Document 6559707

Friday, October 10, 2014 amarillo.com
Amarillo Globe-News D6
WT
Sean Steffen / Amarillo Globe-News
West Texas A&M’s Jeremy Watson (3) celebrates a touchdown against McMurry with lineman Austin Carson on Saturday at Happy State Bank Field at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium. WT won, 56-21.
Maroon and White Zone
FIRST DOWN: West Texas A&M got
its third straight win in a 56-21 victory
over McMurry on Saturday. The Buffs
have won three in a row, improving to
3-2 overall and 2-1 IN LSC. WT is one
game back of Texas A&M-Commerce in
the LSC standings.
SECOND DOWN: WT leads the all-
time series 15-12 and snapped a twogame losing streak to the Mustangs
Schedule
Date / Result
Sept. 4
Sept. 13
Sept. 20
Sept. 27
Oct. 4
Oct. 11
7 p.m.
Oct. 18
7 p.m.
Oct. 25
3 p.m.
Nov. 1
7 p.m.
LSC Playoffs
Nov. 8
Nov. 15
Opponent
at Colorado State-Pueblo
L, 35-6
Tarleton State
L, 31-27
Shorter (Ga.)
W, 27-19
Angelo State
W, 58-41
McMurry
W, 56-21
Midwestern State
Canyon
at Texas A&M-Commerce
Commerce
Texas A&M-Kingsville
Canyon
at Eastern New Mexico
Blackwater Draw, N.M.
LSC Semifinals
LSC Championship
How to go
Note: The bridge to Buffalo
Stadium road off Interstate 27 is gone. Driving
south from Amarillo, your
two options are the Hunsley Hills exit just past
the bridge construction
or stay on I-27 south and
take the Buffalo Stadium road exit.
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Saturday, Happy State Bank
Field at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium
(20,000)
On the air: The game will be on KPRF (98.7-
FM) with Neil Horn (play-by-play) and Brice
Edwards (color commentary).
Division II coaches poll
American Football Coaches Association
14. Harding (Ark.)
1. NW Missouri St.
15. Winston-Salem St. (N.C.)
2. Colorado State-Pueblo
16. Colorado School of
3. Minnesota-Mankato
Mines
3. Minnesota-Duluth
17. Carson-Newman (Tenn.)
5. North Alabama
18. Pittsburg St. (Kan.)
6. Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C)
19. Slippery Rock (Pa.)
7. Henderson St. (Ark.)
20. Sioux Falls (S.D)
8. Ohio Dominican
21. West Georgia
9. Shepherd (W.Va.)
22. Michigan Tech
10. West Chester (Pa.)
23. Concord (W.Va.)
11. Delta St. (Miss.)
24. Humboldt St. (Calif.)
12. Bloomsburg (Pa.)
25. Midwestern State
13. Ferris St. (Mich.)
A
NALYSIS, STATISTICS, QUOTES AND NUMBERS ABOUT SATURDAY’S 2014 HOME AND LONE STAR CONFERENCE GAME BETWEEN MIDWESTERN STATE AND WEST TEXAS A&M AT 7 P.M. SATURDAY AT HAPPY STATE
BANK FIELD AT KIMBROUGH MEMORIAL STADIUM.
— Kale Steed
with a 19-12 win last season. Midwestern State is 8-6 in Canyon and
won in a 52-48 come-from-behind
thriller in Canyon in 2012. Prior to
that, WT had won the previous three
meetings at home.
THIRD DOWN: Midwestern State,
despite a 45-31 loss to Angelo State
on Saturday, is ranked No. 25 in the
country and is the only team ranked in
the LSC in the AFCA Division II Coaches poll. Senior quarterback Jake Glover is averaging 265 yards of total
offense with 231 of those coming
through the air. Running back Dante
Taylor is second in the LSC averaging
105 yards a game with four touchdowns. Defensively, Dayvyon Henry
leads the team with 30 tackles.
FOURTH DOWN: The WT offense is
starting to click. Junior quarterback
Preston Rabb threw for 302 yards and
a career-high four touchdowns in the
win over McMurry. Senior receiver
Anthony Johnson is closing in on the
school’s top-10 list in career receiving
yards. He has 1,786 yards and is 166
yards away from the top 10. Defensively the Buffs are led by redshirt
freshman linebacker Carter James,
who has 59 tackles and two QB sacks.
Getting personal with ... Ethan Morriss
Morriss, a 22-year-old, 6-foot,
204-pound junior defensive back is
a Sonora High School graduate.
Morriss has started all five
games at safety for the Buffs this
season, totaling 29 tackles, a
forced fumble and an interception.
He played in all 14 games last year,
making 45 tackles and tying for second on
the team with two interceptions.
n How did you get to WT?
“I really didn’t know much about WT. I really
found out about WT my senior of high school
when a good friend of mine from Levelland
went to school here and said ‘Hey, you should
send your tape to WT and see what they say.’
So I did, and the coaches contacted me.”
n Growing up in Sonora, which isn’t far from
San Angelo, was it special to play at Angelo State
this year?
“I loved it. It was awesome. Our receiver
Word Hudson is also from Sonora, so it was
cool for us. All of the old high school coach-
es were there. My family was there,
and even my dentist was there. So it
was pretty cool for everyone to come
see me play. It was the first time
since high school.”
n What does WT mean to you?
“Just getting to play college football is an awesome experience. Like
coach (Mike) Nesbitt says, we are the few
that get to do what we do. If you look at statistics, only 1 percent of high school athletes
play college football so I’m really fortunate.”
n You watch college football or NFL football?
“Yes, I don’t watch NFL that much, but
even though I kinda hate to say it right now,
I’m a big Texas Longhorn fan even though
they’re having a rough year.”
n If you could have dinner with three professional athletes, who you would like to have dinner with?
“Emmitt Smith, Ed Reed and Randy Johnson.”
— Kale Steed
Coach speak
West Texas A&M head
coach Mike Nesbitt
n Second season at West
Texas A&M, 14-5.
Nesbitt guided the Buffs
to a 10th straight win on
homecoming while improving his own mark to 2-0 on
homecoming games. The Buffs have won
three straight games to put themselves
back in the Lone Star Conference race.
Nesbitt spent 2007-2010 as an assistant coach at WT before stints at offensive
coordinator at Stephen F. Austin State and
the University of Houston.
n “You look at Midwestern and you see
they're outscoring their opponents in the
second and fourth quarter of games.
You're going to see a team that is super
balanced, and that's always expected from
a Bill Maskill team. They're going to be
pumped and excited to play."
Starting lineups
West Texas A&M
OFFENSE
Receiver: Jeremy Watson (5-11, 196, Sr.)
Receiver: Dimitri Donald (5-10, 192, Jr.)
Left tackle: Stan Hasiak (6-4, 280, Jr.)
Left guard: Arthur Fatu (5-11, 362, Sr.)
Center: Austin Carson (6-2, 308, So.)
Right guard: Alex Mitchell (6-3, 321, Jr.)
Right tackle: Dillon Vaughan (6-6, 298, Fr.)
Quarterback: Preston Rabb (6-7, 220, Jr.)
Running back: Geremy Alridge-Mitchell (5-8,
203, Jr.)
Receiver: Jordan Jones (6-0, 216, Fr.)
Receiver: Anthony Johnson (6-1, 186, Sr.)
DEFENSE
Left end: David Tameilau (6-4, 281, Jr.)
Nose tackle: Alex Tucci (6-4, 281, Jr.)
Right end: Iosia Iosia (6-6, 274, Jr.)
Linebacker: Duke Kicinski (6-3, 197, Fr.)
Linebacker: Patric Youngman (6-1, 231, So.)
Linebacker: Carter James (6-2, 230, Fr.)
Linebacker: Markus Pierce-Brewster (6-3, 243,
Sr.)
Cornerback: Chris Ceazar (5-11, 192, Jr.)
Safety: Will Toliver (6-2, 198, So.)
Safety: Ethan Morriss (6-0, 204, Jr.)
Cornerback: Torian Oakley (5-9, 179, Sr.)
SPECIALISTS
Kicker: Connor Hollabaugh (5-10, 181, So.)
Punter: Elliott Moore (6-0 180, So.)
Midwestern State
Midwestern State head
coach Bill Maskill
n 13th season at Midwestern State, 98-38.
Maskill is the longest-tenured coach in the Lone Star
Conference and the winningest coach in program history. He has an overall record of 111-46,
with two seasons as head coach at thenDivision II Southeast Missouri State.
He is in his 46th year as a football
coach. His coaching experience includes
stops as a Division I assistant at Vanderbilt (twice), Southern Methodist, Wake Forest, Oregon, Tulane, Louisville, Arizona
State, Bowling Green and Iowa.
n “WT is a good football team. The last
two years have been close football games.
We’re anxious to get to Canyon and play,
and we didn’t play well last week.”
— Kale Steed
OFFENSE
Receiver: Breion Evans (6-1, 195, So.)
Tight end: Derek Lockhart (6-3, 240, Jr.)
Left tackle: John Rowell (6-5, 252, Fr.)
Left guard: Case Winkler (6-5, 310, Sr)
Center: Shadow Stokes (6-3, 290, Sr.)
Right guard: Joel Onyia (6-4, 295, So.)
Right tackle: Nathan Devan (6-6, 295, Sr.)
Quarterback: Jake Glover (6-4, 220, Sr.)
Running back: Dante Taylor (5-11, 190, So.)
Receiver: Statron Jones (5-9, 170, So.)
Receiver: Arsenio Phillips (5-10, 190, Sr.)
DEFENSE
Left end: Cameron Williams (6-3, 250, Sr.)
Defensive tackle: Paul Brown (6-2, 305, Sr.)
Defensive tackle: Torrey Dickey (6-2, 295, Jr.)
Right end: Travis Stephens (6-3, 255, Sr.)
Linebacker: Herb Whitehurst (6-1, 190, Jr.)
Linebacker: Daniel Laudermilk (6-1, 225, Jr.)
Linebacker: Donny Walsh (6-1, 235, Sr.)
Cornerback: Ricardo Riascos (6-1, 190, Sr.)
Safety: Deyleon Williams (6-2, 205, So.)
Safety: Will Weaver (5-10, 205, Jr.)
Cornerback: Dominique Williams (5-8, 180,
Jr.)
SPECIALISTS
Kicker: Andy Alkhazshvilly (5-11, 230, Jr.)
Punter: Mitchell Henton (6-2, 205, Fr.)