Aggies Lose Lead in Home Finale

Goodwell, Okla.- The Aggies played their final home game of the season
against the Langston University Lions. The game would come down to the wire
as nine Aggie seniors would be playing in their final home game as an Aggie.

After last year’s disappointing loss to the Lions in the season finale for
the Aggies, the makings of this game proved to be just as intense. A late
fourth quarter push by Langston was followed and duplicated for the second
year in a row; this game, however, left an even more bitter taste for the
Aggies as they dropped the game by one point, losing 20-19.

The first quarter for the Aggies started with a solid 3-and-out performance
by the Darkside Defense as they forced the Lions to punt early. The up-tempo
offense for the Aggies got things going right away as well. Caleb Holbrook
opened the game with a 33 yard strike to Spencer Grijalva, and the Aggies
got on the board first with a 34 yard field goal by senior kicker Carlos
Nieto. The next two Lion possessions were also dominated by the Aggies
defense as Tanner Hallford recovered a fumble, and senior Keidrick Brewster
did the same on the following possession for Langston. The Aggie offense
could not get on the scoreboard either time, but they received a huge
momentum shift as Xazier Murry blocked the Lion’s punt, and Brewster
recovered and scored on his third defensive touchdown in his outstanding
career as an Aggie. After the extra point, the Aggies jumped out to a 10-0
lead after one quarter of play.

The 2nd quarter opened with Langston’s possession and they finally got on
the board as they used a 10-play, 77-yard drive to score. The extra point
attempt was missed and the Aggies still held a 10-6 advantage. The Aggies
promptly responded with an 8-play, 61-yard drive in which Holbrook found
Chris McClendon on a short pass which he took 22 yards down the sideline to
score. The extra point attempt was missed after a delay of game for the
Aggies, but they still led 16-6 at this point. The final Langston drive
before the half looked to take them right into the end zone until a Lion
fumble inside the Aggies’ five yard line was recovered by Aaron Dougherty.
The score remained 16-6 at the half.

The Aggies opened up with a 7-play, 48-yard drive in which Nieto nailed his
second field goal attempt of the game from 22 yards out. A big time
quarterback sack from Nate Leota on a fourth down conversion attempt by the
Lions gave the Aggies even more momentum as they continued to keep the Lions
in check. The action for both teams seemed to fade during the 3rd quarter,
but Langston opened the 4th with a 5-play, 90-yard aerial attack on the
Aggies as they scored on a 33 yard pass and catch. The Aggies still held on
to a 19-13 lead, but the game was just beginning to heat up.

The next Aggie possession ended after three plays as Holbrook lost the ball,
and Langston recovered in Aggie territory. Again the Lions took to the air
to move the ball and eventually scored on a quarterback keeper as they took
their first lead of the game, 20-19, with just under eight minutes left in
the game. The offense was unable to move the ball on the following
possession, but senior Antonio Mendoza booted an outstanding 47 yard punt
which placed the ball on Langston’s two yard line. After a stop on first
down, the Aggies were called for a personal foul penalty which gave the
Lions room to work. They eventually milked five minutes off the game clock
until they were finally forced to punt to the Aggies. With one last attempt
to win the game, the Aggies had 1:30 on the clock to get things going. After
advancing the football 43 yards, they found themselves needing to convert on
a fourth and long play. The pass from Holbrook to Andrew Hernandez came up
just short of the first down marker, and the Aggies lost by a final score of
20-19.

Holbrook finished the game 16-32 passing with 236 yards and a touchdown.
McClendon led the rushing attack with 69 yards on 15 carries as well as 46
yards receiving on 4 receptions. The defense was led by Andrew Dougherty who
finished with 11 tackles. Brewster also had an outstanding final home game
with his 4 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery for a touchdown, and
three pass break-ups.

Coach Gaskamp had this to say after the game: "First I should say how proud
I am of the effort of this team. Our guys played their guts out and it just
didn’t end the right way for us. We played really well for the three
quarters but the attrition that we have experienced this year due to injury
really caught up with us in the 4th quarter. The two offensive turnovers in
the 4th quarter really hurt our team after playing well on offense up until
that point. We are a better team than our record indicates. Langston was a
good football team that we gave our best shot; we just didn’t have enough in
the tank to finish what we started. This Aggie football team is a resilient
group though; we will bounce back and play well versus OBU in the season
finale."

The Aggies are set to play their final game of the season against Oklahoma
Baptist University as they travel to Shawnee, Oklahoma on November 9th. Game
time is set for 1p.m.