By Wes Bloomquist ||  wes.bloomquist@angelo.edu

KINGSVILLE – Five defensive takeaways, a punt return for a touchdown and 615 total yards of offense helped lead the Angelo State football team to a 57-31 Lone Star Conference win over Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday at Javelina Stadium.

Kyle Washington led the Rams (4-2, 3-2 LSC) with 292 yards passing and Ryan Byrd ran for a season-high 143 yards, while ASU also got interceptions from Ryan Clapsaddle and Blair Smith along with fumble recoveries from London Dial, Jonathan Shannon and Andy Gonzalez. Paul Mason had the special team's play of the game with a 38-yard punt return for a touchdown against the Javelinas (1-6, 0-5 LSC). Byrd finished the night averaging 8.4 yards per carry on 17 rushes and has now rushed for 517 yards this season.

"I thought we started off slow, but I was proud of how our guys regrouped," ASU head coach Will Wagner said. "We ended up finishing the game strong."  

Washington ran for two touchdowns and threw for four more with Talon Smith catching a career high two touchdowns from Washington and Brett Rasberry and James Hurd catching one each. Warren Truesdale connected with Dakarai Pecikonis for the final score on a 15-yard touchdown pass. Washington, who was 19-for-30 passing in the game, has now thrown for 4,136 yards and 39 touchdowns and has rushed for 17 touchdowns in his career.

Clapsaddle, who had his sixth career interception in the game, led Angelo State with seven tackles along with Willie Brown and Clayton Callicutt added six tackles. Rush Seaver recorded three tackles and had a sack for a 3-yard loss which was his first sack of the season and took his career total to 9.5. Blair Smith, Michael Walling and Jarred Ross each had five tackles for the Rams who allowed 483 yards of offense by the Javelinas but more than made up for the yardage with the five takeaways.

ASU's 57 points are the most since the team took a 61-17 win over Incarnate Word in the 2010 season.

The Rams, who led the game 36-17 at halftime, return to action at 7 p.m. next Saturday against Eastern New Mexico at LeGrand Stadium at 1^st Community Credit Union Field. ENMU will be coming off a 59-42 loss to Tarleton State. 

The Javelinas opened the game with a 10-0 lead off a 26-yard field goal by Max Lehning to start the scoring and an 11-yard touchdown pass to Lofton from Mitchell with 7:41 to play in the first quarter. The Rams would start a 28-0 run with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Washington to Smith before ASU grabbed its first lead at 14-7 on a 7-yard touchdown run by Washington with 22 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Washington's touchdown capped a 3-play, 76-yard drive that took only 27 seconds with the benefit of a 69-yard pass to Chris Omigie that took the Rams to the 7-yard line. A special teams played gave the Rams a 21-10 lead when  Mason returned a punt 38 yards for a touchdown and the Rams were up 28-10 when Washington scored his second rushing touchdown of the game on a 1-yard touchdown run with 4:25 remaining in the first half.

Mason's punt return for the Rams was his second touchdown of the season after he had a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown earlier this season against McMurry and it was his second punt return for a touchdown in his career. He previously ran back a punt for a 70-yard touchdown against Texas A&M-Commerce in the 2011 season.

The Javelinas were able to get back on the board with a 60-yard touchdown run by Mitchell with a little over two minutes to play in the first half, but the scoring play by the home team was quickly answered by the Rams when Washington found Hurd for a 6-yard touchdown pass with 1:19 remaining in the first half. The touchdown was followed by a two-point conversion by ASU with Jacob Burtch finding Zane Hernandez on a pass to give the Rams a 36-17 halftime advantage. The final scoring drive of the first half took the Rams six plays and 63 yards in 53 seconds and was highlighted by a 28-yard pass from Washington to Byrd who took the ball to the Javelinas 6-yard line and was followed on the next play by the touchdown to Hurd. The touchdown reception was the second of Hurd's season and the fourth of his career at ASU.

TAMUK struck first in the second half with Shawn Vasquez scoring on a 6-yard touchdown run, but the Rams methodically responded with a 10 play, 70-yard drive which took 3:23 off the clock and was capped with Rasberry taking in a 31-touchdown pass from Washington. After Dial recovered a fumble for the Rams, ASU broke into the 50-point club for the first time this season when Washington connected with Smith for a 15-yard touchdown pass to give the Rams a 50-24 with 2:36 remaining in the third quarter.

ASU continued adding to its lead when Pecikonis caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Truesdale with 12:25 remaining in the game. The touchdown connection, which was the fourth touchdown reception of the season for Pecikonis, capped a seven-play drive which went 83 yards and gave the Rams a 57-24 lead. Truesdale, who entered the game in the fourth quarter, threw for 68 yards on four completions.

Washington led the Rams with 206 yards passing and threw for two touchdowns in the first half and also ran for 24 yards and two touchdowns on four rushes. Hurd led the Rams with four receptions for 42 yards and the touchdown in the first half and Byrd had two receptions for 37 yards. Byrd led the Rams with 86 yards on 11 carries for a 7.8 yards per carry average in the first 30 minutes of play with a long of 26 yards.

Clapsaddle led the Rams with seven tackles in the first half to go along with an interception and forced fumble, while Ross and Callicutt had five tackles each and Seaver had one sack. The defense limited the Javelinas to 95 yards passing and 184 yards on 26 rushes.

Angelo State finished the game converting 6 of 11 third downs and was 1-for-1 on fourth downs. The Rams limited their penalties to 37 yards on six flags and were 6-for-7 in red-zone scoring chances.

Mitchell led the Javelinas with 166 yards rushing on 21 carries in the game and also threw for 156 yards on a 13-for-24 night where he also had the two interceptions. Vasquez, who had the fourth quarter touchdown run, finished the game with 81 yards rushing on 13 carries and Jordan Thomas led TAMUK with 87 yards receiving on six catches.