CANYON, Texas – Playing for the second time this season, West Texas A&M evened the season result against the Angelo State football team, defeating the Rams 34-27 in a shootout at Buffalo Stadium on Saturday night.
 
The Buffs pick up their first home win against the Rams since 2013 to improve to 2-2 on the season while the Rams fall to 1-2. Big plays hurt the Rams for the second week in a row, allowing scores of 50-plus yards twice against West Texas.
 
Both teams traded off possession in the opening quarter before Angelo State got on the board after a blocked punt led to a safety to give the Rams the lead with just over eight minutes left in the first. ASU followed that up with a 32-yard field goal by Dajuan Adkinson to go up 5-0.
 
In the second quarter, the Buffs failed to convert on a fourth and eight as Zorhan Rideaux and K'hari Watson held West Texas a yard short of the first down to give the ball back to ASU. The Rams capitalized as Alfred Grear broke away for a 17-yard score, bringing his season total to three touchdowns, giving ASU a 12-0 lead.
 
West Texas put together its first scoring drive with 10 minutes to go in the second quarter, driving the ball 67-yards downfield before capping off the drive with a one-yard rush for a score. After holding the Rams to a punt, WT scored on the following drive, a 61-yard pass from Nick Gerber to Gage Urias to give the Buffs a 14-12 lead heading into halftime.
 
Saturday's game saw much more offense than the previous meeting in San Angelo, with West Texas finishing with 335 yards of total offense while the Rams totaled 447 yards.
 
Angelo State came out of the break running as Grear scored his second touchdown of the game, this time a 54-yard sprint to the endzone to give the Rams back the lead at 19-14. Grear finished with a season-high 138 yards rushing while Zach Bronkhorst added 43 yards on the ground and Nathaniel Omayebu finished with 22 yards.
 
On the following drive, ASU's Leddy French II intercepted the Buffs in the endzone but fumbled on the return, giving the ball back to WT who scored on a one-yard rush to take back the lead 21-19. The Buffs added to their lead late in the third, intercepting Bronkhorst at West Texas' 15-yard line, returning the pick 85-yards to go up 27-19.
 
The Rams weren't done, holding the Buffs to a punt before driving the ball 87-yards on their longest scoring drive of the night, capped by a 13-yard receiving touchdown by Rasheen Green from Bronkhorst. ASU converted the two-point conversion after Kellen Pachot brought in the pass to tie the game 27-27.
 
Bronkhorst finished 20-of-40 passing for 232 yards, a score, and two interceptions. He continued to spread the ball out to his receivers as Green finished with 65 yards off of four catches while Pachot had four catches for 21 yards, Austin Landry finished with 48 yards receiving, and Omayebu collected five catches for 49 yards.
 
The back-and-forth continued as West Texas' Khalil Harris broke away for a 50-yard rushing touchdown to make it 34-27 with 7:41 left to go in the game. The Buffs finished with 151 yards on the ground as Harris tallied 99 total yards.
 
ASU couldn't answer, ending the following drive with a punt before failing to convert on fourth down in its final drive of the game.
 
Donavyn Jackson finished with seven total tackles and a sack to lead Angelo State's defense while Weston Bauer added six tackles and four other Rams finished with five.
 
The Rams will take next weekend off before finishing up the fall season on the road at Abilene Christian on Saturday, Nov. 7.