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The Vaqueros (3-0, 0-0 SLC) defeated the Langston University Lions (0-3, 0-1 SAC) 80-0 tonight at the Robert and Janet Vackar Stadium in Edinburg.
Head coach Travis Bush said he is “fired up” by the way the team played today.
“We need these guys to be scrappy,” Bush said. “Special teams made good plays; defense made good plays. [I am] proud of the way these guys played and just excited to be 1-0 at the end of the week.”
The Vaqueros started off the game with redshirt freshman kicker Troop O’Neal taking the first kick of the night. The Lions were immediately served a five-second penalty on their first down due to a false start.
UTRGV’s defense was strong throughout the night, hardly allowing Langston to make any advances during their respective downs.
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As the Vaqueros took possession of the ball, redshirt sophomore wide receiver Xayvion Noland marked the first touchdown of the night after a pass from redshirt senior quarterback and Mission-native Eddie Lee Marburger.
By the first touchdown, UTRGV had accumulated a total of 75 yards—72 passing yards and 3 rushing yards—in only a minute and six seconds.
The Vaqueros continued to dominate against the Lions as junior quarterback Aden Hooper’s passes were incomplete, preventing Hooper’s offense from hardly making any advances during their four downs.
UTRGV, then, went on to make an unexpected play as redshirt junior punter Nathaniel Wallace-Dilling took on the field and faked out the play, allowing for redshirt freshman linebacker Tyler Day to rush down a total of 70 yards, marking the second touchdown of the night.
Day said the last time he was able to score a touchdown was his sophomore year of high school on his junior varsity team.
“This is a little new to me,” he said. “We’ve been working on it, and they gave us the look so we ended up checking it. Punting did an amazing job blocking.”
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Redshirt senior defensive back Elijah Graham went on to intercept a pass from Hooper, racking up the third touchdown for the night and allowing the Vaqueros to have a 21-point advantage.
As the second quarter began, Marburger made an amazing but overpowered pass to redshirt freshman wide receiver Tony Diaz, who could not reach the pass at the end zone before it went out of bounds.
The Vaqueros, then, went on to gain 31 points to wrap up the quarter and head into half time.
The third and fourth quarters followed as the previous ones, with 21 points accumulated during the third and 7 during the fourth.
The Vaqueros ended the game with 803 total yards—286 passing yards, 517 rushing yards. They will next face Texas Wesleyan University 7 p.m. Sept. 20 at home.
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