SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word football team fought hard on Senior Night against visiting Lone Star Conference rival Abilene Christian, but in the end it was too much Mitchell Gale for the visitors in a 24-12 win by the Wildcats at Benson Stadium on Saturday night. (Box Score)

Gale entered the game needing to pass for 312 yards to break both the ACU and LSC career passing marks.  In the first half, he completed a pair of 80-yard touchdown passes and then went over the mark in the third quarter on a 28-yard pass to Demarcus Thompson.  He finished the night 25-of-36 for 408 yards and two touchdowns.

While the Wildcats (7-4, 4-4) gained most of their yards through the air, the Cardinals (2-9, 1-7) had one of their best rushing games of the season racking up a total of 181 yards on 46 attempts.  Senior Trent Rios (Spring Branch/Smithson Valley HS) notched his second 100-yard game for the team with 19 carries for 101 yards.  Brenan Furtado (Honolulu, HI/Damien HS) added four carries for 45 yards and Marcus Wright (San Antonio/Reagan HS) contributed 35 yards on eight carries.

The Cardinals dominated the time of possession game holding the ball for 36:06, but the quick strike offense of the Wildcats prevailed.  Gale connected with Charcandrick West on an 87-yard touchdown pass with 14:42 left in the second quarter and then late in the quarter he hit Darian Hogg for an 80-yard score.  Meanwhile, the Cardinals put together a pair of 17-play drives during the game and were constantly in ACU territory, but they were limited to four field goals by Saul Meza (San Antonio/O'Connor HS).

The game opened inauspiciously for the Cardinals as they fumbled the opening kickoff and the Wildcats recovered at the UIW 12-yard line.  The UIW defense stood strong and held the Cardinals to a 27-yard field goal by Ryan Owens just 30 seconds into the game.

The Cardinals responded with a 17-play, 53-yard drive on their next series.  They gained four first downs on the drive and converted a pair of fourth downs.  They finally stalled at the ACU 26-yard line.  Meza drilled a 43-yard field goal to tie the game with 6:25 left in the first quarter.

After forcing the Wildcats to punt, the Cardinals took advantage of a short field.  Rios picked up 11 yards and 15 yards on back-to-back carries to get the team into the Red Zone.  ACU prevented the Cardinals from getting into the endzone and Meza booted a 28-yard field goal with 42 seconds left in the quarter to make it 6-3 Cardinals.

The Wildcats quickly reclaimed the lead.  On the second play of the second quarter, Gale flipped a short pass to West who streaked 87 yards for a touchdown at 14:42 in the second quarter.

The next two possessions of the game saw each team drive into opponent territory only to be stopped short on fourth down.  The Cardinals were forced to punt on their following possession and pinned the Wildcats back at their own 8-yard line.  Gale completed a 12-yard pass to Darrell Cantu-Harkless and then hit Darian Hogg on a crossing pass that went 80 yards for a touchdown with 3:29 left in the half.

The Cardinals looked like they were poised to score late in the half.  Facing a third-and-2 at the ACU 20 yard line, Taylor Woods (Sugar Land/Fort Bend Austin HS) was sacked for a 14-yard loss and fumbled the ball giving it back to the Wildcats.

Leading 17-6 coming out of halftime, the Wildcats tried to put the game out of reach.  They drove down to the UIW 22-yard line, but Kielyn Lewis (Gainesville/Gainesville HS) picked off a pass from Gale at the 4-yard line and returned it 55 yards.  The Cardinals turned that turnover into three points on a 37-yard field goal by Meza with 7:20 left in the third quarter.

The score remained 17-9 heading into the fourth quarter and the Cardinals had the ball at midfield and were driving.  They drove inside the ACU 10-yard line, but were stopped on third down and settled for a 26-yard field goal by Meza with 11:16 remaining in the game.  It was Meza's fourth field goal of the game, setting a school record in the process.

The Wildcats made it a two possession game on the ensuing drive.  They went 62 yards in eight plays and scored on a 5-yard run by West with 8:17 left in the game.

The Cardinals were forced to punt on their next possession and then the Wildcats ran out the clock.

The Cardinals had 285 yards of total offense and gained 20 first downs.  Rios added seven catches for 12 yards to his 101 rushing yards.  Woods finished the game 16-of-25 for 104 yards passing.  Andrew Mocio (Waco/Reicher Catholic HS) led the team with three catches for 56 yards.  Rios finished his career with over 25 single season and career school records.  He closed out his career with 2,420 rushing yards, 655 receiving yards, 29 touchdowns and 4,223 all-purpose yards.

Chaz Pavliska (Floresville/Floresville HS) led the Cardinals defense with 12 tackles while Lewis picked off his team-best fourth interception.

The Wildcats gained 484 yards of total offense on just 54 plays.  Cantu-Harkless had nine catches for 102 yards while West had four catches for 109 yards and a touchdown.  West also led the team with 11 carries for 72 yards and a score.

The Wildcats had four sacks and 12 tackles for loss.  Justin Stephens led the team with 14 total tackles while Mike Wallace added 10 tackles and 3.0 for loss.
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