THIS WEEK IN GRIFFON FOOTBALL
Saturday, 4 p.m.
Missouri Western (0-2) at West Texas A&M (3-2)

ST. JOSEPH- Griffon Football makes its third appearance of the season at West Texas A&M. MWSU has never played the Lone Star Conference school before.


SETTING THE STAGE

• Missouri Western makes a rare appearance to West Texas A&M who are members of the Lone Star Conference.

• This matchup will mark the Griffons third game of the season, while it is West Texas A&M's sixth game of the season.

• The Griffons are one of three teams in the MIAA that are playing countable games this season and the Buffaloes are one of two teams playing countable games in the LSC. 

• MWSU's last game was its home opener vs MIAA opponent Pittsburg State to which the Griffons were defeated 20-7.

• WT won their last game 56-0 over NAIA opponent North American University, making this their sec ond win in a row and third overall.

                       

• Missouri Western hasn't started 0-3 since 1986. Since then, MWSU has an 18-16 record in game three of the season. 

• The Griffons have two players on the roster from Texas: DB: Fr #18 Kameron Langford (Austin Tex- as) & DE: Jr #92 Arnold Crayton (Houston, Texas)

• On offense, Quarterback Anthony Vespo has totaled 25 attempts and 16 completions in the last two games  His top target is St. Joseph native Cooper Burton who has 12 receptions for 109 yards. Bran don Hall leads a crop of three true freshman of have seen carries thus far gaining 55 yards on 12 carries. 

• Defensively, Evan Chohon has been everywhere totaling 21 tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss. The Griffons have 11 players on defense that have recorded a tackle for a loss. 

• On special teams, Senior Sam Webb returned last weeks' second half kickoff for a touchdown filling in nicely for Trey Vaval who missed last weeks game due to injury. Vaval, was an All American return er as a true freshman a season ago.

• West Texas A&M is one of two schools in the Lone Star Conference to be playing countable games this fall. The other LSC School is Angelo State, which WT beat 34-27 on October 31st.

• WT averages 32.8 points per game and has allowed 17.8 points per game this season. The 

Buffaloes have an average of 415.6 yards of offense per game, 196 passing and 219.6 rushing.

• The Buffs have turned the ball over seven times in five games, throwing three interceptions and fumbling four times. However, they have forced six turnovers defensively, picking off three passes and grabbing three fumbles.

•     On offense, junior quarterback Nick Gerber has completed 61.5 percent of his passes for 879 yards. Gerber has thrown seven touchdown passes and three interceptions. The top receivers are senior Chase Sojka and junior Devin Neal. Sojka has nine receptions for 233 yards with three touchdown and averages 25.8 yards per catch. Neal has 12 receptions for 207 yards with one touchdown and averages 17 yards per catch.

• On defense, WT has allowed 340.6 of total offense per game. Junior linebacker Christopher Thomas leads the team with 41 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for a loss totaling five yards and one sack. Senior linebacker Eric Collins has 39 tackles, five for a loss and two sacks. 

• The two programs have never met before in football. 

• While the two schools haven't played on the gridiron, they have several things in common off the field with coaches and administrators.  Stan McGarvey, who led the Griffons to a 39-25-1 record in six seasons (1991-96) at the helm, left St. Joseph to take over WT.  While in Canyon, he led the Buffs to a 25-30 record in five seasons departing after the 2001 season.

• The schools have also had common Athletics Directors as Ed Harris led the Griffons from 1985-96 leaving for WT and leading the Buffs until 2006 when he retired.

• Paul Sweetgall, who is currently WT's Associate AD for Compliance served as MWSU's Sports Information Director in the late 80s to the mid 90s.

• The 1996 MWSU graduate and two-time All-MIAA Defensive Lineman is 20-15 in his third season as a head coach. 

• After beginning his coaching career at MWSU as a Graduate Assistant, Williamson spent 11 years as an assistant at Arkansas-Monticello, Central Arkansas and Stephen F. Austin.

• Hughes enters his fourth season as the head coach of the Buffs. Prior to his head coaching role, Hughes was the Defensive Coordinator at Colorado State University-Pueblo for 10 seasons. Hughes played a major role in the 2014 Division II National Championship shut-out win, which was the schools first national title in school history.

• Hughes recorded an 8-3 record in 2019, which was the programs most wins since 2013.