ODESSA, Texas (November 15, 2025) – Quarterback Kanon Gibson showed why he is one of the best players in the Lone Star Conference and added to his standout junior season by exploding for five touchdown passes through just two and a half quarters as the No. 15 UT Permian Basin football team defeated Sul Ross State University 74-10 in the final game of the regular season on Saturday at Astound Broadband Stadium.

Sul Ross answered UTPB's first scoring drive, which lasted for 12 plays and ended with a four-yard touchdown pass from Gibson to TJ McKenzie on fourth-and-goal, with a seven-play, 79-yard scoring drive of its own ending with a 41-yard touchdown reception by Taribbean Ramirez.

After UTPB scored again to make it three straight scoring drives between the teams, Angel Diaz recovered his own onside kick to get the ball back, but then the Falcons immediately saw an interception on the first play of the ensuing drive.

It took until the fourth full possession of the second quarter for another score as Gibson found Kylin Mathis for 30 yards down the sideline to make the score 22-7 Falcons.

Then on the very first play of the next Sul Ross drive, a fumble by the Lobos' quarterback was recovered by David Walker to set the Falcons up at the five-yard line, where linebacker Tristan Exline rushed it in from one yard out to make it 29-7.

UTPB showed off its arsenal of trick plays in the first half, completing a reverse flea flicker and also a double pass from Gibson to Traylen Suel and back to Gibson, and then the cherry on top was a career-long 50-yard field goal by Diaz to make it 32-7 with four minutes remaining.

The first half for UTPB also featured a wild cat formation on Exline's touchdown rush, while each of the Falcons' first two touchdowns saw two-point plays converted on a direct snap on a swinging gate formation.

Gibson threw his fourth and fifth touchdown passes of the game on UTPB's first two possessions of the third quarter. The fifth touchdown was also the second receiving touchdown of the game by Jaylon Tillman, this time an 18-yard touchdown after scoring from eight yards out for UTPB's second touchdown of the game back in the first quarter.

After scoring two touchdowns in each of the first three quarters, UTPB scored four touchdowns in the final quarter. One of those final touchdowns was a 47-yard touchdown pass down the middle from backup quarterback Issac Mooring to Crimson Mathis approaching the two-minute warning, and then the final two were rushing touchdowns by Damien Johnson (20 yards) and Anthony Dansby (1 yard) in the final two minutes. Dansby's touchdown came just one play after a beautiful 22-yard catch by him, which was originally ruled incomplete before review overturned it to a completion to the one-yard line. UTPB would reward his effort just one play later.

Gibson finished by completing 26 of his season-high 50 passes for 296 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. 12 different Falcons had at least one reception and nine had at least one rushing attempt. Kory Harris led the effort on the ground with 10 rushes for 74 yards and a four-yard touchdown run to get the scoring started in the fourth quarter.

In addition to Diaz converting on a 50-yard field goal and going 7-for-7 on his extra point kicks, Jolon Cabello boomed a 68-yard punt to flip the field in the second quarter and Heston Kelly and Tillman both had kickoff returns of at least 30 yards to round out the Falcons' special teams' efforts.

Coming off his second D2Football.com National Player of the Week honor of the season, Exline once again led the way defensively with 10 tackles. Kharel Coney totaled three pass breakups and had an interception to end the first half.

The UTPB defense totaled six sacks for 44 yards, including two of those on intentional grounding penalties, and held SRSU to a 1-for-4 rate in the redzone and a 1-for-6 rate on fourth down. The UTPB offense, meanwhile, was 8-for-8 in the redzone and 4-for-6 on fourth down.

UTPB also finished with 639 yards of offense, it's second-highest total of the season. Additionally, the Falcons had their second-most passing yards (419) this season, and reached 200-plus rushing yards for the third game in a row.

Prior to the start of the game, UTPB recognized its 18-member senior class: No. 0 Malik Allen, No. 3 TJ McKenzie, No. 5 Kory Harris, No. 5 Jacob Humphrey, No. 6 Jalani Jefferson, No. 7 Kharel Coney, No. 8 Jace Wyatt, No. 10 Ben Patterson, No. 11 Gary Holmes, No. 13 Jaylon Tillman, No. 14 Solomon James, No. 19 Anthony Dansby, No. 26 Taison Fa'asuamanu, No. 29 Euvoski Cunningham, No. 32 Champ Mathis, No. 50 Tyler Ball, No. 52 Mekhi Pinckney, and No. 99 Amari Bedford. In addition, student manager Kay Lindley, student assistant coach Andrew Vasquez and student athletic trainer Cassandra Franco were each recognized for their contribution to the Falcon football program.

UTPB finishes its regular-season 9-2 overall and 7-2 in the Lone Star Conference, and awaits its fate regarding the NCAA Division II Playoffs. In addition to having the second-winningest season in program history, the Falcons have now had three straight winning seasons under Head Coach Kris McCullough, who now with 26 wins, becomes the Falcons' all-time winningest coach.

The 2025 NCAA DII football championship begins with a selection show on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. ET on NCAA.com. The 32-team field consists of 16 automatic qualifiers and eight at-large bids per super region.