WTAMU junior quarterback Dustin Vaughan threw five touchdowns, two of them to fellow junior wide receiver Torrence Allen as the Buffs defeated the Western St. Mountaineers 57-20 at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium in the Buffs home opener.
The weather was clear at a cool 78 degrees as fans filed into the stadium Saturday night. Western St. won the coin toss but deferred the ball to the Buffs. The Buffs wouldn’t get their first score, though, until Vaughn found Allen on an 8-yard pass to the corner of the end zone. It wasn’t the only play Allen made as on the following Buffs drive, Allen caught a 77-yard pass from Vaughn for another touchdown.
“[Vaughn] has a lot of trust in me as I have a lot of faith in him,” Allen said. “He just put it up there and I had to go get it.”
Vaughn found three other receivers for touchdowns before the night was over. Junior wide receivers Nathan Slaughter had 132 yards respectively. The Buffs offense finished with 677 yards on the night. By halftime, the score was 34-0, Buffs.
The Buffs defense did not give up a touchdown until there was 56 seconds left in the third quarter. Western St. quarterback Brian Duboski found wide receiver Lukas Adams on a 30-yard touchdown pass to make the score 48-6 after the blocked extra point. The Buffs defense only gave up one more touchdown in the fourth quarter. After giving up 265 yards on the ground to Colorado St.-Pueblo, the Buffs turned it around this week, only giving up 70 yards.
“After the game last Thursday, we took it on ourselves as captains to be more physical up front,” junior line back Kyle Voss said.
Besides giving up 284 yards of total offense, the Buffs defense got a sack that was recovered for a touchdown by defensive linemen Shane Pennix. Sophomore defensive back Torain Oakley also had an interception in the first quarter that would set up the Buffs first touchdown.
With the win Saturday night, WT Head Coach Don Carthel ties Joe Kerball with 68 wins all-time for the Buffs.
“Getting a win Saturday is what it’s all about,” Carthel said. “We had a lot of big plays in the first quarter that got us off to a great start. The defense really came out with a mission today. The starters played really well for three-quarters and then we pulled them. Overall it was great performance by the Buffaloes tonight.”
