Published: October 11, 2009 12:24 am      

Late turnovers prove costly for A&M-Commerce

COMMERCE — Two late turnovers cost the Texas A&M University-Commerce Lions in a 35-34 homecoming loss to No. 9 nationally-ranked Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday.

A&M-Commerce was trying to protect a 34-27 lead when running back Marcus Graham was stopped near the line of scrimmage. Before the officials whistled the play dead, Javelina defensive tackle Dondi Cooks stripped Graham of the football and Javelina rover John Reeves recovered the fumble and returned it five yards to the Lion 49.

“I thought he was down,” Lions coach Guy Morriss said of the play. “The players thought he was down. That didn’t make a difference.”

A&M-Kingsville, led by quarterback Billy Garza, then drove to the goal line to score in five plays as Garza fired a 26-yard touchdown to Damian Couthren for the touchdown with 2:45 left. Christian Brom’s extra point was the winning margin at 35-34. Garza set a new Javelina record for most completions in a game, going 31-of-42 for 308 yards and three touchdowns.

A&M-Commerce quarterback Adam Farkes, who was 16-of-33 passing for 247 yards and two touchdowns, tried to rally the Lions in the final 2 1/2 minutes. But after Farkes converted a fourth and six with a 10-yard completion to Taylor Fore, he overthrew his intended receiver two plays later and Javelina cornerback Eric John picked off the pass, returning the interception to the Lion eight.

Garza only had to kneel once to run off the remaining 24 seconds as the Javelinas stayed undefeated at 7-0 and the Lions dropped to 2-5 with their second close loss to a Lone Star Conference power. They also lost 20-14 to Abilene Christian in overtime on Sept. 12.

“I thought we would have learned something in the Abilene game but obviously we haven’t,” said Morriss. “You’ve got to play 60 minutes. Play disciplined football for 60 minutes.”

A&M-Commerce led the Javelinas for most of the game, jumping out to leads of 10-0 in the first quarter, 20-14 at halftime and 27-14 by the end of the third quarter.

Defensive back Ameer Ali set up the Lions’ first touchdown when he recovered an E.J. LeBlanc fumble at the Javelinas’ 28. The Lions used a new wrinkle on offense, lining up in the Wildcat formation to pick up runs of three, eight and five yards by Graham, who took the snap from center. The Lions went back to the spread formation as Farkes hooked up with Graham on an 8-yard completion on a screen pass before Farkes threw for a yard to Maurice DuPont out of the backfield for the touchdown with 10:08 left in the first quarter.

A&M-Commerce drove from its 40 to the Javelina 21 for the Lions’ next score after the Lion defense forced a Garza incompletion on a fourth-and-one pass from the Lion 40. Graham ran for gains of seven and 13 yards before the Javelina defense forced the Lions to settle for Ahmed Abo-Mahmood’s 38-yard field goal that put the Lions up 10-0 with 3:50 left in the first quarter.

The Javelinas responded to that 10-0 deficit with a 73-yard, 10-play drive. Garza fired completions of 14 and 16 yards to receivers Ryan Lincoln and Darryl Monroe before Connell Davis powered in from one yard for the touchdown with 14:23 left in the second quarter.

The Lions squandered a scoring opportunity after Farkes raced 41 yards on an option keeper to the Javelina 19. A&M-Kingsville’s defense dug in and Abo-Mahmood pushed a 36-yard field goal try wide to the right.

A&M-Kingsville moved from its 20 to the Lion 17 to line Brom up for a 35-yard field goal try but William Green blocked the kick, Shea Rodriguez picked up the ball and raced 82 yards for an A&M-Commerce touchdown with 5:30 left in the first half.

The Javelinas battled back with a 53-yard, six-play drive capped off by Garza’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Fred Winborn.

Mikell Mair set up Abo-Mahmood’s 26-yard field goal with a 64-yard kickoff return to the Javelina 16.

A&M-Commerce stretched its lead to 27-14 early in the third quarter on a 69-yard touchdown bomb from Farkes to Blake Patton.

The two teams exchanged four punts before the Javelinas got back on the scoreboard with a three-play, 32-yard drive topped off by Garza’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Larod Roberson.

A 74-yard hookup from Farkes to Fore set up a 1-yard sneak by Farkes for the touchdown with 11:17 left as the Lions went up 34-21.

Cooks forced a Graham fumble recovered by DeIra Glover at the Lion 18 with 9:05 left, leading to Winborn’s 10-yard touchdown run that brought the Javelinas to within 34-27 with 7:45 remaining.