Texas A&M-Commerce sacks Western New Mexico 58-0 on homecoming
Oct. 17—COMMERCE — Texas A&M University-Commerce set a new program record with 10 quarterback sacks in the first half on the way to a 58-0 homecoming football victory over the Western New Mexico Mustangs on a pleasant Saturday evening.
The Lions bounced back from their overtime loss last week to Saginaw Valley State as they improved to 4-3 for the season and 2-1 in the Lone Star Conference.
Western New Mexico, held to 157 yards, fell to 1-6 overall and 0-5 in the LSC.
"We had some great individual performances tonight," said Lions coach David Bailiff.
Quarterback Miklo Smalls, in his second game back from a knee injury, went 8-of-10 passing for 224 yards and two touchdowns. His touchdown passes went for 74 yards to Andrew Armstrong and 66 yards to Kevin LeDee. Smalls also capped scoring drives of 57 and 37 yards with two 1-yard sneaks for touchdowns.
Carandal Hale, the graduate student from Greenville, topped the 100-yard mark for the second time this season for the Lions with 102 yards on 13 carries.
The Lion running game, held to only 80 yards last week, racked up 283 yards against the Mustangs as J.T. Smith ran for 88 yards on nine carries, Shane Gosson ran for 38 yards and a TD on two carries and Antonio Lealiee rushed for 36 yards on eight carries.
Jaiave Magalei spelled Smalls at quarterback in the second half and was 2-of-2 passing for 13 yards with both of them going for touchdowns of 8 and 5 yards to wide receiver Matt Childers.
Punt returner Dominque Ramsey also had a big game, returning punts 62 and 56 yards for touchdowns. The 56-yarder was called back because of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Lions.
Bailiff said he was concerned about the Lions' penalties. They were flagged 13 times for 120 yards.
"We had three touchdowns erased off the board," he said about penalties.
Bailiff said he wasn't happy with the performance of the offensive line in the first half after the Lions rushed for only 50 yards. Bailiff said the Lions' offensive line showed improvement in the second half as A&M-Commerce ran for 233 yards.
Lion defensive end Jaylon Hodge set up one Lion score when he intercepted a deflected pass and returned it 16 yards to the Mustangs' 43.
"We just wanted to come back and have the right mindset," said Hodge.
Hodge, Elijah Earls, Justice Williams, Anthony Hayes, Celestin Haba, Ben Hutch and Clifford Funderburk all had sacks as Mustang quarterback Devin Larsen gained 47 yards but lost 81 for a minus 34 net yards rushing. Larsen was 10-of-19 passing for 80 yards.
