COMMERCE – Mitchell Gale threw an 85-yard touchdown pass to
Darian Hogg with 1:20 left in the fourth quarter Saturday as the ACU Wildcats escaped Memorial Stadium with a 24-17 win over Texas A&M-Commerce in Lone Star Conference football action.
The Wildcats trailed 14-3 at halftime and 17-3 in the third quarter before ACU scored two third-quarter touchdowns to knot the game at 17-17 going to the fourth quarter. Commerce missed a 21-yard field goal with 8:29 left in the game that would have given the Lions a 20-17 lead, and then the teams traded turnovers and then punts, giving the Wildcats the ball at their own 15-yard line with 1:31 to play in the game.
On first down, Hogg shook his defender at the line of scrimmage and got free and caught a perfectly thrown ball from Gale. Hogg would not be caught from behind as he sprinted into the end zone with the sixth-longest touchdown catch in ACU history.
"That wasn't even my call," ACU head
Ken Collums said after the game. "Darian reminded me that on that play previously in the game that the safety wasn't moving off the hash and that he would be open if he could beat the cornerback off the line. He was able to get clear and Mitchell put it on him."
After the score, the Lions moved their own 25-yard line to the ACU 30 with nine seconds left in the game. But on first down, Commerce quarterback Kevin Vye was intercepted by
Justin Stewart at the 2-yard line and the clock ran out on the game and the Lions.
ACU scored first on a 26-yard field goal by
Ryan Owens at the 9:43 mark of the first quarter, but Commerce answered with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Wayne Chapman. The Wildcats came right back down the field, but Gale was intercepted by Marlin Terrell at the Commerce 5-yard line on the final play of the first quarter, keeping the Wildcats out of the end zone.
Commerce – which entered the game near the bottom of the Lone Star Conference in every offensive category – went right back down the field, capping an 11-play, 73-yard drive with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Vye to Garrett Smith and pushing the lead to 14-3 with 9:11 left in the second quarter.
The Lions opened the scoring in the second half with a 33-yard field goal from Chase Thrasher to make it a 17-3 game.
But
Darrell Cantu-Harkless made the first of two big plays in the third quarter when he returned the ensuing kickoff 68 yards to the Commerce 32-yard line to put the Wildcats in great field position. ACU took advantage as Gale capped a 7-play, 32-yard drive with an 8-yard scoring strike to Hogg, who caught the ball head high in the back corner of the end zone to make it 17-10 with 6:26 left in the third quarter.
The ACU defense then forced a punt and
Taylor Gabriel returned that punt 39 yards to the Commerce 42-yard line to again give the Wildcats good starting field position. The Wildcats went to a power set and ran the ball on four straight plays to the score.
Charcandrick West ran for six and eight yards, respectively, on the first two plays of the drive before Harkless ran for six more and then got outside for 22 yards and the touchdown that tied the score at 17-17 with 29 seconds left in the third quarter.
That set up the climactic fourth quarter that saw the Wildcats score with 80 seconds to play to pull out the win, their 40th all-time over the Lions in a series that dates back to 1922.
Gale finished the game 16 of 27 for 236 yards and two scores, while Hogg had four catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns. West carried the ball 13 times for 77 yards, while Cantu-Harkless had five carries for 38 yards and one score, three catches for 39 yards and the 68-yard kickoff return.
The Wildcats (5-4 overall, 3-4 in the LSC) will return to Shotwell next Saturday to take on West Alabama at noon in the final home game of the season.
