FORT WORTH – It took a heroic effort, but Texas Wesleyan (2-7, 2-5 SAC) held things together and made critical plays down the stretch to nab a 21-20 victory away from the Lyon Scots (3-6, 2-5 SAC) on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Farrington Field.

With 8:26 to play, the Rams earned 41 yards in 1:32 on six plays that led to Collier Ricks' 18-yard score, his second of the day. That put Texas Wesleyan ahead, 21-20. On the ensuing Lyon drive, 3rd and 10, Spencer Childress was picked off by Michael Miller, his third of the season.

Then the Rams began their march.

After back-to-back Donavan Isom runs totaling nine yards, Texas Wesleyan elected to go for it on 4th and 1 with 3:43 remaining. Out of the timeout, Isom kept it on a sneak, picking up three yards and winding more clock. Lyon burned its final timeout with 2:16 to play – a 3rd and 4 upcoming for the Rams. Again, they converted – an 8-yard strike to Le'Mant Monroe to move the chains again.

On the next play, Isom took a knee and was blasted after the whistles in the backfield, drawing a 15-yard, unsportsmanlike penalty from the Scots. That pushed the Rams to the Lyon 15, where victory formations bled the final seconds off the clock.

How sweet it was. How windy it was.

The direction in which offenses were moving played a huge factor as a gusty breeze was blowing in from the south all afternoon. With the wind, offenses scored 27 of the games 41 points – Lyon failed to score in the first and fourth quarters when going into the wind.

At the end of the first half, Lyon tacked on a field goal after the wind carried a punt and Diamond Williams down to the one-yard line, eventually stalling a drive and helping Lyon get into field goal range as the clock ticked down to zeros.

In the fourth quarter, the Rams started drives from the Lyon 35, the Lyon 41 and the Rams' own 46. On the flip side, the Scots started drives from their own 6, own 27 and own 25 yard lines.

Banged up, Donavan Isom finished the day 21-of-39 for 240 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, despite being sacked four times and being hurried into throws on many more occasions.

With Le'Mant Monroe having a tougher time than what Rams fans have grown accustomed to (5 receptions, 48 yards), Brandon Rolfe stepped up with 92 yards on five receptions with a touchdown – a drop-in-the-bucket pass to the corner of the end zone from 32-yards out that gave Texas Wesleyan a 14-10 lead with 6:25 to go in the third. Ricks ended up with three receptions, 33 yards and the two scores.

Miller was flying all over the field, piling up 14 tackles. Byron Tate, who led the team in sacks coming in, got one of the Rams' three sacks Saturday and added 2.5 tackles for loss. Dylan Pettway earned 3.5 TFLs and forced a fumble. In all, the defense racked up 12 of Lyons 66 plays behind the line of scrimmage.

The Rams had a season low six penalties and 62 penalty yards.

UNFORGETTABLE PLAYS
Chance Carroll stole a screen pass in the third quarter with the Scots driving on the Ram 36. It was Lyon's first possession of the second half – and first turnover. Carroll came out of a crowd of Texas Wesleyan defenders that had blown the play up from the start.

In a scoreless first half, Texas Wesleyan ran a fake punt on 4th and 6 from their own 11-yard line and succeeded – a 19-yard scamper for punter Gregory Blaser sending the home side into a frenzy. The drive went 12 plays in 5:01 and ended with the first points of the game – Ricks' first touchdown. Blaser averaged 39.6 yards on eight punts, pinning the Scots inside the 20 three different times.

WHAT'S NEXT
The victory moved Texas Wesleyan firmly out of the SAC cellar, now in the seventh position in the conference standings. Ottawa-Arizona comes to town next week (4-3, 3-3 SAC). The Spirit have scored 51, 35, 51, 73 and 63 points at home, but are winless on the road. Texas Wesleyan can improve to an even 3-3 record at Farrington Field with a victory.