The Texas A&M University-Kingsville Javelinas took on the University of Texas Permian-Basin Falcons Saturday at Javelina Stadium, 24-21. The Javelinas held onto the win on their home field against the visiting Falcons for the Senior Night Game. Moments prior to the game, families and friends stretched across the end zone with their Javelina football players. The game was the last game of the season for the Hogs and forever for the seniors wearing blue and gold.
The team will be losing star players like Jeff Carr, Sean Landez, Brandon Jones, Torrey Thomas, Nick Pelrean and Julio De La Garza. The upperclassmen fought hard in their last game. Head coach Daren Wilkinson commented with his final thoughts and feelings as the Hogs went into their last game of the 2018 season. “Obviously we are all disappointed in concern of our cumulative record. This week we had a good week of practice and I think it’s encouraging that through it all we’ve played hard. We’ve just found ways to lose at opportune times. Sometimes it was offense, defense, or special teams but throughout the whole game we are not playing bad, that’s the encouraging and also discouraging part of it. We haven’t found ways to fix those,” he said.
The Javelinas finished the season with an overall record 4-7 and a conference record of 2-6. Key moments were when Devonte Williams intercepted and put the Hogs on track to get a touchdown. Then, quarterback Koy Detmer threw two solid touchdown passes which helped with the overall victory of the team. Later, defensive lineman Brandon Jones sacked the Falcon quarterback. Senior and defensive back, Sean Landez stood on the field flailing his arms to pump up the crowd for his last game as he made several tackles.
Then, Tyler Wilson caught a long pass from Detmer and ran it all the way to the touchdown. Fans will remember when Aaron Dilworth put a touchdown on the scoreboard for the Javelinas at a little over 14 minutes in the game. In honor of Senior Night, Wilkinson went on to thank his seniors for their dedication while being Javelina football players. “This is the very first group of kids I recruited when I got here. You know Nick Pelrean, Torrey Thomas, all the seniors… They are all guys that’ll mean a little something to me for the rest of my life because they are the first group that I recruited as the head coach.
So, I appreciate the hard work that they put in and the countless hours in the offseason,” he said. “Through it all, they worked hard and stayed out of trouble off the field. They are all going to graduate and that what it’s all about. We’ll be disappointed because we didn’t win a lot of games, but we will talk about is them graduating. They’ll go on to be successful.” Pelrean was confident going into his final game as a Javelina. “[I haven’t done anything] different in preparing for this game that I haven’t in other games. Every game is 100 percent. [Then] I’m on to better things. I’m grateful and just want to end on a good note. Being on the football team has taught me self-discipline, self-efficacy and self-development,” he said.
Thomas shared what he cherished the most before he went in for his last ride as a Hog. “My goals for this game are to shine and make everyone that’s coming out here proud,” he said before the game. “I’m trying to get a win my last game. [In this game I want to] do my best and leave it all out on the field. Being a Javelina has taught me self-discipline, hard work, tradition and brotherhood.”