Football | 9/11/2017 10:33:00 AM

Box Score Stephenville, Texas—Panhandle State Football put up a strong performance in Stephenville on Saturday, but ultimately falling for a fourth time to the Texans.

The Aggies took the first half 14-13, but faced a different Tarleton team in the second half, as the Texans came back to outscore their opponents 35-6 in the second half to claim a 48-20 victory on their home field. Head Coach Russell Gaskamp offered a blanket comment stating, "I thought our guys traveled well and handled the road trip in a professional manner."

Preston Baker opened scoring for the Aggies with a three-yard run into the end zone with 4:08 left in the first quarter. The Texans answered in the first five minutes of the second quarter with a touchdown run of their own to tie things up 7-7. Sophomore quarterback DJ Scott sent a 16-yard pass to tight end Brady Barrett to pull Panhandle back into the lead; the extra point by Cesar Tellez was good, giving the Aggies a 14-7 advantage with 11 minutes left in the first half. TSU responded with another scoring drive, but Terrell Fallon got his hands up for a blocked PAT and left the Aggies with a one-point lead going into the locker room (14-13).

After halftime, a different Tarleton team emerged, coming out with a 41-second drive that took just two plays to enter the end zone. Eight minutes later, the Texans tallied another touchdown on an eight-play, 60-yard drive that sent the Aggies into the fourth quarter with a 27-14 deficit. The Aggie defense forced a fumble in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, holding the Texans to field goal for a 20-point advantage.

Redshirt freshman John Polston came in for Scott after the Aggies' opening drive of the fourth quarter. Polston put together a 90-yard drive and brought in the final points for Panhandle on a first-and-goal run with six minutes left on the clock. A failed extra point attempt held the score at 41-20 and Tarleton returned Tellez's ensuing kickoff for an 89-yard touchdown to seal the deal for the Texans.

The Aggies led the charts on offense with 399 total yards; Tarleton totaled 373 yards. Prepared for Panhandle's run-heavy performance from last week, the Texans held the Aggies to just 99 yards on the ground, while the TSU offense managed 236 yards rushing. Scott led the game in passing with 185 yards, completing 24 of 35 attempts through the air. Polston went 8-12 for 94 yards with one sack, and punter Jacob Test was 1-1 passing on a fake punt that brought a 21-yard gain for the Aggies. Running back Preston Baker was back on the field for the Aggies this week and took 14 carries for 48 yards against the Texans. Tarleton's leading rusher was Adam Berryman who held the game-high with 143 yards on 11 carries. Sophomore Miquel Hudson led the receivers, racking up 81 yards on five receptions; Cooper Savage was second in the Aggie receiving core with one catch for 44 yards.

Coach Gaskamp was happy with the improvement he saw this week at the quarterback position. "D.J. (Scott) made big strides from w eek one to week two, and John (Polston) did some good things when he played in the fourth quarter."

The Texans touted toughness on defense with game-high numbers from three leading tacklers who combined for 39 of the teams' tackles; Basil Jackson (15), Andrew Blackshire (13) and Michael Knobloch (11). Jawan Purifoy and Dominick Bell led the Aggie linebackers with seven and six tackles each. Senior Kameron Lyons had the only sack for the Aggies and junior defensive back Dante Shipman came down with the game's only interception in the second quarter. Marcus McCants brought a forced fumble on the Texans, which was recovered by Purifoy in the first quarter to set up the Aggies' first scoring drive of the night.

Gaskamp felt his team came in prepared and with a good plan in place stating, "We executed that plan for the first half but, in the end it just came down to them making more plays in the second half. We also made a couple of mental errors that turned into big plays. Tarleton has some good players that can hurt you when you make mistakes." The Aggies totaled 11 penalties for a loss of 98 yards in the game. The Texans had their share of mental errors as well, with 13 penalties for 91 yards.

One area of concern that arose for Gaskamp from the Tarleton performance was special teams. "I was very disappointed with our special teams; this was the phase we made the most mistakes in. I also didn't think we played with fanatical effort in this area; guys have to play unselfish and do their job. We have to improve greatly if we want to win the CSFL in our coverage of kicks."

This week the Aggies return to the road, traveling to Muskogee for their first CSFL matchup against Bacone College on Saturday, Sept. 16. Coach Gas says the key to their success lies in preparation, "We need to have a great week of practice as we enter CSFL conference play. The season really starts now."