By Josh Hoggard
In their final game of Lone Star Conference play, the Midwestern State Mustangs defeated the West Texas A&M Buffaloes, 35-21, Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.
With the win, the Mustangs earned the title for Lone Star Conference champions outright, going 9-0 in conference play.
The Mustangs put the exclamation point on what is turning out to be the best season in Midwestern State history.
For the first time in school history, the Mustangs are 9-0, undefeated in conference play, and outright conference champions.
The win also propelled the Mustangs to first place in Super Region four, which gives them a first-round bye in the upcoming playoff.
The location and pairings for the playoffs will be announced this weekend and begin next weekend.
The win also thrust Midwestern State from a ranking of fifth in Division-II football to a ranking of third, breaking their record set only last week for highest ranking in school history.
All five of the Mustangs touchdowns came on the ground on Saturday.
So, it shouldn’t be a shock to hear that they rushed 62 times and put up 298 yards of rushing and kept possession of the ball for over 40 of the 60 minutes played.
Brandon Kelsey accounted for three of the rushing touchdowns and 110 of the teams rushing yards.
Running back Lester Bush saw 18 touches on Saturday for a total of 70 yards and a touchdown.
His counterpart, Keidrick Jackson, ran the ball 22 times for a total of 104 yards and found the end zone once as well. Jimmy Pipkin also saw five carries for 16 yards.
Though he never found the end zone through the air, Kelsey also put up 177 yards passing, completing 16 passes and only being intercepted once.
Wide receiver David Little caught nine passes for 88 yards on the day.
Sheldon Galloway caught five passes for 68 yards, Edgar Theliar caught a pass for 16 yards and tight end Mark Strange caught a pass for four yards.
The defense was equally as impressive on Saturday.
Neiko Conway had six solo tackles. Defensive end Kevin Birdow had two sacks for a total loss of 13 yards.
The Mustangs had a total of four tackles for loss and held the West Texas A&M running game to only 15 yards on 15 carries.
MSU scored on their first possession on an 11-yard run from Kelsey to put the Mustangs out to an early lead, 7-0.
The Buffaloes would answer, however, on a 5-yard pass from quarterback Dustin Vaughan to Torrence Allen to tie the game through the first quarter.
In the second half, however, the Mustangs surged for two rushing touchdowns, one a 3 yard run by Bush and the other a 1-yard run from Jackson with six seconds left in the half.
The Mustangs went into the locker room at halftime ahead, 21-7.
Far from the monstrous numbers they’ve been putting up, but a lead against a ranked conference opponent, nonetheless.
The Buffaloes were able to get two touchdowns on the board from Tommy Hampton and Khiry Robinson.
West Texas A&M came out in the third quarter and scored early on a 1-yard run to bring the Buffaloes within a touchdown.
Kelsey would answer, however, on a 44-yard run five minutes later to put the Mustangs ahead, 28-14.
Before the third quarter ended, however, the Buffaloes would score again on the ground, closing the gap to seven points with two minutes left in the third quarter.
That score would stand for a majority of the fourth quarter and leave MSU fans nervous.
The Mustangs have never been that close this late in a game yet this season.
However, with a minute and 16 seconds left, Kelsey would run another one in, this time from 26 yards out, to put the nail in the coffin and put the Mustangs ahead for the final score of 35-21.
The win leaves the Mustangs 9-0 on the season, 8-0 in conference, with only an away game at Northeastern State in the way of the first perfect season in MSU history.
The Buffaloes fell to 6-3 on the season and 5-2 in Lone Star Conference play.
Kickoff in Tahlequah, Oklahoma is set for 2 p.m. Saturday..