RELATED LINKS: Box Score (HTML)

LIVINGSTON, Ala. – The University of West Alabama (0-1) football team had a 14-10 lead at the half, but the preseason favorites from the Lone Star Conference in Angelo State University (Texas) (1-0) used a 21-0 third quarter to win the season opener 38-14 from Tiger Stadium on Thursday night. 

The Tigers, who are receiving votes in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) poll, took on an Angelo State team who advanced to the NCAA Championship quarterfinals a year ago and are ranked fifth in the AFCA poll and sixth in the D2fooball.com preseason poll. 

"We did a lot of things in the first half that were self-inflicted, but we played great complimentary ball that took away two of our turnovers. We went into halftime feeling pretty good, but we lost the game in the second half because we did not take care of the ball. We had some depth issues tonight, but the majority of our mistakes are fixable," said head coach Brett Gilliland. 

After each team was forced to punt on their opening possessions, Angelo State's defense, one of the best in the nation last season, forced a fumble on a third down play deep in Tiger territory as Eric Rascoe poked the loose ball away from the UWA rusher.

On the next play, Chad Pharies rushed the ball for 23 yards to score first in the contest. 

Later in the frame, it was the Tigers' turn to shine on defense, as Artavious Washington intercepted a pass from Gerald Gardner and ran it back 38 yards to the ASU 27. 

On the next play, Spencer Arceneaux caught the defense napping and scored from 27 yards out to tie the game at seven apiece. 

Early in the second quarter, after a Trey Sullivan punt that pinned the Rams inside their own five-yard-line, the Tiger defense swarmed again, this time with a fumble by Gerald Gardner at the eight. Travon Nunn dove for the ball in the endzone to give the Tigers the 14-7 lead with 12:53 left in the half. 

Later in the period, the Rams' defense picked up another fumble recovery deep in Tiger territory. Fortunately, for the Tigers, they limited the Rams to seven yards on the drive and a 30-yard field goal by Bradley Larson to cut West Alabama's lead to four, 14-10, with just over five minutes left in the half. 

After the next UWA drive was stalled on offense, once again, the defense came to the rescue. In the final minutes of the half, with Angelo State eyeing the end zone on a second down play, he found Washington again for his second interception of the game. 

ASU opened the second half with possession, and the Rams ate up nearly five minutes of the clock. On the 10th play of the drive, looking to make it a one-point game on a 33-yard field goal by Larson, he shanked it off the right upright to keep the lead in favor of the good guys. 

The UWA offense started the second half with a three-and-out, forcing the defense back out for the home team. Unfortunately, a 34-yard receiving touchdown by Zorhan Rideaux put the visitors back on top essentially for good. 

The Rams added another score on its next possession that saw a 14-10 lead for West Alabama reversed to a 24-14 lead for Angelo State in a matter of a few minutes. 

ASU made it 31-17 late in the third on a 77-yard rushing score by Brayden Wilcox saw the visitors score 21 unanswered points in the third period. 

"I told the guys in the locker room that it does not get any easier from here on out. We are going to keep play really good teams. We have to decide as a team how we respond, what we do next," added Gilliland. 

For UWA, Jamarcus Smith led the defense with 10 tackles, while Jamal Ellis and Trevon Stanford had two tackles for a loss. 

Artavious Washington picked up his first career interceptions in a UWA uniform. The senior transfer from Hinds Community College in Mississippi totaled 38 yards on returns on the picks. 

Spencer Arceneaux led the Tigers rushing game with 51 yards and a score, while Tyler Walker added 62 receiving yards. 

ASU's Gerald Gardner completed 16-of-29 through the air for 292 yards with two touchdowns. Kyle Bradford caught 98 of those yards on two carries and a score. Josh Booker-Brown added three tackles for a loss on defense. 

The Tigers will hit the road for the next two weeks, making back-to-back trips to South Carolina. Their first stop will be Limestone University on Saturday, Sept. 9 for an 11 a.m. CT kickoff.