The Angelo State football team closed out the 2008 season Saturday night with a 38-14 home loss to long-time rival Texas A&M-Kingsville at San Angelo Stadium.

Angelo State senior tailback Daniel Thomas became just the 10th Ram in school history to record a 1,000-yard season, finishing the 2008 campaign with 1,020 yards. The Taylor native rushed for 56 yards on 18 carries to close out the eighth best rushing season in school history.

The Rams (3-8) trailed 24-0 before collecting their first of two touchdowns on the night. True freshman Michael Cochran found junior wide out Damien McCradic for a 24-yard scoring strike to cut the TAMUK lead back to 24-7. The Javelinas would add two fourth-quarter scores before Cochran would use a seven-yard touchdown pass to senior wide out Drew Peterson to complete the scoring.

Senior wide receiver Sam Tindol led the Rams with six catches for 50 yards and Peterson added four receptions for 31 yards. Senior tailback Terrell Lee added 39 rushing yards on eight carries.

Defensively, senior linebacker Jordan Cortez registered a game-high 13 tackles (three solo) with three tackles for a loss, including one sack. Senior safety Michael McLeod also ended the night with double-digit stops, recording 12 tackles (three solo) with his third interception of the season. The Rams forced four turnovers, including the third interception in two games by senior cornerback Quinton Butler.

It was a record-breaking night for the visiting Javelinas (7-4, 6-3 LSC, 3-3 LSC-South), setting a school-record for passing and placing three receivers over the 100-yard mark for the first time in school history. Senior quarterback Billy Garza completed 24-of-39 passes for a career-high 389 yards with four touchdowns. Backup quarterback Daniel Ramirez went 1-for-2 with a 95-yard scoring toss.

As a team, the Javelinas passed for 484 yards on 25-of-41 passing with five touchdowns. Ryan Lincoln ended the game with four catches for a game-high 154 yards, Damian Couthren had four grabs for 143 yards and Jareko Taylor added a game-high nine catches for 130 yards. Texas A&M-Kingsville ended the night 616 yards of offense, adding 132 yards on the ground, led by Billy Martin's 67 yards.

TAMUK opened up the scoring with 5:57 left in the first frame with a 22-yard field goal by Christian Brom. The Javelinas added two second-quarter touchdowns, a 43-yard connection from Garza to Taylor and a 95-yard catch-and-run from Ramirez to Lincoln. The pass play tied the longest in TAMUK history and was the longest pass play ever given up by Angelo State. The previous long play with 94 yards in 1981 as Northwestern State's Victor Oatis connected with Eric Barkley.

The Javelinas added a 12-yard connection between Garza and Martin with 9:26 left in the third quarter before the Rams would end nearly an 11-quarter home scoring drought. Garza added touchdown tosses to Taylor (six yards) and Couthren (63 yards) in the fourth quarter.

The Rams finished the 2008 season in ninth place (3-6) in the LSC and sixth (1-5) in the South Division.