Grambling, La.—In a David meets Goliath matchup, the Panhandle State football team found that sometimes Goliath prevails. The Aggies met with NCAA Division I-AA opponent Grambling State on Saturday and fell 62-7 in a true battle of attrition.

After a 45-minute lightning delay it would be Grambling that struck first, as the Tigers scored on their opening drive. A 14-yard run into the end zone came on the fourth play of the game, in a series that started on the Grambling-45 after a 24-yard kickoff return. Grambling turned the ball over on downs on their second series of the game, thanks to solid coverage by the Darkside Defense. Jawan Purifoy and D'Darrin Primes combined for a quarterback sack on GSU's Geremy Hickbottom for a loss of six yards on second down. The duo paired up again for a tackle for loss of three yards on third down, and Kaleb Gutierrez brought the QB hurry on the fourth-and-12 pass play. The Tigers bounced back and added another seven points in the first quarter, out-gaining the Aggies 166- 41 in offensive yardage.

The Aggies could not keep pace with their opponents, as Grambling quickly clutched a 27-0 lead in the second quarter, scoring their fourth TD on a fumbled punt return by the Aggies. Panhandle's starting quarterback, freshman Martez Vrana, managed to put together a scoring drive soon after, despite suffering a sack in the eight-play, 75-yard drive. The Aggies' only break of the game came on a 4th-and-seven play when an intercepted pass, intended for receiver Seth Barbarino, was called off due to a personal foul penalty by the Tigers. Vrana sent a nine-yard target to tight end Cole Mercer who came down across the goal line with the reception. The celebration was cut short by two more Grambling goals. Halftime could not come soon enough, as a 27-point second quarter by the Tigers left the Aggies down 41-7 at the midway point.

Grambling's fast and physical defense held the Aggies to a mere 16 yards of offense in the third quarter, while the Tiger's offense continued to put up points. The Aggie defense broke through with a big play on Grambling's second possession of the third quarter. Nathan Leithead lent a hand in a forced fumble that was recovered by Panhandle's Jaylon Thomas and returned 14 yards to the 50-yard line. Vrana took another sack on the ensuing drive and the Aggies were forced to punt. Panhandle trailed 48-7 going into the final 15 minutes of the game.

The Aggies would only be allowed a gain of 11 total yards in the fourth quarter and Grambling kept the ball on the ground and crossed the plane two more times. The Aggie defense saw one shining moment with an interception at the start of the fourth quarter. Chris Lewis came down with a pass intended for a Tiger, but a fumble on the following run play by Panhandle put the ball back into Grambling hands for their eight TD of the game. The Tigers came down with an Aggie ball on the next series to seal the 62-7 victory.

For the game, the Aggies totaled 197 yards on offense with 66 rushing and 131 passing yards. Carlos Ransburgh led on the ground with eight carries for 37 yards, and senior Nick West led in receiving with four catches for a total of 50 yards. Martez Vrana was the only Aggie QB to see this field, completing 17 of 28 attempts for 131 yards passing and one touchdown. Grambling finished with 550 yards on offense, collecting 239 on the ground and 311 in the air. Quarterback Geremy Hickbottom went 16 of 24 for 297 yards and three passing TDs. Defensively the Aggies were led by Purifoy with six tackles and .5 sacks; Lisimba Young, Nathan Leithead and D'Quan Charles each totaled four tackles. Grambling's defense was well-rounded with their lead tackler totaling five take-downs; the unit accounted for four sacks and eight tackles for loss totaling 38 yards. Panhandle went 0-13 on third down conversions and 0-1 on fourth down.

On post-game assessment Head Coach Russell Gaskamp stated, "For us to have had a shot in the game, I felt like we were really going to have to play well, and we didn't. We made several unforced errors in all three phases, including another huge mistake by our punt return unit that led to easy points for Grambling." Gaskamp added, "We were already outmatched in our personnel and we can't continue to make mistakes like that and be successful. We have an extremely important conference game this week, against a much-improved Texas Wesleyan team for our third straight game on the road. The direction of our season really hangs in the balance with the result of that game."

With a 2-4 season record the Aggie football team will re-enter Sooner Athletic Conference play this week as they embark for Fort Worth, Texas to take on TWU on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. Coach Gaskamp and his Crew are eager to return to Anchor D Stadium on Oct. 20 after these three long road outings. Fans can keep up with games on the road via live stats and video links provided by the home teams at opsuaggies.com.