FOOTBALL

A near balanced offensive attack of 141 yards rushing and 190 yards passing led the Texas A&M University-Commerce to a 21-3 win over Southwestern Oklahoma State at Memorial Stadium.

The Lions offense featured eight-different ball carriers and six-different players had receptions in the win. The Lions offense outgained SWOSU by a 331-to-305 margin and the A&M-Commerce defense held SWOSU to 40 yards on the ground. It is the second time on the season that the defense has held an opponent to under 100 yards on the ground. Senior linebacker Andrew Gamboa and senior safety Courtney Edmond had 12 and 10 tackles, respectively.

Texas A&M University-Commerce (5-5 overall, 3-2 LSC North) went ahead 7-0 on a Trent Miller 44-yard touchdown pass to Willie Thornton (pictured; photo by Lori Fore) on the first possession of the game to culminate a 4 play, 64-yard drive.

The Bulldogs (3-8, 1-4 LSC North) cut the Lions lead to 7-3 on a 40-yard field goal by Chad McIntosh towards the end of the second quarter.

After holding a 7-3 lead at the halftime break, A&M-Commerce senior Ricky Hope forced his sixth fumble of the season and recovered his first of the season when he tackled SWOSU quarterback Steve Day on a 3rd and 1 carry. On the next play, the Lions went ahead 14-3 on a season-long 51 yard touchdown run by El-Amin, who twisted and broke through the SWOSU defense for the score.

A bit of trickery closed out the scoring for the Lions on a double reverse and a pass by junior wide receiver Taylor Fore completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to senior quarterback Terry Mayo.

Prior to the game, A&M-Commerce honored its 17 seniors - 16 of which saw action in the contest - in pre-game ceremonies in the final regular season home game. In addition, the Lions are now 6-0 in the series at games played at Memorial Stadium.