Page 6 - Sports
thesouthtexan.com
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Hog football Dominates at Home
Energy and attendance high at homecoming game against WNMU PLASERAE JOHNSON Sports Editor The Javelina Football team (3-6, LSC 1-5) overpowered the Western New Mexico Mustangs (0-8, LSC 0-6) Saturday night at the Pepsi Field in the Javelina Stadium in a nail-biter. The final score was 37-34. The stands were filled for the homecoming game. Plenty of blue and gold T-shirts and jerseys packed the stands to see the Javelinas battle the Mustangs on their home field. Rushing game leaders were Nick Pelrean, who totaled 153 yards, Kris Barnes, 40 yards , and Jeff Carr, with 37 yards. Defensive game leaders were Caleb Valentine with 11 tackles, Tre’Michael Tutt, 11 tackles, and Devonte Williams with eight tackles. Receiving leaders were Tyler Wilson who totaled 92 yards, Ryan Martinez, 47 yards, and Torrey Thomas with 33 yards. Students felt the energy and attendence was high at the 2018 Homecoming game.
Pelrean pushng for yards for the Javelinas.
Photo courtesy of javelinaathletics.com
“Yes, it is much higher because families come from everywhere to support their child in either the football game or the court for king and queen. Most students come out to support the football team, but others come to see their friends stand on the field during halftime. Also, a lot of people in the community
love homecoming so they come out and show support,” said Josephine Sannoh, a kinesiology major at Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK). It was 16 to 14 in the second quarter with six minutes and five seconds until halftime when the Javelinas
fumbled and scrambled to recover. However, the Hogs quickly readjusted and put themselves in front of the Mustangs before the second half of the football game. An umbrella of tortillas covered the track after they ran more than 60 yards for a touchdown. This built the momentum for the rest of the game that evening. According to javelinaathletics.com, head coach Daren Wilkinson was happy to see the team get a win over a Lone Star Conference team. “It’s always great when you get a victory. It doesn’t matter how you get there, at the end of the day we’re thinking about it, tomorrow we’re thinking about it, and what’s important is that we found a way to win the game,” Wilkinson said. Once the game returned so did the positive mindset and attitude of the Javelinas. Students felt the Javelinas needed the win in the game against the Mustangs to carry out the rest of the season in a positive light. “They needed the motivation,” said Larissa Sanchez, a Civil Engineering major at TAMUK.
Director starts duties for Javelinas Stephen Roach takes permanent athletic director position at TAMUK PLASERAE JOHNSON Sports Editor Stephen Roach filled the vacant athletic director position permanently as of Oct. 1. Roach replaced David Scott Gines in the Javelina Athletic Department. Upon filling the position, Roach met with coaches and his faculty and staff members to discuss his goals and duties for the current and upcoming sporting seasons. According to javelinaatheltics.com, Roach has degrees in Sports Management, certification in intercollegiate athletics administration, and a degree in Criminology. Roach resigned his position as athletic director at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) and
was ready to take on Javelina Athletics right away. IUP is a Division II university in the National Collegiate Athletics Association. His duties there have prepared him for this position at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. The campus of IUP is similar to TAMUK, so Roach hasn’t experienced any major problems adjusting so far. “There are a lot of similarities between IUP and TAMUK. The campus is slightly smaller here but the communities are very similar,” Roach said. Although Roach’s credentials speak for themselves, he has more to offer the athletic department from previous experiences. “Career wise, something interesting is that I started in a whole different career field. I used to be a parole officer,” Roach said. “My first job out
of college I did an internship. I was a criminology major and I did that for three years. I ran the House Arrest and Electronic Monitoring unit for Indiana in a county of Pennsylvania. Doing that at age 22 was quite the challenge, but it gave me a good perspective. “ Aside from Roach’s work life, he is a family man. Roach has been enjoying the warm Texas weather since. Roach enjoys golf in his free time and feels that living in Texas, he will get to do that a bit more. “[My family] are my main hobby right now. I took them golfing last weekend. Golf is my personal hobby that I love and I also enjoy working out,” he said. Roach then shared his path to finding college athletics. “It just came to me one day. I was in a bit of a sticky situation as I walked
into the middle of a drug deal. I was like I don’t think this is for me. I had some friends who went to get their Master’s in sports [administration]. I got an opportunity to be a graduate assistant and that kind of opened up my mind to athletics. Once I got into college athletics, I fell in love with it,“ he said. Some of Roach’s major goals for the department are learning about the program and adjusting to the program to see what can be improved. Steven Tallant, the president of TAMUK, was happy to choose Roach for the position because of his relevant background. “He’s done an incredible job good job [at IUP]. That university mirrors who we are. They have a similar size - 400 athletes and 40 staff members,” he said.
Stephen Roach with President Steven Tallant.
Stephen Roach with his wife, Molly. Photo courtesies of Frederick Neusch.