Box Score
GLENDALE, Ariz. - It was the first "true" home game ever for Arizona Christian, but it seemed to be the Texas Wesleyan Rams who felt more at home on Saturday in Glendale, outlasting the Firestorm 37-34. 

The Rams, behind the play of running back Ty Williams and a defense that forced six takeaways, evened their record at 1-1 this fall football season with a 37-34 victory against the Arizona Christian Firestorm.

The Firestorm had played at a variety of venues in six-plus seasons before playing on their newly built field. To make the loss sting even more for ACU, it was homecoming for the Firestorm.

The win was the first in four tries against the Firestorm since the Rams reinstated their program and returned to play in 2017. They are now 1-1 in Glendale.

Williams, a junior out of Dallas, carried 31 times for 184 yards and four touchdowns. He had scoring runs of 50, 28, 15 and 8 yards as the Rams built a 30-13 lead with 3:36 left in the third quarter.
   
The game-winning touchdown was scored by freshman wide receiver A.J. Bobb (Houston) on a 16-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Dalton Dale (Mesquite) with 2:37 remaining in the game. It came after the Firestorm (3-1) had scored three touchdowns in less than 10 minutes to take a 34-30 lead with 7:07 left to play.
   
Following Bobb's touchdown, the Rams defense rose up as senior defensive lineman Adrian Johnson (Center) and junior linebacker Dylan Pettway (Watkinsville, Ga.) combined for a sack. Johnson recovered a fumble on the play with 2:26 left, and the Rams ran out the clock, reaching the ACU 3 yard line.
   
It was one of six turnovers forced by the Texas Wesleyan defense (4 fumbles, 2 interceptions). It was also Johnson's second fumble recovery of the game. Pettway also had a fumble recovery, as did junior defensive back Chance Carroll (New Orleans).
   
Along with Williams, Dale rushed 20 times for 70 yards. Dale also finished 20-for-20 passing for 103 yards with the one TD and no interceptions. Bobb hauled in five of those completions for 42 yards with the touchdown.
   
Also for the Rams, freshman wide receiver Robert Jones (Sasche) had a pair of catches for 47 yards, along with returning a kickoff 39 yards.
   
Rams redshirt freshman placekicker Daniel Trejo (Fort Worth) was 4-for-4 kicking extra points and added a 31-yard field goal. Junior punter Gregory Blaser (Cypress) averaged 44.6 yards per kick.
   
Carroll led the Rams defense in tackles with 11 (five solo), while Johnson registered 10 with nine solo, and Pettway also had 10 (five solo). Junior linebacker Christopher Deal (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) posted seven tackles, all solo. Freshman defensive back Ismail Nasir (Fort Worth) and sophomore linebacker Mark Seidler (Jonesborough, Tenn.) each had five tackles, all solo.
   
The Rams defense had 4.5 sacks compared to three for ACU. Johnson and senior linebacker Tyquandrik Conner (Abilene) each had one for 6 yards, and senior linebacker Kendrick Anderson (Liberty, Miss.) had one for 11 yards. Pettway, freshman linebacker Hunter Bailey and freshman defensive lineman Joshua Randall each posted a half sack.
   
Conner returned an interception 30 yards and senior cornerback Tarik Davis returned one for 7 yards.
   
The Rams had seven tackles for a loss totaling 37 yards. Johnson had two for 9 yards, Conner had two for 7 yards, Pettway had one for 9 yards, Anderson had one for 11 yards and redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Michael McDonald had one for 1 yard.
   
The Rams took a 7-0 lead with 6:38 left in the opening quarter on Williams' 50-yard score. Then, after the Firestorm tied the game with 8:30 remaining and took the lead on a field goal just over four minutes later, Williams gave Texas Wesleyan a 20-10 halftime lead on runs of 28 and 15 yards at the 1:53 and 56-second marks of the second quarter.
   
Another ACU field goal closed the gap to 20-13 before Williams' final TD, and 8-yard run, and Trejo's field goal made the score 30-13 with 3:26 to play in the third quarter.
   
ACU led the statistics category in first downs (25-17) and passing yards (404-103), with the Rams leading in rushing with 56 carries for 250 yards compared to 34 carries for 175 yards. In all, the Firestorm had 579 yards opposite 353 for Texas Wesleyan.
   
The Rams committed five penalties for 103 yards, while the Firestorm had one penalty for 5 yards.
   
Texas Wesleyan was 6-fof-19 on third downs and 2-for-5 on fourth. ACU was was 3-for-12 on third down and 1-for-2 on fourth.
   
The teams combined for 151 plays (76 Rams, 75 Firestorm). The Rams averaged 4.6 yards per play and ACU averaged 7.7.
   
In the red zone, the Rams scored four times on six opportunities. The Firestorm converted all four trips into points.
   
While the Rams forced six turnovers, they surrendered the ball twice. Texas Wesleyan scored nine points off takeaways compared to seven ponits off takeaways for the Firestorm.
   
The Rams controlled time of possession by a count of 33:48 to 26:12.

TXWES football will return to Farrington field next week for a meeting with Wayland Baptist. Kick-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 14. 

Jimmy 'The Saint' Christopher will be on the call for the live internet broadcast. The free live streamed event can be accessed at RamSports.net/live.
Tickets can be found here.
To read out Game Day protocols, check out RamSports.net/updates