Dustin Vaughan went 24-for-41 with 384 yards and three touchdowns without an interception to lead fast-starting West Texas A&M to a 42-21 win over No. 5-ranked Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday night in the finale of the Lone Star Football Festival at Cowboys Stadium, which drew a Lone Star Conference attendance record of 24,837 fans.

        WT (1-1) – utilizing an 11-yard Vaughan pass to Lance Ratliff, two field goals by Sergio Castillo Jr. and an 18-yard fumble return by Kevin McCluskey – jumped out to a 20-0 lead by the 3:10 mark in the second quarter.

        Kingsville (2-1) eventually climbed within one touchdown, 28-21, with 39 seconds left in the third quarter on a 20-yard TD pass from Nate Poppell to Robert Armstrong. The Buffaloes answered right back, though, with a 61-yard TD strike from Vaughan to Torrence Allen on the very next play from scrimmage.

        Kingsville threatened to make it a one-possession game one last time with 7:19 to play in the third, but a fourth-down and 18 try from the WT 22-yard line ended up with an incomplete pass that eventually sealed the victory for the Buffaloes.

        Vaughan also had a TD pass to Jeremy Watson. Brittan Golden totaled 131 yards on seven catches, including a highlight-reel diving grab in the fourth quarter.

        Caleb Randolph, Curtis Jefferson and Maurice Caldwell each had an interception to fuel WT’s defense, which totaled three sacks. Anthony Scott added eight tackles.

        Poppell, who missed two drives in the first half and one in the second due to injury, finished 26 of 42 for 306 yards and two TDs. He threw two interceptions. Armstrong had seven catches for 98 yards and two scores. Christian Taylor (three catches for 71 yards) also had a TD reception.

        Kerry Wheatfall made eight tackles to lead the Javelinas on defense.

        Kingsville didn’t get on the scoreboard until a 21-yard strike to Armstrong from backup QB Daniel Ramirez with 39 seconds before halftime, creating a 20-7 score at the break.

·         Don Carthel won his 60th game as head coach of the Buffaloes (60-17) and is eight shy from tying Joe E. Kerbel’s program record of 68.

·         Despite losing tonight, the Javelinas still lead their all-time series vs. the Buffaloes 16-9 and have won the previous two of three meetings. West Texas won four straight games over the Javelinas from 2005-08.

·         Sophomore QB Dustin Vaughn made his first collegiate start Saturday night and his 1st-quarter touchdown pass to classmate and WR Lance Ratliff was the first for both players.

·         Vaughn tossed two 3rd-quarter touchdown passes that sailed 43 and 61 yards, respectively, to WRs Jeremy Watson and Torrence Allen.

·         Vaughn passed for over 300 yards (384), connecting with nine different receivers and completing 24-of-41 passes with three TDs. WR Ben Golden led all targets with seven receptions and 131 yards.

·         For Golden, tonight marked his third straight game with 125 receiving yards or more, dating back to last year’s playoff game vs. Central Missouri (Nov. 20, 2010).

·         RB Khiry Robinson scored the Buffs first and lone rushing touchdown with 3:39 remaining in the game. Robinson and RB Tommy Hampton shared the team lead in rushing yardage with 24 on a combined 13 attempts.

·         West Texas scored its first defensive touchdown of the season in the second quarter on LB Kevin McCluskey’s 18-yard fumble recovery. The ball was stripped from the hand of Kingsville QB Nate Poppell by LB Zane Farris with about 3:10 to play. The Buffs have recovered four of six forced fumbles this year through two games.

·         The West Texas defense picked off two first-half passes. DB Curtis Jefferson’s interception return was taken back 20 yards. DB Caleb Randolph picked off a Poppell pass on Kingville’s first drive of the 4th quarter.

·         The Javelinas entered Saturday's game having allowed just 8.5 points per game through two weeks, but gave up 42 to the Buffaloes, the most they've allowed in a regular season game since Oct. 31, 2009, when they lost 47-35 at Abilene Christian.

·         One year removed from posting 243 all-purpose yards (115 of those rushing) in the Javelinas' 28-24 win over West Texas A&M, Jonathan Woodson was limited to 178 yards (only 59 rushing yards). He is 20 yards shy of reaching 1,000 career rushing yards and becoming only the second Javelina in history to record 1,000 career rushing yards and 1,000 career kick return yards (the late Johnny Bailey is the other).

·         Middle linebacker Marcus Sanders recorded four tackles to give him 200 career tackles.

·         The last time the Javelinas lost to an unranked team was Oct. 13, 2007, when they dropped a 21-17 decision to East Central (Okla.).

·         The Javelinas are now 161-53 all-time as a nationally ranked team.