Angelo State Rams Seek First Road Win at Western New Mexico

SAN ANGELO, TX — The Angelo State University football team earned a much-needed win at home last week.

Now it’s back on the road for the Rams.

ASU will travel to play Western New Mexico at 7 p.m. Saturday in Silver City, New Mexico.

Four of the Rams’ first five games are on the road, and they won’t play at home again until Oct. 12 against Texas A&M-Kingsville.

“There’s light at the end of the tunnel. We’re going to have a bunch of home games at the end,” ASU head coach Jeff Girsch said .

The Rams will end the regular season with four of their last six games in San Angelo, so they could position themselves for a strong finish if they can take care of business away from home.

Western New Mexico has a 2-1 record and will have home-field advantage, but the Mustangs will be a significant underdog in this matchup.

WNMU was 2-8 last season and picked to finish in ninth place out of 10 teams in the Lone Star Conference.

The Rams routed the Mustangs 62-9 last year in San Angelo.

“We’re going to have to go out and play well, and then you throw in the travel,” Girsch said. “We’re playing under the lights there at Western New Mexico, so we’ll get home about 7 in the morning.”

ASU is coming off a 26-20 win over Eastern New Mexico last week to open LSC play.

The Rams saw a solid performance from sophomore quarterback Braeden Fuller, who was 14-of-23 passing for 171 yards and a touchdown.

ASU struggled with its QB play in the first two games as Fuller and freshman Kaeden Smith each saw action.

Fuller was the only QB who played last week.

“He’s getting better and better,” Girsch said. “When you have young quarterbacks in the room, the thing that’s going to make them better is game reps. He’s getting more and more experience, and I thought he did outstanding.

“Obviously, we want to continue to work on things, and there are some things that need to get cleaned up. But he took a huge step forward in what he’s doing, and I’m proud of him for that, but I’m not surprised. He’s an absolute top-end competitor, and he works at it and loves this game. We’re going to continue to expand on it, and the playbook’s going to get bigger and bigger.”

ASU had a chance to take a 20-point lead last week when a fumble at the goal line gave Eastern New Mexico new life, and the Greyhounds pulled within 26-20 with 6:21 remaining.

The Rams’ offense put the game away at that point with a 63-yard drive that ran out the clock.

“We needed our offense to step up, and quite frankly our offensive line took over. They really did,” Girsch said. “They outphysicaled Eastern New Mexico, which is tough to do sometimes. But that is the expectation. We’ve got four seniors in that group and five guys that have played a lot of football at Angelo State, so they’ve got to be one of the things we hang our hat on offensively.”

Senior running back Brayden Wilcox had 13 carries for 82 yards and a TD, while sophomore Jayden Jones had nine carries for 65 yards and a TD.

ASU’s defense was led by senior Kenton Allen with 13 tackles. Senior Stephen Woods and junior Eric Rascoe each had 10.

Standout junior cornerback Andrew Pitts recorded his second interception in as many games.

After a bye week next week, ASU will play at UT-Permian Basin at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, in Midland.