a forced punt on a six-play, eight-yard series for the Lions. The short 21-yard punt gave Scott prime position to put together the Aggies' first scoring drive of the day. A 15-yard pass to Miquel Hudson was followed up with an 11-yard completion to Seth Barbarino; Preston Baker then took two handoffs for a combined eight yards to line up at the Langston-35. Scott connected with Brady Barrett on a 14-yard attempt for the Aggies' third first-down of the series, and Orlando Haymon completed the drive with a 21-yard run for a touchdown. The Darkside Defense came out with another great three-and-out stop including a sack for a loss of six yards by Charles Stone. Langston left the Aggies empty-handed on their next possession as well, and Jacob Test lofted another great punt inside the ten-yard line. The Lion offense only gained two yards on their next possession leaving Panhandle State with control of the ball going into the final fifteen minutes of play.

Scott completed two passes totaling 18 yards to receiver Kameron Taylor, Darrance James rushed for nine yards and Baker grounded out 15 yards on three carries to add another seven points for the Aggies at the start of the fourth quarter (27-14). After a 72-yard punt by the Lions on their next drive, the Panhandle State offense was left with poor field position on their own five-yard line. The combined efforts of Scott, Baker, Haymon and Cedric Agyeman moved the chains five times on the Aggies' next drive. Scott completed a ten-yard pass to Nick West on third-and-ten but then took two sacks and two incomplete passes to end the series after ticking over six-and-a-half minutes off the play clock. With 3:37 remaining in the game, the Aggie defense did not let down their guard, forcing a fumble on a first-and-ten play by the Lions; Jabrel Alexander forced the turnover which was recovered by linebacker Zachary Perez-Clack on the OPSU-44. The Aggies started moving the ball downfield, but another sack on Scott followed by an incomplete pass, led to a third-and-twelve situation with seconds left to play. The game ended as an injury timeout  ticked the remaining seconds off the clock.

Head Coach Russell Gaskamp was disappointed in the team's offensive performance stating, "You don't win games when you lose the turnover margin 6-1. Not much further to look than that."

Langston led a big offensive effort in the first half totaling 239 yards; the Aggies were held to 109 through the first two periods. In the second half, the Aggies rallied with 237 offensive yards and kept the Lions quiet, allowing just 58 second half yards. DJ Scott led the game in passing yards with 136, going 17 of 35 with one interception; Scott suffered five sacks in his two-and-a-half quarters of play. Langston's QB Jaylen Lowe went 10-25 passing with one touchdown and two sacks. Leading receivers for the Aggies were Kameron Taylor with 34 yards on five receptions and Miquel Hudson with 32 yards on three receptions. Preston Baker held the game-high in rushing yards with 89 on 21 carries for one TD.

On special teams, punter Jacob Test had a great day averaging 57 yards per punt with two landing inside the ten yard-line; he had a long of 69 yards. Defensively, the Aggies were led by Zachary Perez-Clack who totaled 4.5 tackles, one fumble recovery and one pass breakup. Dominick Bell and Nathan Leithead were also integral with four tackles each; the pair combined for 2.5 tackles for a loss of 24 total yards. In the backfield, Marcus McCants was credited with four pass breakups, three tackles and one tackle for loss. Jawan Purifoy and Charles Stone each had one sack on the day.

Gaskamp added a positive note commenting, "We have a lot to play for over the next few weeks. Getting to seven wins historically is important; it has only been done here once in the last 30 years (2014). But that starts with winning a conference road game versus Texas College. We have to put the Langston game behind us."

Panhandle State Football falls to a 5-3 overall record with the loss, and now holds a 4-2 record within the Central States Football League. The Aggies travel to Tyler, Texas this week to take on Texas College on Saturday, Nov. 4 at Noon. The team returns home for their final game of the regular season on Nov. 11 against Texas Wesleyan; that game will also mark the annual Panhandle State Chili Cook-off and seniors will be recognized prior to the game.