WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS – A late first half touchdown gave #14 Midwestern State momentum heading into halftime and they never looked back in a 34-7 win over visiting University of the Incarnate Word on Saturday night in the rain at Memorial Stadium. (box score)

The two Lone Star Conference teams played the first 28 minutes of the game to a near standstill with the Mustangs (3-1, 3-1) holding a slight 10-7 lead.  The Mustangs scored on a 56-yard run from Brandon Kelsey on their opening drive of the game, but the Cardinals (1-4, 0-3) battled back with a tying touchdown coming on a 4-yard pass from Zach Rhodes (New Braunfels/New Braunfels HS) to Matt Bass (Alvin/Alvin HS) late in the first quarter.

The Mustangs took a 10-7 lead on a 47-yard field goal by Greg Saladino with 10:21 left in the second quarter.

The Cardinal defense made a big play with 3:55 left in the second quarter when Aaron Willis (San Antonio/Churchill HS) forced a fumble and Devin Haywood (San Antonio/Roosevelt HS) recovered the ball at the MSU 39-yard line.  Unfortunately, the Cardinals were unable to move the ball and were unsuccessful on a fourth down attempt.  The Mustangs took advantage driving 42 yards in eight plays and scored on a 6-yard run by Keidrick Jackson with 15 seconds left in the half to make it 17-7.

The Mustangs took control of the game in the third quarter tacking on 10 more points to take a 27-7 lead heading into the final stanza.  The Cardinals moved the ball into the red zone to start the fourth quarter, but were stopped when they attempted a fake field goal on fourth-and-7 at the 18-yard line.

MSU added one more score in the fourth quarter.  Kelsey completed a 23-yard touchdown pass to Joe Sanders giving the Mustangs their first and only third down conversion of the night with 7:10 remaining in the game.

The Cardinals lone score was set up by a Kielyn Lewis (Gainesville/Gainesville HS) interception and 8-yard return to the MSU 22-yard line.  A pair of Joseph Sadler (Devine/Devine HS) runs gave the team a first-and-goal at the 6-yard line.  Three plays later Rhodes rolled right and found Bass open for a touchdown with 2:29 left in the first quarter.

The Cardinals were able to move the ball against the Mustangs, but were consistently stopped once they got into MSU territory.  UIW had six drives stopped on fourth down inside Midwestern State territory.  Overall the Cardinals were 4-for-17 on third down conversions and 1-for-8 on fourth down tries.

The Cardinals finished the game with 80 offensive plays for 294 yards split nearly evenly between passing and rushing.  Sadler, a true freshman, made the most of his opportunities with starter Trent Rios (Spring Branch/Smithson Valley HS) sidelined with an injury.  Sadler rushed for a team-high 68 yards on 13 carries and also led the team with four catches for 47 yards.   Rhodes finished the night 14-of-34 for 100 yards, a touchdown and an interception passing and contributed 46 yards on five carries rushing.

The Cardinal defense held the Mustangs to 54 yards below their season average in rushing yards.  Linebackers Dakota Mawyer (Spring Branch/Smithson Valley HS) and Juan Asencio (Pflugerville/Hendrickson HS) each had eight tackles to lead the team.   Mawyer added 1.5 tackles for loss while Michael Tate (Houston/Alief Elsik HS) became the first player to sack Kelsey on the season.

The Mustangs finished with 260 yards rushing and 163 yards passing for a total of 423 yards of offense.  Keidrick Jackson was the offensive star of the game with 173 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries.  Kelsey added 49 yards on 10 carries on the ground while completing 11-of-20 passes for 163 yards, a touchdown and an interception.  Sanders added four catches for 55 yards and a score while Jared Freeman had five catches for 47 yards.

The Mustang defense picked up five sacks on the night with Elijah Winston credited with three of them.  Winston finished the game with six tackles and 4.0 tackles for loss.  Matt Ellerbrock led the team with seven tackles.  Neiko Conway had the team's only interception of the night.

The Cardinals are back in action next Saturday at home and will take on LSC rival Texas A&M-Commerce at 7 p.m.
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