Second-half charge sends Wildcats to 38-24 win

ABILENE – It took more than one half of football for the ACU Wildcats to get themselves on track Saturday night, but when they did, they could finally put the West Georgia Wolves away.
 
The Wildcats – coming off an emotional week following a 52-51 overtime loss at Texas Tech last Saturday and a bus accident following the game that sent head coach Keith Patterson and assistant coach Conor Dubin to the hospital – led just 14-3 at halftime but put the game away with 24 second-half points, including back-to-back touchdowns within 90 seconds of the fourth quarter. 
 
Those touchdowns helped ACU pull away from a pesky West Georgia team for a 38-24 win in front of 7,094 fans at Wildcat Stadium. The Wildcats are now 1-1 on the season, but more importantly, 1-0 in the United Athletic Conference.
 
The Wildcats scored two first-quarter touchdowns, carrying a 14-0 lead over the Wolves into the second quarter and looking like they would waltz to a victory over a program playing its first year of NCAA Division I FCS football. But the Wildcats couldn't find their rhythm in the second quarter. The Wolves got a field goal and cut ACU's lead to 11 points at the break.
 
ACU pushed the lead back to 18 points at 21-3 on a 72-yard touchdown pass from Maverick McIvor to Nehemiah Martinez. Still, the Wolves answered a few minutes after ACU punt returner J.J. Henry muffed a punt, and West Georgia recovered it at the ACU 27. The Wolves wasted no time getting right back into the contest at 21-10 when Quincy Casey hit Dylan Gary with a 27-yard touchdown pass with 5:20 to play, and the game was on.
 
After an ACU field goal early in the fourth quarter, the Wolves answered with another touchdown pass from Casey to Gary to cut the ACU lead to just seven points at 24-17. Then, the Wildcats finally put away the Wolves.
 
ACU went on a 10-play march that featured a pass on the drive's first play and then nine straight runs. Isaiah Johnson finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run with 5:01 left in the game that pushed ACU's lead to 31-14. Two plays after the touchdown, ACU defensive back Tyson Williams intercepted a Casey at the West Georgia 31-yard line, and four plays later, McIvor hit sophomore tight end for an 18-yard touchdown and a 38-17 lead with 3:35 left, finally giving the Wildcats the breathing room they'd been looking for all night.
 
"That game had a weird feel," Patterson said. "It's hard to put a finger on it. We could tell they were starting to tire in the fourth quarter, and we tried to pound them a little bit. I was very proud of the offense in the second half. Those guys did what they had to do in the second half. I hate two-score games, so getting a three-score lead gives you some breathing room, and our offense gave us that breathing room."
 
McIvor finished the night 24 of 37 for 297 yards and three touchdowns, hitting 11 different receivers in the game. Martinez caught two passes for 132 yards and two scores, and also added two carries for 55 yards, accounting for 187 yards of total offense. Johnson carried the ball 14 times for 71 yards and one score, while Sam Hicks had 12 carries for 50 yards and one touchdown. 
 
ACU's defense was led by linebacker Cirby Coheley and defensive tackle David Oke, who had nine tackles. Oke had 1.5 tackles for loss and was a constant presence around the quarterbacks for West Georgia.
 
GAME SUMMARY
How They Scored
1Q (12:24) – The Wildcats took the opening kickoff and picked up right where they left off last Saturday night in Lubbock. ACU used a power running game to pick up 59 of the drive's 87 yards, with Isaiah Johnson picking up 32 yards on the ground and 11 yards receiving. Sam Hicks picked up the final 27 yards of the driving, outrunning the West Georgia defense to the end zone.
          Scoring Play: Sam Hicks 27 run (Ritse Vaes PAT)
             Drive: 7 plays, 87 yards, 2:31 time of drive
             ACU 7, West Georgia 0
 
1Q (2:18) – ACU's defense forced two punts, and after the second one, the offense returned to work from its 33-yard line. ACU converted two third-down plays and a fourth-and-one play into first downs to keep the drive alive. Maverick McIvor finished the drive with a slant pass to Nehemiah Martinez, who caught the ball at the 2-yard line and stepped out of a tackle attempt and into the end zone for a touchdown.
          Scoring Play: Nehemiah Martinez 20 pass from Maverick McIvor (Vaes PAT)
             Drive: 10 plays, 67 yards, 4:28 time of drive
             ACU 14, West Georgia 0
 
2Q (11:22) – West Georgia punter Reilly Mason pinned ACU back to its 1-yard line, and the Wolves' defense forced a three-and-out, forcing ACU to punt from its end zone. Karmello English – who played seven games as a true freshman in 2023 for national champion Michigan – returned the ensuing punt 21 yards to the ACU 30, giving the Wolves excellent field position. West Georgia managed to move just two yards after a holding penalty, forcing West Georgia to settle for a 31-yard field goal to get on the board.
          Scoring Play: Chance Gagnon field goal
             Drive: 7 plays, 17 yards, 2:35 time of drive
             ACU 14, West Georgia 3
 
3Q (11:38) – West Georgia opened the second half with a solid drive before running into a fourth-down play at the ACU 27-yard line. Instead of attempting a field goal, the Wolves went for the first down and should have had it. But Quincy Casey's pass was dropped by Karmello English inside the 10-yard line, turning the ball back over to the Wildcats at their 27-yard line. ACU needed two plays to push its lead to three scores. After a short run by Isaiah Johnson on first down, Maverick McIvor hit Nehemiah Martinez with a pass to the 41-yard line. After he turned back to the middle of the field, he cut to the sideline and sprinted to the end zone, outrunning two West Georgia defenders for a 72-yard touchdown.
          Scoring Play: Nehemiah Martinez 72 pass from Maverick McIvor (Vaes PAT)
             Drive: 2 plays, 73 yards, 0:50 time of drive
             ACU 21, West Georgia 3
 
3Q (5:20) – The Wolves made ACU pay for a crucial mistake on special teams, cutting the game to a two-score contest. The Wildcat defense forced a punt, but J.J. Henry muffed it after calling for a fair catch, and the ball was recovered by Micah Thurman, giving the Wolves the ball at the ACU 27-yard line. On the first play, Quincy Casey hit Dylan Gary wide-open at the 5-yard line, and he stepped into the end zone for a touchdown.
          Scoring Play: Dylan Gary 27 pass from Quincy Casey (Gagnon PAT)
             Drive: 1 play, 27 yards, 0:06 time of drive
             ACU 21, West Georgia 10
 
4Q (12:31) – After the West Georgia touchdown, ACU got the ball at the 19-yard line and moved to the West Georgia 17-yard line before stalling when Maverick McIvor was sacked on third down. Ritse Vaes hit a 34-yard field goal, but Kyeaure Magloire roughed him, bringing the ACU offense back onto the field. However, the Wildcats only moved three yards to the West Georgia 10-yard line, and Vaes came back onto the field and hit a 27-yard field to increase ACU's lead to 14 points.
          Scoring Play: Ritse Vaes 27 field goal
             Drive: 16 plays, 81 yards, 7:47 time of drive
             ACU 24, West Georgia 10
 
4Q (10:02) – The Wolves took the kickoff and moved quickly down the field, helped by a targeting call on a third-down play that pushed the ball to the ACU 32-yard line. Three plays after the targeting call, Quincy Casey found Dylan Gary in the front right corner of the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown pass to cut ACU's lead to one score.
          Scoring Play: Dylan Gary 22 pass from Quincy Casey (Gagnon PAT)
             Drive: 9 plays, 80 yards, 2:22 time of drive
             ACU 24, West Georgia 17
 
4Q (5:01) – ACU put the game away with a 10-play, 75-yard drive that saw the Wildcats pick up 59 yards on the ground. The Wildcats chewed up 4:55 on the drive immediately after the Wolves scored a touchdown to cut the Wildcats' lead to seven points. But after a first-down completion from Maverick McIvor to Isaiah Johnson picked up eight yards, the Wildcats went strictly to the running game. Rovaughn Banks picked up four, followed by a reverse for 20 yards by Nehemiah Martinez. Johnson then carried three straight times for 8, 4, and 1, respectively. Sam Hicks then got two carries for 8 and 2 yards before West Georgia's Jalen Frazier was called for pass interference on Martinez in the end zone, giving ACU first-and-goal from the 5-yard line. Johnson carried twice, the final time a three-yard run for a touchdown to push ACU's lead back to 14 points.
          Scoring Play: Isaiah Johnson 3 run (Vaes PAT)
             Drive: 10 plays, 75 yards, 4:55 time of drive
             ACU 31, West Georgia 17
 
4Q (3:35) – On the second play after the Johnson touchdown run, West Georgia quarterback Quincy Casey was intercepted by ACU's Tyson Williams at the 31-yard line to set up the offense for another push into the end zone. That took just four plays, and the drive ended on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Maverick McIvor to redshirt sophomore tight end Bryan Henry, who caught the ball right at the pylon for the score.
          Scoring Play: Bryan Henry 18 pass from Maverick McIvor (Vaes PAT)
             Drive: 4 plays, 31 yards, 1:16 time of drive
             ACU 38, West Georgia 17
 
4Q (0:01) – The Wolves would not quit as they chewed up 75 yards and 3:34 off the clock in 13 plays to the game's final score. Quincy Casey on a 2-yard run into the right corner for the night's final touchdown.
          Scoring Play: Quincy Casey 2 run (Gagnon PAT)
             Drive: 13 plays, 75 yards, 3:34 time of drive
             ACU 38, West Georgia 24
  
KEY STAT
ACU quarterback Maverick McIvor couldn't find his rhythm in the first half, finishing the first 30 minutes 10 of 20 for just 92 yards and one touchdown. But the Wildcats' signal-caller put together a strong second half, completing 14 of 17 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns to propel the Wildcats to the victory.
 
POST-GAME NOTES
• The Wildcats are 8-3 at Wildcat Stadium under Patterson, and their average margin of victory in those eight wins is 15.0 points per game. The 14-point margin vs. West Georgia is the third-smallest margin of victory in the eight wins.
• The Wildcats' average starting position on their eight first-half drives was their 21-yard line. The Wolves pinned ACU inside the 20 twice in the first half, with one drive starting at the 1 and another at the 13. That improved to their 35-yard line on their five second-half drives. Four of those resulted in points, with three going for touchdowns and one for a field goal.
• Part of ACU's issue with sustaining drives in the first half was converting just 1 of 8 third-down conversion attempts into first downs. The Wildcats failed to convert their last six third-down attempts of the half. However, the Wildcats were 3 of 4 on third-down attempts in the third quarter and 2 of 4 on third-down plays in the fourth quarter to finish 6 of 16 for the game.
• Defensive back Elijah Moffett blocked a 31-yard field goal attempt by Chance Gagnon with 3:11 left in the first half, preserving ACU's 14-3 lead. Before Moffett's block, the last blocked field goal by a Wildcat was Jack Gibbens in a 2020 game against Stephen F. Austin at the former Ballpark in Arlington.
• ACU defensive back Izaiah Kelley was called for targeting with 10:52 left in the game, resulting in his ejection. Kelley will have to sit out the first half of next Saturday's game at Northern Colorado.
 
QUOTING ACU HEAD COACH KEITH PATTERSON
 
On ACU's performance: "It's been an emotional week. It seems like all the talk this week has been about how we played at Texas Tech and the bus accident, and it was hard to keep our guys dialed in and focused on the task at hand. That wasn't one of our best performances. We committed too many penalties, fumbled a punt, and mishandled a kickoff return. A lot of that is mental intensity and focus, and we talked about that this week. It was a challenging week getting ready to play (Saturday night)."
 
On the message at halftime when leading just 14-3: "The message at halftime was that our offense needed to score three times and the defense needed to slam the door. Then we fumbled the punt, didn't get lined up, and gave up a couple of explosive plays. At the end of the day, it's a win, and we're 1-0 in conference play. And we have a goal to go 1-0 in conference play, and we've taken the first step."
 
UP NEXT
The Wildcats are back on the road next Saturday when they take on Northern Colorado in a non-conference game in Greeley, Colo. The Wildcats lead the all-time series against the Bears 11-6-1, including last year's 31-11 win at Wildcat Stadium. ACU is 4-3-1 all-time in Greeley but hasn't won there since a 45-23 victory on Sept. 14, 1985.