Down 13 in the fourth quarter, the UT Permian Basin Falcons stormed back with a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns, the second coming with 15 seconds remaining to stun Western New Mexico 21-20 at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa.
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The Falcons (1-4, 1-2) opened the scoring on their second drive of the night.
Sergio Landeros connected on a 38-yard field goal but Western New Mexico was called for roughing the kicker. The very next play
Taylor Null connected with
Kyle McBride on an 11-yard touchdown strike, jumping over the defender and gave the Falcons the 7-0 lead. The drive was 64 yards in seven plays.
Western New Mexico (0-4, 0-2) would answer with a touchdown of their own. Blayne Armstrong connected with Evan Beebe from 14 yards out in the corner of the end zone to tie the score.
The Falcons would turn it over on back to back possessions with a fumble. The Mustangs would get into field goal range for a 46-yard field goal attempt, but it would be blocked by
Austin Price.
The half would end with
Tristen Thompson picking off Armstrong at the Falcon three-yard-line and stopping a late drive by the Mustangs.
The Mustangs would take the lead in the second half with an 80-yard drive finished off by Beebe's second touchdown reception. They would add another on a 74-yard punt return by Isaiah Pierre to make it 20-7.
The teams would trade punts until the fourth quarter where the Falcon offense went to work. Null hit McBride on a 47-yard pass down the field to open a drive late in the fourth. Three plays later Null found
Kristian Brown for a 14-yard strike to make it 20-14 with 7:01 remaining in the game.
The Falcons would get the ball back with 1:51 and the ball on their own 15-yard line after a 42-yard punt.
Null completed four straight passes after an incompletion to start the final drive, first throwing for a first down on a 19-yard pass to his favorite target McBride. Pat Sullivan caught his lone pass of the night on the next play for 13 yards to get to the Falcon 47. A 16-yard catch by McBride pulled the Falcons into Mustang territory to the 37-yard line, and a six-yard completion to Brown brought UTPB to the Western 31.
Null rushed for the first down on the next play, and a 10-yard holding penalty by WNMU moved the ball inside the red zone to the 16-yard line.
From there
Marquis Simmons carried the load, rushing first for seven yard on first down and running it in from nine yards out two plays later to give the Falcons the 21-20 lead with just 15 seconds left on the clock.
A leaping penalty on the extra point attempt moved the ensuing kick off to midfield, and a long return by Western New Mexico ran 12 of the remaining 15 seconds off the clock. The Mustangs final attempt would be intercepted by
Keegan Gray after time expired at the 50-yard line for the thrilling 21-20 win.
Null threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns spearheading the comeback.
Leroy Giles,
Marquis Simmons and
Adrian Walker combined for 137 yards on the ground. McBride had seven receptions and 128 yards with a score.
Chris Hoad flew all over the field for the defense with 15 combined tackles and 2.5 for loss.
UTPB averaged 4.8 yards per carry on 32 rushes while holding the Mustangs to just 2.6 yards on 35 attempts. Western New Mexico was limited by the Falcon defense to just 141 yards in the air on 33 passing attempts.
The Falcons continue Lone Star Conference play next week in Canyon as they take on West Texas A&M Saturday night at 6 p.m.