If the UTPB football team was looking for a crucial way to bounce back following their opening week loss to Southwest Baptist, it got exactly that with this past Saturday’s 34-31 double-overtime win over Western Colorado at Astound Broadband Stadium. The Falcons trailed 24-16 heading into the fourth quarter before Dylan Graham’s 15-yard touchdown pass to MJ Link and a two-point conversion tied everything up. A 35-yard field goal by Permian grad Carson Roberts eventually sealed the win for UTPB. UTPB head coach Justin Carrigan described the feeling from Saturday’s win as “relief and then exhaustion.”
“It was good,” Carrigan said. “It was good for the kids. There was a point down in the fourth quarter where there was a lot of ease and calmness that took over. I don’t know if it was just the confidence of the players but I just had a feeling that it was all going to come together. I didn’t think it would take two overtimes but that’s how it worked out.”
>> Rushing game troubles: UTPB was slightly better in the rushing game Saturday than in Week 1’s loss to Southwest Baptist. In the Falcons’ 41-17 loss, they only mustered 17 total rushing yards from 20 carries. Saturday’s win saw UTPB improve on that, but only a little bit with 76 yards total off 39 carries. “We still struggled,” Carrigan said. “Week 1 to week 2 was natural improvements. You see the greatest improvements from week 1 and I think that held true a little bit. We have some things to clean up. down in the red zone a couple of times in the first half, twice we came away with points and part of that is on me going for it on fourth down. We’re going to be aggressive but we have to execute better.”
>> Angelo State: One of the preseason Lone Star Conference favorites comes to the Permian Basin this week as the Falcons begin conference play at 6 p.m. Saturday at Astound Broadband Stadium in Midland against No. 5-ranked Angelo State. The Rams (2-0) are coming off their own overtime win, defeating No. 12 Colorado School of Mines 30-27 in Golden, Col. Angelo State was the Lone Star Conference’s lone reprehensive in the NCAA Division II Playoffs last year, going three rounds deep before being knocked out by, coincidently, Colorado School of Mines. “They’re really good,” Carrigan said. “I imagine they’re going to be top five or top 10. They have an aggressive defense. All the blitzing that we’ve seen so far, we’re going to get more of it. They’re going to pound it. They have a big, strong running back. It’s going to be a great challenge.”
>> Women’s Soccer: UTPB women’s soccer is off to one of its best starts in program history, entering conference play this week with a 2-1-1 overall record. The Falcons suffered their first loss last week in a 5-0 defeat to Division I level Tarleton State in Stephenville. UTPB will face Lubbock Christian at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Falcon Field in what will be the first of many tough games in what head coach Carla Tejas expects to be a tough conference. “We have one of the best conferences in women’s soccer in the country,” Tejas said. “You can see that on the field.”
But Tejas and her players are embracing the pressure. “Pressure is good,” Tejas said. “When you have pressure, something is expected out of you and there are things being expected out of our team this year. It’s great. it hasn’t been like that the last few years.”
>> Golf: The UTPB women’s golf team began its season over the weekend with a few team records being broken. Eugenie Varet finished fifth at the West Texas Fall Invite with a final score of -1 (212) in Amarillo. Varet broke the program’s 54-hole record and became the first player in program history to finish a tournament under par. The women’s team finished fifth (293-285-296)—874. The men’s team began its season early last week at the Arendson Invitational in Grand Rapids, Mich.
“It’s a long season in golf,” head coach Kyle Wittenbach said. “We play half the season in the fall and the other half in the spring. It’s hard to predict anything but I’d like to say both teams have a chance to make postseason. It depends on injuries and how our training goes throughout the winter. Bothe teams should be able to make postseason this year.”
