The No. 3 WTAMU Buffalo football team opened their season by traveling to Gunnison, Colorado, to take on the Western State Colorado University Mountaineers on Sept. 7. The Buffs emerged with a 48-21 victory to snap a skid of four straight season opening losses, two to Grand Valley State and two to Colorado State-Pueblo. Senior linebacker Kyle Voss was suspended indefinitely before the game as a result of the recent NCAA investigation at WT.
The Buffs opened the scoring with a field goal by senior Sergio Castillo with 10:40 to go in the first, followed by a 13-yard touchdown pass from senior Dustin Vaughn to junior, Northern Illinois transfer, Anthony Johnson for a 10-0 lead with 6:24 remaining in the first. Vaughn would also throw a 17-yard touchdown pass to senior Aaron Harris for a 17-0 advantage after one.
Vaughn would connect with senior Torrence Allen on a four-yard touchdown pass to give WT a 24-0 lead with 4:38 left in the half. Less than a minute of game time later, Vaughn would hit Johnson for a 24-yard score to increase the Buff’s lead to 31-0. WT would take a 34-0 lead into the break after a 29-yard field goal by Castillo with 0:26 remaining.
The Buffs would be the only team to put points on the board in the third quarter. WT scored on a 10-yard pass from Vaughn to senior Trevor Hammargren for a 41-0 lead with 6:19 remaining in the quarter.
Western State would finally get on the board when Ron Dickerson found Travis Haney for a 72-yard touchdown strike to cut the deficit to 41-7. Vaughn would hit Allen for a 28-yard touchdown to answer and make it a 48-7 game. Two touchdown passes from Brett Arrivey, one to Vince Delmonico and one to Lukas Adams would make the final score more respectable, but would not be enough to get the Mountaineers in the game.
Vaughn completed 37 passes out of 57 attempts for 470 yards and a career-high six touchdowns in the first game of his senior season. Allen caught 12 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns, and Johnson made three receptions for 53 yards and two scores in his WT debut.
WT is off to a 1-0 start for the first time since 2008. The Buffs will participate in the Lone Star Football Festival on Sept. 12 as they have a playoff rematch from last season against No. 20 Chadron State College at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
