UT Permian Basin Football's defense stepped up to the challenge against one of the top offenses in the Lone Star Conference, but West Texas A&M took advantage of a short field two times in the second half of a 14-10 defeat Saturday night on Homecoming at Ratliff Stadium.

Neither offense got much going in the first quarter with both teams only having one scoring opportunity each.  Both drives ended in missed field goal attempts.  The Falcon offense got going towards the end of the quarter after the missed Buff field goal.

The Falcons drove into the red zone before facing a crucial fourth down, but converted on the pass from Caleb Leake to Gabe Nelson.  The ensuing play Nelson found the end zone from eight yards out to put the Falcons up 7-0. 

UTPB took advantage of great field position on its last drive of the second half after a nine-yard punt left the Falcons starting on the West Texas 38-yard line. Caleb Leake found Jeremiah Cooley for a 14-yard pass and rushed on the next play for 15 yards down to the seven, and the Falcons scored the final points of the first half on a 22-yard field goal by Hayden DeCossas.

The Falcon defense played lights-out in the first half, holding a Buffs offense that averaged 41 points a game scoreless and to just 99 yards of total offense.

West Texas A&M took advantage of good field position coming off of a UTPB turnover in the third quarter, getting possession at the UTPB 27 and scoring on a 12 yard pass from Jordan Johnson from Nick Gerber to pull within 10-7.

The Buffs took over late in the third quarter when the Falcons turned the ball over on downs near midfield, A 38-yard pass to Chase Sojka to the UTPB 1 followed by a Johnson rush two plays later gave the Buffs their first lead of the game, 14-10.

The Falcons were able to move the ball into Buff territory midway through the fourth quarter, but WT took over on its own 13 after an interception with six minutes remaining. 

Leake finished the night 20-36 for 171 yards and four interceptions. The freshman also led the team in rushing, running for 68 yards on 16 carries. Gabe Nelson added 53 yards and the touchdown on the night, while Kyle McBride added a game-best eight catches for 82 yards.

Chris Hoad had a game-high 14 tackles for UTPB, while D'Ondre Robinson added 10 tackles from the Falcon defense.

UTPB is back on the road for the next two weeks, traveling to northwest Nebraska next Saturday for a noon contest at Chadron State out of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.