By Rick Mauch

LANGSTON, Okla. - The Texas Wesleyan University Rams football team saw an early 10-point lead vanish in a 42-31 road loss at Langston (Okla.) University Saturday.
 
The loss dropped the Rams to 4-2 overall and in the Sooner Athletic Conference as all of their games have been league contests. Langston remained unbeaten at 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the SAC.
 
The four victories this season are already the most in a single season since the program was revived in 2016 under coach Joe Prud'homme - and they still have four games remaining.
 
The Rams took a 17-7 lead after the opening quarter on a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Dalton Dale to Brandon Rolfe, the first covering 35 yards and the second 28.
 
Daniel Trejo got the scoring started early in the game with a 37-yard field goal for a 3-0 Texas Wesleyan lead.
 
In the second quarter, however, Lions quarterback Larry Harrington threw the first two of his five touchdowns in the game as Langston took a 21-17 halftime lead. He threw another in the third period and a fourth early in the final period for a 35-17 Lions lead.
 
The Rams' Ty Bobb returned the ensuing kickoff 84 yards to cut the deficit to 35-24 with 12:20 left in the game. Harrington's fifth touchdown with 1:34 left put the Lions' lead back to 18 before Dale passed 6 yards to P.J. Williams for a final score with just under a minute remaining.
 
Dale passed for 192 yards and the Rams rushed 28 times for 56 yards. Harrington threw for 312 yards to go with Langston's 193 rushing yards.
 
Clint Epperson led the Rams in rushing with 41 yards on eight carries. Collier Ricks caught the most passes (4) for Texas Wesleyan, accounting for 33 yards. Williams hauled in three for 47 yards, Bobb three for 23 and Rolfe's two TD catches covered 63 yards.
 
Along with kickoff return for a touchdown, Bobb returned another for 37 yards, along with a punt return for 31 yards.
 
Dylan Pettway paced the Rams defense with nine tackles, while Tank Conner had seven. Kendrick Anderson registered a sack.
 
Langston controlled time of possession by a margin of 33:21 to 26:39. The Lions were also 8-for-15 converting third downs compared to 3-for-15 for the Rams. On fourth down the Rams were 2-for-3 and the Lions were 1-for-1.
The Rams return home to Farrington Field Saturday, Oct. 23 to host Louisiana College at 2 p.m. The Wildcats (2-5 overall, 2-3 in SAC) are coming in with back-to-back wins, including a 27-24 victory at Wayland Baptist.
 
This will be the first ever meeting between the Rams and Wildcats.