After seeing their four game winning streak come to a halt at the hands of No. 23 Texas A&M Commerce, the West Texas A&M Buffaloes went back to work this week. Despite falling to the Lions, 48-21 in Commerce on Oct. 18, Head Coach Mike Nesbitt and the Buffs have to put the past behind to prep for the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas for Senior Day at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if we would have won by 40 or how we got beat,” Nesbitt said of the situation. “It’s just what you got to do in this business.”
On a positive note for the Buffs, junior running back Geremy Alridge-Mitchell was able to attain his fifth straight game with more than 100 rushing yards. Another note to point out is senior wide receiver Anthony Johnson became one of the top 10 receiving leaders in program history.
“It’s an honor to see all of the great receivers that have passed here throughout the years – such as Charly Martin and being in that group, in that category with those guys has been an honor,” Johnson said. “It’s a big deal to me. I’ve still got quite a ways to go.”
For Johnson and fellow wide receiver Jeremy Watson, backup quarterback David Lehocky, linebacker Torian Oakley among many others, this will be the final regular season game at the historic stadium.
“I believe that we’re a group that leads by example,” Emory Atterberry, senior offensive lineman, said of his time at West Texas A&M. “There’s not so much talk, we just go out there and get the work done. At the end of the day, through the injuries, I enjoy showing up in that locker next to everybody because I had some friendships and it’s really helped make me who I am today.”
The Javelinas come into Canyon with a winless Lone Star Conference record and 1-6 overall – but are showing signs of improvement under interim head coach Jaime Martinez. Martinez took over for former coach and defensive coordinator David Calloway, and scored a season high 31 points last week against Angelo State.
“Kingsville’s in that transition mode with the new coach that they hired,” Nesbitt said of their upcoming opponent. “Coach Martinez will have those guys playing hard and he’s got a lot of pride – he played there at Kingsville. For the most part, I expect a team that he’s going to rally those group of guys and get them to play really hard against us for sure.”
The Buffs and Javelinas are scheduled to play at 3 p.m. on Oct. 25. Along with celebrating the seniors, Zeta Tau is sponsoring a Pink Out Game.