CLEVELAND, Miss. – Abilene Christian University's defense came up with three huge fourth-down stops Thursday night and Mitchell Gale threw three touchdown passes as the Wildcats rebounded with a big 34-28 win over Delta State at McCool Stadium.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 3-2 on the season, while the Statesmen fall to 1-3. The Wildcats will be back home in Abilene next Saturday (Oct. 6) as they host Eastern New Mexico in a Lone Star Conference contest at 6 p.m.
Trailing by six points, Delta State got the football back at its own 24-yard line with 1:58 left in the game. DSU quarterback Trevor Wooden completed a 24-yard pass to Lavon Downs on first down and then hit Kevin Jackson for 40 yards to get the ball to the ACU 12-yard line with less than one minute to play.
Wooden threw incomplete on first down and then ran for five yards on second down to bring up third down. DSU was whistled for a false start from the 7-yard line – its 15th penalty of the night – to set the ball back to the 12-yard line. Wooden threw incomplete on third down to set up fourth down with less than 30 seconds to play.
Rolling right with a full field in front of him, Wooden instead chose to throw and he threw it out of the back of the end zone to give the Wildcats the ball back and the chance to snap the ball one last time in the victory formation.
On Delta State's previous fourth-down drive, Wooden was stopped on fourth-and-four from the ACU 37, turning the ball back over to the Wildcats. Near the end of the first half, the Wildcats – leading 24-21– got a goal-line stand to keep the Statesmen out of the end zone.
Ryan Smith stoned Brant Botill at the 1-yard line on fourth-and-goal.
Those three stands saved points, and the game for the Wildcats.
Gale threw touchdown passes of 6 yards to
Charcandrick West, 4 yards to DeMarcus Thompson, and 28 yards to
Taylor Gabriel, while West added a 2-yard touchdown run and
Morgan Lineberry two field goals as ACU bounced back from a disappointing 28-23 loss last week at Angelo State.
Gale finished the night 26 of 37 for 246 yards and three touchdowns, while Gabriel caught four passes for 65 yards and the one score. West – who hadn't played since the first quarter of the game against Tarleton State on Sept. 15 – played through a strained groin and finished with 59 yards rushing on 19 carries.
... more to come ...
