The Tarleton State University football team continues pace for a possible LSC Championship title. The Texans dominated at home this past weekend over non-conference Southwestern Oklahoma, and defeated the Bulldogs 49-32.

Tarleton, now 7-2 in the season, is still in the hunt for solely claiming the LSC championship after their impressive performance this last Saturday. The Texans were performing on all cylinders as they produced 618 total yards, 30 yards shy of the school-record of 648 yards set back in 1996. The Tarleton fans received quite a show during the Texans first game back at home since the heartbreaking Homecoming loss on Oct. 26.

It took some time for the Tarleton offense to get started, but they were able to strike first with a 73-yard pass from Jake Fenske to Bubba Tandy and a successful extra-point attempt by Blake Barnes to combine for a 95-yard drive.  

The Bulldogs were able to respond with a 65-yard drive, but was unable to get on the board with a missed field-goal attempt that was wide-left.

The Texans were able to capitalize on the following possession with an 80-yard drive and second touchdown pass from Fenske to Zach Henshaw for 62 yards followed by Barnes successful PAT.

SWOSU was able to score a 62-yard touchdown pass at the end of the quarter with the Texans leading 14-7.

Tarleton was first to score in the second quarter with another touchdown pass from Fenske to Trent Glow to rally for a 63-yard drive. Southwestern Okla. put together their own drives for a touchdown, but were unable to gain any extra points after the scores in the second quarter.

The Texans managed to lead at halftime 21-19 due to the miscues by SWOSU on points after touchdown attempts.

Tarleton came out of the locker room fired up and scored two more touchdowns, one was a 38-yard rush by Jerome Regal, and the second was a pass connection to Tandy from Fenske of six yards.

Both touchdowns were followed with Barnes’s successful PAT. 

Though the Bulldogs scored on a 10-yard rushing touchdown in the middle of the third quarter, the Texans still controlled the lead 35-26 going into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Tarleton continued to control the outcome by quickly scoring another two passing touchdowns. The first topped off an 84-yard drive with Fenske connecting with Darren Wicker for the 32-yard score. The second one completed a 54-yard drive with Tyler Wright catching the pass from Collin Strahan for 27-yards. Barnes was successful in both PATS to give the Texans the lead 49-26 with 8:37 left in the fourth quarter.

Tarleton’s defense was able to hold the Bulldogs offense to only one score in the fourth that resulted in a touchdown, but an unsuccessful pass for the 2-point conversion would close the game. Thee Texans were victorious over SWOSU with a final score of 49-32.

The Texans offense combined for 618 yards on 76 plays and 27 first downs. Fenkse and Strahan combined for 32 completed passes for 454 yards and six of the seven total touchdowns scored.

Fenske threw for 424 yards with five touchdowns on 30 completed passes and only one interception.

Jerome Regal led the team in rushing with 81-yards and one touchdown. Bubba Tandy also had a big game with 129 receiving yards and two touchdowns.