The A&M-Commerce football team retained the Chennault Cup for the third consecutive year following a 55-20 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville following a stingy defensive performance highlighted by two interceptions including one returned for a score from senior linebacker Tu'u Lui.
The defense stepped up in a big way, winning the turnover battle 3-0. Lui blocked two Javelina screen passes and pulled them down for his interceptions, one of which he ran back for a 35-yard touchdown return. Ronald Fields also had an interception for the Lions. Charles Woods tallied a team-high nine tackles including two and half tackles for a loss. Woods has led the Lions in tackles in each of the first three games as the junior has racked up 35 total tackles, six and a half tackles for a loss with one sack. The Lions limited the Javelinas to 289 total yards the lowest total of the season for an A&M-Commerce opponent and lowest total since holding Kingsville to 198 yards on October 12, 2013.
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"The second time the quarterback was looking at my eyes, and I saw the running back on the swing route, and I just caught it," Lui said. "I was excited for the first pick but the second time I was determined to score because the guys were giving me a hard time for not scoring on the first one."
The A&M-Commerce running game was effective throughout the game grinding out 180 yards on 41 carries. Senior running back Joe Bergeron led the way with 101 yards -- his second 100-yard rushing performance on the season -- and three touchdowns on 19 carries. Bergeron totaled a team-high 130 all-purpose adding 29 yards on four receptions. Tyrik Rollison completed 15 of his 21 passes for 196 yards and one touchdown. Seth Smith hauled in four catches for 54 yards, while Ricky Collins caught three pass for 67 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown reception – his third touchdown reception over 30 yards.
"We weren't clicking on early," head coach Colby Carthel said. We are still making some early season mistakes and that is on us as coaches, but great teams find a way to pick each other up whether it is defense helping offense, offense-defense or special teams stepping up. I am proud of the team overall with the way they kept fighting and then put it away."
Kingsville opened the scoring in the game after blocking an A&M-Commerce punt. Three plays and 11 yards later, the Javelinas held a 6-0 lead following a blocked point after attempt by Woods. The Lions answered with a seven-play, 72-yard drive capped off by a Richard Cooper 29-yard touchdown scamper, his third of the season.
After a Saul Martinez chip shot 25-yard field goal, Lui picked off his first pass of the game and returned it 29 yards down to the Kingsville 11 yard line. Two plays later Bergeron scored on three-yard run extending the Lion lead to 17-6.
Kingsville took advantage of a second quarter fumble by A&M-Commerce and capitalized with a five-yard scoring run by quarterback Trey Mitchell, who finished the game 9-of-19 for 66 yards with three INTs through the air and 42 yards on 12 rushes after leaving with an injury in the third quarter. After a three-and-out possession, Fields came up big for the Lions intercepting a pass from Mitchell on the Kingsville 31 yard line. After a 22-yard strike from Rollison to Smith, Bergeron capped off a three-play, 31-yard drive with a three-yard TD run extending the lead back to double-digits, 24-13.
On the ensuing Kingsville drive, Lui struck again intercepting his second pass and returning it 35 yards for the score as the Lions took control of the game, 31-13, with 4:03 left in the second quarter. The Lions tacked on seven more points before the break when Rollison connected with Collins for his 40-yard scoring catch and run as A&M-Commerce took a 38-17 lead into the intermission.
The scoring slowed down in the second half with the Lions tallying two touchdowns over the final 30 minutes. Bergeron scored his third TD of the game on a 14-yard run, and Rollison scored on his first rushing touchdown of the season from 14-yards out. Martinez booted his second field goal of the game in the fourth quarter, this one from 43 yards out – the longest of his career. The Javelinas lone score in the second half came on a seven-yard touchdown pass from reserve quarterback Alex Rios to Patrick LaFleur in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Lions 55 points against the Javelinas is the most points scored by either team the 63-game series that first started in 1930 and has been played continuously since 1954.
The Lions will celebrate the win and retaining the Chennault Cup before getting back to work to prepare for next week's trip to Eastern New Mexico University to take on the Greyhounds. That game is scheduled for Saturday, September 27 at 4:00 p.m.