The West Texas A&M Buffaloes couldn't overcome a slow start on Saturday night as the Simon Fraser Red Leafs picked up their first victory in almost a calendar year with a 46-14 Lone Star Conference decision at SFA Stadium in Burnaby, British Columbia in the season finale.
The Red Leafs marched down the field on their opening drive of the game and finished off an 11-play drive that spanned 60 yards as Justin Seiber completed a five-yard touchdown pass to Aiden Domino for the 7-0 lead. The Buffs responded on their first drive of the game as a 47-yard Hunter Kaufman kickoff return started off a nine-play drive that took 3:09 off the clock, WT converted on fourth down in the SFU redzone as Shakell Brown finished the drive with a one-yard rush up the middle to tie it at 7-7.
Simon Fraser would retake the lead on their next drive as a long pass completion down the sideline setup a Giovanni Linuzzi 34-yard field goal to make it 10-7. SFU would force a punt on WT's next possession as the Red Leafs marched 69-yards on eight plays capped off by a Seiber six-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Beselt to extend the lead to 17-7.
SFU would use a big fourth down stop near midfield on WT's next drive to setup a 34-yard touchdown pass from Seiber to Beselt for the 23-7 lead. The Red Leafs came up big on defense again as they sacked Nick Gerber in the endzone for a safety with 6:41 left in the half to extend their lead to 25-7. SFU took advantage of the short field position after the safety kick as a fourth-down conversion deep inside of Buffalo territory led to a Seiber two-yard touchdown pass to Sam Davenport to make it 32-7.
The Red Leafs would add to their lead early in the third quarter as Somto Anyadike found the endzone from one year out to cap off a seven-play drive that went 46 yards to extend the lead to 39-7. SFU's defense came up big again later in the quarter with an interception to setup Robert Meadors for an eight-yard touchdown reception to make it 46-7.
The Buffs cut into the lead in the fourth quarter as Jarrod Compton found the endzone from 14 yards out to finish off a 91-yard drive and cut the SFU lead to 46-14 with 8:30 left.
Nick Gerber finished the game completing 13-of-23 passes for 98 yards while also rushing five times -6 yards. The senior from Levelland moved into fifth on WT's all-time passing list as he passes Tod Mayfield (7,424 - 1984-86) with 7,504 yards in Maroon & White. Jarrod Compton finished the game with 45 yards on six carries with a touchdown while Noah Bogardus caught five passes for 37 yards.
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