SAN MARCOS, Texas — On Saturday at Bobcat Stadium, Arkansas State held a lead late, but a Texas State touchdown with 34 seconds to go lifted the Bobcats to a 47-45 shootout win over the Red Wolves.
The Red Wolves (3-6, 1-5 Sun Belt Conference) led by as much as 11 in the fourth quarter, but the Bobcats (2-9, 2-5) outscored A-State 21-7 in the last 11-and-a-half minutes to escape with the win.
“I thought we had opportunities to go snatch the ball where we weren’t confident enough to go make the play,” head coach Blake Anderson said. “It was a challenge all day defensively. Texas State had a good plan coming in, offensively, and we knew they could come in and score points through the air. We got them in a position where one stop might have won the game and we have to find a way to come up with that stop. I thought we were more balanced and had opportunities to move the chains and win the game there at the end. The guys played hard and we had a great week of work, but that only gets you to the field. You have to find ways to execute.”
A-State outgained Texas State 654-505, with 462 yards coming through the air and 192 on the ground. The Red Wolves’ defense held the Bobcats to just 62 yards on the ground. The Scarlet and Black converted 10 of 18 third-down opportunities while tallying 30 first downs.
Through the air, A-State’s quarterbacks passed for 462 yards on 27-of-48 passing and four touchdowns. Layne Hatcher connected on 10 of his 22 attempts for 254 yards while Logan Bonner completed 17 of 26 passes for 208 yards. Both passers tossed a pair of touchdowns. A pair of A-State receivers eclipsed the 140-yard mark, with Jeff Foreman hauling in three passes for 149 yards and Jonathan Adams, Jr. catching 10 passes for 141 yards and two scores. Jamal Jones was the game’s leading rusher with 106 yards on just 16 carries for a 6.6-yard average and notched his first career 100-yard game.
Brady McBride completed 32 of 45 passes for 443 yards and five scores for Texas State, while Marcell Barbee and Jah’marae Sheread catching a team-high six passes. Jeremiah Haydel led in receiving yardage with 94 yards on five receptions.
Texas State struck first on the game’s opening drive to lead 7-0, with McBride finding Javen Banks for a 40-yard score. The Bobcats tacked on three more on a 41-yard field goal by Seth Keller to make it 10-0 with 6:28 left in the first.
A-State got on the board with 3:47 to go in the opening quarter on a 40-yard field goal by Blake Grupe, capping off a seven-play, 65-yard drive. Texas State led 10-3 after one quarter.
The Red Wolves evened it up to start the second quarter, with Bonner firing a pass towards a sliding Adams, who hauled it in with one hand just before it hit the turf for a 13-yard strike. Grupe’s extra point was good to tie up the contest at 10-10 with 12:53 left in the half. On the next drive, Texas State reclaimed a 17-10 lead on a 47-yard pass from McBride to Haydel and then took a two-score lead of 24-10 when McBride found Trevis Graham, Jr. for a 14-yard touchdown strike with 9:56 left in the half.
A-State cut the deficit to 24-17 with 5:04 to go when a 1-yard rush by Marcel Murray capped off a 12-play, 75-yard drive. The Red Wolves then tied it up at 24-24 with 16 seconds left on a one-handed leaping grab by Adams from Hatcher. Adams’ second score of the day ended a 91-yard drive. The Bobcats then led 27-24 at the half on a 48-yard field goal by Keller as time expired.
The Red Wolves took a 31-27 lead in the third quarter when Hatcher connected with Foreman on an 84-yard strike. A-State then kept the Bobcats out of the end zone on a failed fourth-and-goal try on the 4-yard line and began another scoring drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock between the third and fourth quarters.
With 13:50 left in the contest, Bonner ended the 13-play, 96-yard drive with an eight-yard pass to Giles Amos to stretch A-State’s lead to 11 at 38-27. The Bobcats then cut the Red Wolves’ lead to 38-34 on a five-yard pass from McBride to Barbee with 11:39 to go.
Texas State reclaimed the lead at 41-38 when McBride found Graham for a 15-yard strike with just over seven minutes remaining. On the Red Wolves’ next drive, A-State chewed up over five minutes of clock en route to taking a 45-41 lead on a 12-play drive ending in a one-yard rush up the middle by Jones with 1:43 to go.
On the Bobcats’ next drive, McBride led a seven-play drive that ended in a six-yard rushing touchdown by Calvin Hill with 34 seconds left. However, the deficit was just two at 47-45 after Keller’s PAT was no good. A-State had time for one final possession but turned the ball over on downs to end the game.
A-State returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 28, returning home to Centennial Bank Stadium to face South Alabama at 2 p.m. CT on ESPN3. Every Red Wolves football game can be heard live on 107.9 FM in the Northeast Arkansas area. The live radio broadcast can also be accessed on the official A-State Athletics web site (AStateRedWolves.com).
