SAN MARCOS, Texas - Seniors A.J. Krawczyk and James Sherman broke and tied, respectively, single-game program records in Texas State's (1-1) 36-20 home opening victory over Texas Southern (1-1) Saturday night at Bobcat Stadium.

Krawczyk set a new school record for fumble return halfway through the third quarter of 82 yards that went for a touchdown. Sherman converted five field goal attempts to tie a program record that was set in 1970 and matched two more times.




The defense forced a 3-and-out to start the game and Hutch White returned the ensuing punt 14 yards that allowed the offense to start at midfield. Three consecutive passes got the Bobcats down to the 24. A holding penalty moved them back but were able to get back to the Tigers' 19 after a scramble from Willie Jones III on third down. A 36-yard field goal from Sherman gave TXST an early 3-0 lead.

Another 3-and-out by the defense on TSU's next possession was capped off with a sack by Kingsley Onyirioha. White scampered down the left sideline on the punt return for 23 yards and was close to taking it to the house but was tripped up trying to hurdle the punter.



Lightning was detect within a seven-mile radius forcing the game into a 39-minute delay. After the break, Texas State was helped out by a pass interference penalty but the drive stalled afterwards.

An 11-play, 57-yard drive took 3:40 off the clock that ended with a 35-yard Sherman field goal to increase the lead to 6-0 early in the second quarter. During the drive, Jones converted a 20-yard pass to Tyler Watts on 3^rd-and-10. The sophomore quarterback followed with a 14-yard keeper a couple of plays later to put the Bobcats in field goal range.

On the Bobcats' second possession of the second quarter, Anthony D. Taylor and Jones went to work on the ground, combining for 37 yards. Jones then found Keenen Brown wide open at the 35-yard line and the graduate transfer from Oklahoma State went the rest of the way for his first career touchdown in a TXST uniform with the 46-yard reception being a career long. Sherman's initial PAT was no good but a roughing the kicker penalty allowed him a retry, which he sent through the uprights to increase the advantage to 13-0.

The Bobcats final time with the ball in the first half started off with Jones hitting Jeremiah Haydel for 49 yards. They eventually had to settle for a 41-yard Sherman field goal and took a 16-0 lead into halftime.

Receiving the second half kick, TXST started on their own 30 and drove 46 yards to the Tigers' 24 on 11 plays using 4:44 of the clock. The drive ended with Sherman converting his second straight 41-yard field.

TSU responded by connecting on a 41-yard pass to get into Bobcat territory on their next drive. Three plays later, the Tigers completed a pass over the middle that Bryan London II popped loose from the receiver. Krawczyk picked up the loose ball and returned it a school record 82 yards for a touchdown that stood after a review. The previous program fumble return mark was set in 2011 by Michael Ebbitt against Central Arkansas. Sherman's PAT increased the lead to 26-0 just over halfway through the third quarter.

The shutout ended when TSU completed a 75-yard pass for a touchdown 59 seconds later. The Tigers would tack on another touchdown with 13:33 remaining in the game to cut the advantage to 26-14.

Answering right back, the Bobcats drove 75 yards in seven plays that was capped off by a Taylor plunge from a yard out to increase the lead back to 19. Jones hit two big passes on the drive with the first going to Brown for 25 yards over the middle in which he had to make a leaping, one-handed grab. The second was a heave towards the end zone on third down that T.J. Graham caught for a 31-yard gain after making a late adjustment to shake the defender and brought the ball to the one.

However, the advantage shrunk to 13, 33-20, after TSU completed a play-action pass on fourth down for 16 yards. The PAT kick was no good because of low trajectory that barely got over the leaping defenders and then dropped.

Sherman connected on a 23-yard field goal to extend the lead to 36-20 with 2:57 left in the game. It was his fifth successful field goal of the game to tie the school record initially set by Mike Wuest against Angelo State on Sept. 19, 1970. Also matching the record were Dave Wuest on Nov. 18, 1972 against Texas A&M-Kingsville and Jason Howes versus Lamar on Nov. 4, 1989.

Jones finished the day 17-for-28 for 235 yards and a touchdown and broke the 100-yard barrier on the ground with 107 yards on 18 carries. Both of the air and ground yardage were career-highs for the sophomore. It was the first 100-yard game by a Bobcat since Taylor had 102 on 15 carries last season against ULM. Jones is also the first TXST quarterback to surpass 100 yards rushing since Tyler Jones did so against Southern Miss in 2015.

Robert Brown, Jr. ran 12 times and totaled 85 yards. Taylor tacked on 64 yards on the ground and Caleb Twyford added 47 yards.

Totaling 108 yards receiving was Brown on seven catches while being targeted eight times. Tyler Watts was the only other receiver with multiple catches with four going for 33 yards.

Defensively, London led TXST with nine tackles, 1.5 for a loss and two forced fumbles. Nikolas Daniels posted seven tackles from his inside linebacker position. Finishing with four tackles apiece were Frankie Griffin, Kumonde Hines, Jarron Morris and Kordell Rodgers, who posted a game-high two pass breakups.

Sherman was 5-of-6 on field goal attempts with four coming from 35 yards or beyond. His lone miss came at the end of the third quarter from 50 yards that had the distance but went right of the post. The Montgomery, Alabama native converted both of his PAT tries as well.

Texas State will be back in action on Sept. 15 for its Sun Belt Conference opener at South Alabama. Kickoff for the game is slated for 6 p.m. CDT from Ladd-Peebles Stadium.