West Texas A&M's Gage Urias proved to be the hero on Saturday night in front of 9,414 fans at Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium as the senior from Lubbock set a new school record with five made field goals including a 32-yarder with four seconds left to give the Buffs a 28-27 Homecoming victory over UT Permian Basin.
The Buffs used a big special teams play to get on the board in the first quarter as Ty Dillon blocked a UTPB punt on the opening possession of the game that led to a Urias 33-yard field goal for the 3-0 advantage. WT forced another Falcon punt and the Buffs marched down the field with Urias connected on his second of the game, this time from 49-yards out for the 6-0 lead.
The Falcons made their first big play of the game on special teams as they forced a WT fumble on a long punt return but the Buffs took the ball right back on Preston Steszewski's fourth interception of the season, Urias added to the WT lead with a 20-yard chip shot to make it 9-0.
UTPB started off the second quarter with some trickery on a fourth and one with a fake punt but (#35) made a play behind the line of scrimmage for the stop, WT turned that into points as a Noah Bogardus sliding catch on a fourth down conversion led to an 18-yard touchdown by Jarrod Compton to extend the lead to 16-0.
The Falcons responded on their next drive as Dylan Graham connected with MJ Link on a 47-yard bomb down the middle of the field to make it 16-7. UTPB marched down the field late in the second quarter as they capped off a nine-play drive with a trick play as Antonio Malone took a quick pitch and threw a six yard touchdown pass to Link to cut the lead to 16-14 headed into the locker room.
WT looked to add to their lead on the first drive of the second half but a fumble deep in UTPB territory switched the momentum, the Falcons would convert a fourth and short on their way to a 34-yard field goal from Carson Roberts for the 17-16 lead. The Buffs responded as Urias connected on his fourth field goal of the night, this one from 45 yards out to give WT the 19-17 lead.
The back-and-forth battle continued as the Falcons capped off a 12-play drive with a six yard touchdown pass from Graham to Jeremiah Venson for the 24-19 advantage. The Buffs marched down the field on their next drive as a pass interference call on the goal line negated a UTPB interception, Nick Gerber called his own number as the senior took it in from two yards out for the 25-24 lead.
The Falcons retook the lead again on their next possession as the WT defense held on fourth and long to force a 33-yard field goal by Roberts for the 27-24 UTPB lead. WT would drive down the field on their next drive but a missed field goal kept the Falcons in the lead.
The Buffs managed the clock to perfection as they forced a UTPB punt to regain possession with 2:07 remaining. WT would move their way into field goal range as a Gerber 18-yard scramble setup a 32-yard game-winner by Urias with just four seconds left for the 28-27 victory.
Gerber finished the night completing 27-of-43 passes for 271 yards to go along with a team-high 105 yards on the ground with a touchdown. Noah Bogardus led the receiving core with 195 yards on 11 catches followed by Tyler Sweet with four catches and 42 yards.
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