The 97-degree scorching heat didn’t stop an enthusiastic crowd of Aggie and Bearkat parents and fans at Texas A&M’s Penberthy Rec Sports Complex. The fans watched as Sam Houston successfully controlled possession and clock to beat the A&M Maroon side 28-26 during two 40-minute halves on Sept. 14.
Ranked 72 nationally according to RugbyHawk.com, the Maroon and White held the lead for most of the game over a Bearkats team that ranked sixth in the final D1AA rankings in the 2023-24 season. As the game moved into the final 10 minutes, Sam Houston wrestled the lead from the Aggies and didn’t look back.
Staying focused on their game plan is what the Aggies need to focus on moving forward on the season, according to mechanical engineering junior Andres Lasala said.
“We gotta instill more discipline,” Lasala said. “We just weren’t disciplined.”
Sam Houston had possession to open, and they kept charging down the field as A&M struggled to get a stop. The Bearkats’ aggressive strategy of staying close to the ball carrier each time until they were tackled allowed them to maintain possession and shove the ball down toward Aggie territory.
When economics junior Alex Park stole the ball and kicked it toward Bearkat territory, it set up a hustle play by public health senior Abbas Bangash to score the first seven points of the game for the Aggies, followed by a two-point conversion by Park.
Bearkats continued to capitalize on possession time forcing the Aggies down the field. A quick steal from Aggie sophomore Ethan Scott turned into a breakaway run. Before Scott could be taken down, he dished it out to Bangash who again found his way to the tryzone for A&M to go up 12-0. The Maroon and White left two points on the board as Park missed the extra two points.
“It’s a team,” Bangash said. “My guys set me up. We simply did a great job setting the tempo in the first half.”
After being down two scores, the Bearkat’s technique of slowly going up the field finally paid off when Sam Houston got into the tryzone for their first points of the game.
A&M struggled to hold onto the ball, allowing Sam Houston to retain possession for much longer than the Aggies would have liked.
“If we’d have just kept the ball more, we would’ve scored,” Lasala said. “We took note of their play style in our early assessments. Our goal was to take the ball out of their hands.”
To close out the first half, Sam Houston junior Dag Dowuona broke out and sprinted down the sideline to take a 14-12 Bearkat lead.
Aggies quickly scored at the opening of the second half when materials science and engineering junior Kaden Vohnout pushed the Aggies ahead for a 21-14 game. The Aggies immediately scored again after a steal and score from kinesiology freshman Ruben Ribeiro, which put A&M up 26-14 after Park converted the extra two points.
A standstill between both teams followed, with neither being able to get anything going until Duwuona found another pathway down the sideline to put Sam Houston within striking distance.
There were plenty of penalties called on both sides. With under 10 minutes left in the game, the Bearkats slowed play until Duwuona again found an opening to sprint into A&M’s tryzone and put Sam Houston up 28-26.
The Maroon and White tried to scramble back with what little time they had left, but Sam Houston held onto the ball, running out the clock until the final whistle blew. After the seconds slipped away, both teams gathered for a photo as the audience cheered.
The Aggies’ confidence remains unshaken, freshman engineer Jace Hernandez said.
“If we’re able to not get tired and do our job, we’re unbeatable, ” Hernandez said.
The Maroon side next takes on 0-3-1 Tennessee on Saturday, Sept. 21 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Andrew Paredes is a journalism junior and contributed this story from the course JOUR 359, Reporting Sports, to The Battalion.
