Hog Nation Chapter 6

It was a little to close for comfort but a 28-21 win is a win.
Texas A&M-Kingsville junior quarterback Nate Poppell (Spring/Spring HS) faced a tough Angelo State pass rush all night long, but was able to take a hit and deliver a 62-yard bomb to Robert Armstrong (Cuero/Cuero HS) with 1:44 remaining to give the team a 28-21 victory at San Angelo Stadium on Saturday night.

Poppell’s pass to Armstrong came after a nail-biting fourth quarter in which momentum see-sawed back and forth. The Javelinas (5-1, 2-1) opened the quarter with the ball, but were forced to punt.

The Rams (2-3, 0-3) quickly got to the Hoggie 27-yard line, but were stopped on fourth-and-1 when Kendrick Matthews (Houston/Kansas State) batted down a Josh Neiswander pass.

The Hogs responded with a nice drive, but were stopped at the ASU 44-yard line. Neiswander hit Dakarai Pecikonis on a 56-yard pass to open the drive for the Rams. They would attempt a potential go-ahead field goal from 38 yards, but Tressor Baptiste (New York, NY/Curtis HS) came up with a block to keep the score at 21-21 with under four minutes to play.

On the game-winning drive, the Hoggies relied upon running back Connell Davis (Portland/Gregory-Portland HS) who picked up 19 yards on three carries which set up the third-and-7 pass from Poppell to Armstrong for the game winning score.

The Rams were able to drive to the Javelina 32-yard line, but the Hogs stood strong and held them on fourth down with less than one minute to play to insure the victory.

The Javelinas opened the game firing away on all cylinders. A 48-yard pass from Poppell to Delashaun Dean (Fairfield, CA/Fairfield HS) was the big play of the drive. Poppell called his own number scoring from eight yards out just 1:59 into the contest. One unfortunate event occurred on the drive and that was an injury to Dean that knocked him out of the rest of the game.

The Hoggies forced a punt on the first Rams possession and Arron Fisher (Orlando, FL/West Orange HS) returned it 85 yards for a touchdown, but the play was called back due to a block in the back. It was just about the final positive offensive play of the first half for the team.

The second quarter belonged to the Rams as they put together a pair of touchdown drives. The first took advantage of a short field as they went 40 yards in nine plays. Tristan Carter bulled his way into the endzone from the 1-yard line to tie the game at 7-7 with 12:26 left in the half.

Later in the half, a Dekkar Williams interception at the ASU 17-yard line turned into a Ram score. They drove 83 yards on nine plays as they picked up chunks of yards on the ground and through the air. Neiswander hit V’Keon Lacey on a 20-yard scoring strike to give ASU a 14-7 lead heading into halftime.

Each team opened the third quarter by going three-and-out. On their second possession, the Rams appeared to be moving the ball when Lacey had the ball stripped out of his hands by Josh Luck (Chandler, AZ/Hamilton HS) who then returned it 62 yards for a touchdown on a long, winding return through a field of defenders.

The Javelina joy was short lived as Pecikonis returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown to give the lead back to the Rams with 8:22 left in the third quarter.

The Hoggies responded with a 10-play, 76-yard drive to tie the game with 4:09 left in the quarter. Poppell completed a 40-yard pass to Damian Couthren (Bastrop/Bastrop HS) and found him on another 10-yard pass when the team faced a third-and-10 situation. Poppell would connect with Ryan Lincoln (Bastrop/Bastrop HS) on an 8-yard scoring strike to tie the game at 21-21 leading to the exciting fourth quarter.

Poppell finished the game 16-for-26 for 250 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in the passing game. He added another score on the ground. Sherman Batiste (Fort Bend/Marshall HS) was his favorite target with five catches for 33 yards. Armstrong added four catches for a career high 100 yards. Couthren finished with four catches for 69 yards.

The running game struggled throughout most of the game, but Davis did some heavy lifting in the fourth quarter to finish with 70 yards on 24 carries.

The Rams were led by Neiswander’s 238 yards on 21-of-41 passing and one touchdown. Pecikones led all players with six catches for 104 yards. Carter led the team with 46 yards rushing on 14 carries. The team gained 90 yards on the ground, the most given up by the Javelinas this year.

Baptiste led the Javelina defense with eight tackles, a half tackle for loss, a pass break-up and the big blocked field goal. Luck, Marcus Sanders (Houston/Westfield HS) and Michael Talamantez (Laredo/United HS) each finished with seven tackles. Derrick Thomas (San Antonio/Jay HS) added six tackles and a game high three break-ups.

The Rams defense boasted a pair of players with 10 tackles apiece, Brandon Mayse and Devin McDonald. McDonald also added a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss. Austin Benson had nine stops and 1.5 tackles for loss. The Rams had four sacks overall.

The Javelinas had four more first downs than the Rams and maintained a 6:20 advantage in time of possession. The Hogs converted 8-of-17 third downs and held the Rams to only 4-for-15.

The Javelinas return home next week to take on seventh-ranked West Texas A&M in the Kleberg Bank Homecoming Game. Senior wide receiver Ryan Lincoln will try to become the school’s all-time leader in receptions. He needs two more to overtake Glenn Starks (1974-77) who had 177 catches. This was the fourth straight win for the Hoggies over Angelo State.
By SID Shane Meling