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Lions, Buffaloes to meet in pivotal game

lionathletics.com

With the Lone Star Conference Championship on the line, No. 23 A&M-Commerce welcomes West Texas A&M to Memorial Stadium for a 7 p.m. showdown Saturday night on Military Appreciation Night sponsored by the Texas Army National Guard.

1st and 10

- The No. 23 Lions are ranked in the AFCA Top 25 Coaches’ Poll for the first time since 2001 when the team held the 24th spot for two weeks in October ... The team is 14th in the Massey ratings.

-  A&M-Commerce is coming off of a thrilling 41-40 win over Angelo State on a game-winning field  goal ... Prior the Saturday’s win, the Lions defeated the co-defending LSC champions for the second consecutive week after handing TSU a 53-25 loss on Oct. 4 and defeating ENMU 48-32 on Sept. 27.

- The Lions enter the game at 283-208-12 in 503 LSC games.

- A&M-Commerce is 4-0 in LSC play for the first time since starting the 1990 LSC schedule with wins over Central Oklahoma, Texas A&M-Kingsville, West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico ... The Lions went undefeated in LSC play with a perfect 7-0 record that season.

- The Lions are currently ranked first in blocked punts and team tackles for a loss and second in scoring offense in the NCAA ... Individually, Davarus Shores is ranked third in blocked kicks ... Charles Woods is ranked 15th in tackles ... Toni Pulu ranks fifth in tackles for loss, while Tyrik Rollison is ranked sixth in passing yards per game ... Saul Martinez is first in field goals per game.

-  The Lions are averaging 52.0 points per game which would shatter the previous school record of 36.2 ppg set in 1990.

- In the win over ETBU, the Lions shattered NCAA, LSC and school records ... The 986 yards of total offense set a new NCAA record.

- Following the ETBU game, the Lions were featured on ESPN’s SportsCenter, College GameDay, NBC Sports, Fox Sports1 and numerous local and regional news outlets.

- The Lions experienced the biggest turnaround by a collegiate team in the state of Texas after their 7-5 season in 2013.

-  The Lions are the only LSC team with two All-Americans in Vernon Johnson and Charlie Tuaau

About the Series against the Buffs

- The two teams meet for the 29th time Saturday ... Each team has won 14 games in the series , however the Buffs have won the last six meetings dating back to 2005.

- In 2013, West Texas defeated the Lions 62-28 in Canyon ... The 62 points scored by the Buffs is the most points scored in the series by either team.

- A&M-Commerce is 8-6 in home contest against WT, but have not won in Memorial Stadium since 2001, a 28-19 game.

- Head A&M-Commerce coach, Colby Carthel, spent seven season as the Buffs DC under his father, Don Carthel ... co-OCs Matt Storm and Jared May, DC Justin Deason, LB coach Wendel Davis all spent time on the coaching staffs at WT ... DB coach Darren Garrigan played for the Buffs.

- The series has featured 10 games decided by a touchdown or less.

About West Texas A&M

- The Buffs enter the game after a 34-13 win over Midwestern State in their last game ... The win continued  WT on its current four-game winning streak with wins over Shorter College (Ga.), Angelo State, McMurry and Midwestern after opening the season with back-to-back losses.

- Preston Rabb leads the offense averaging 290 passing yards on 138-of-213 with 11 TDs ... Rabb has also tossed three INTs.

- Geremy Alridge-Mitchell averages 100 rushing yards per game and accumulated eight TDs.

- Anthony Johnson is the team’s leading receiver averaging 102.5 yards per game ... He has caught four TD passes ... Jeremy Watson follows with 81.8 yards per game and a team-high five scoring catches.

- Offensively the Buffs are ranked 17th in the nation in completion percentage and fourth in red zone offense scoring 93 percent of the time the team enters the red zone.

Mark Haslett has served at KETR since 2013. Since then, the station's news operation has enjoyed an increase in listener engagement and audience metrics, as well recognition in the Texas AP Broadcasters awards.