SAN ANGELO, TEXAS – The Angelo State football team used a big-play offense in the fourth quarter against visiting University of the Incarnate Word to pull out a 38-21 victory on Saturday at San Angelo Stadium in Lone Star Conference play.

The Cardinals (2-8, 1-6) had their chances throughout the game, but penalties and mistakes came back to haunt them.  They committed a season-high 11 penalties for 82 yards.  Despite the setbacks, the Cardinals were down just seven points early in the fourth quarter before the Rams (5-5, 4-2) struck for a pair of long touchdown passes that put the game out of reach.

The Cardinals posted 174 rushing yards in the game, but 70 came on a touchdown run by Marcus Wright (San Antonio/Reagan HS) in the final minute of the game.  It was the team's longest offensive play from scrimmage this year.

The Rams entered the fourth quarter with 121 yards of total offense and finished with 348 for the game.

After a great opening defense stand, two sacks and an interception, the Cardinals gave up a touchdown to the Rams on their second drive.  Kyle Washington drove ASU 83 yards in seven plays.  He picked up a key first down with a designed run and completed a 14-yard pass to C.J. Akins for a touchdown with 9:16 left in the first quarter.

UIW responded with a 15-play, 75-yard drive to tie the game at 7-7.  They converted three third downs on the drive with Taylor Woods (Fort Bend/Austin HS) hitting Trent Rios (Spring Branch/Smithson Valley HS) with two first down completions and Dominic Hamilton (Spring Branch/Smithson Valley HS) with a third first down completion.  Rios capped off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown reception from Woods as he got a key block from Brandon Yates (San Antonio/Clark HS) to allow him to dive to the pylon with 50 seconds left in the first quarter.

Angelo State reclaimed the lead with 4:55 left in the second quarter when Donavan Roberts plunged into the end zone from three yards out on a run from the Wildcat formation.  Earlier in the drive he picked up 21 yards on a carry, but the big play was a hands to the face penalty on the Cardinals on third-and-10 from the UIW-28 yard line that gave the Rams a first down to keep the drive alive.

The Cardinals started the second half with a major blunder on special teams.  They tried a toss back play, but the lateral attempt bounced and ended up in the hands of Angelo State's Jarred Ross who returned the ball 13 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-7.

The Cardinals cut the lead back to seven points at the start of the fourth quarter.  The 88-yard drive was helped by 25 yards of Rams penalties and a 31-yard scamper by Rios.  Facing a third-and-9 inside the red zone, Woods connected with Hamilton on a 14-yard scoring pass with 13:48 remaining in the game.

After seeing their lead cut to 21-14, the Rams offense clicked into high gear.  Washington connected on a pair of long touchdown passes over the top of Cardinals defense.  First, he hit tight end Antwon Williams with a 48-yard touchdown pass with 11:10 to play and then he hit Joey Knight with a 45-yard bomb with 7:48 remaining to put the game out of reach.

Jarred Martin tacked on a 22-yard field goal with 45 seconds remaining in the game before Wright broke free on his long touchdown run with 22 seconds left in the game.

The Cardinals picked up 14 first downs as a team.  Wright finished with 82 yards rushing on just three carries while Rios led the team with 83 yards on 13 carries.  Woods finished the game 13-of-25 for 86 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.  Rios led the team with five catches for 33 yards and a touchdown while Hamilton added three catches for 29 yards and a score.

The Cardinals defense recorded four sacks on the afternoon as Juan Asencio (Pflugerville/Hendrickson HS) led the way with 3.0 sacks for a loss of 23 yards.  Nick Ginn (Corpus Christi/Calallen HS) led the team with nine tackles and a 2.0 tackles for loss.  Kielyn Lewis (Gainesville/Gainesville HS) added his third interception of the season.

In special teams, UIW punter Emmanuel Nunez (Dallas/Seguin HS) had another big game.  He broke the school record for longest punt two times with a 64-yarder and a 65-yarder.  He averaged 45.3 yards per kick and had three end up inside the 20-yard line. 

Washington led the ASU offense going 12-of-16 for 195 yards and three touchdowns through the air.  Donavan Roberts was the team's leading ground gainer with 59 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.  Joey Knight finished with 58 yards receiving to lead the team.

The Rams defense matched the Cardinals with 4.0 sacks.  Austin Benson was credited with eight tackles, 3.5 sacks and 4.0 tackles for loss.  Stetson Edwards had the team's only interception while Matthew Gholston added eight tackles and 2.0 tackles for loss.

The Cardinals wrap up their season next Saturday at home against Abilene Christian at 7 p.m.
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