Season Opener

STEPHENVILLE - The Texans host Northeastern State in the season opener at 7 p.m., and fans can catch the live blog throughout the game.

- Northeastern State scored first when Drew Patton hit a 44-yard field goal with 10:45 on the clock in the first quarter.

- NSU scored again when Patton hit a 29-yard field goal to end a 10-play, 33-yard drive to make it 6-0. The score was set up by a NSU interception of Tarleton's Nick Stephens.

- NSU added to the score with an 11-play, 80-yard drive that was completed by a 14-yard pass from Daryn Alves to Trey McVay. A Nick Whitlow pass to Cale Fulps made it 14-0 RiverHawks.

- The Texans scored in the last minute of the first half when Stephens hit Gray on a 19-yard pass. Gray jumped and took the ball away from the defender in the corner of the endzone. Blake Wiest hit the extra point as Tarleton trailed 14-7 at the half.

- The RiverHawks scored another field goal to make it 17-7 with 6:39 left in the third quarter. Patton hit a 33-yard field goal to end the drive.

- Kenny Davis then scored on a quarterback keeper to give NSU a 24-7 lead with 13:39 left in the contest after the extra point. The drive took six plays in 2:05 and covered 41 yards.

- Jeken Frye then caught a 48-yard pass from Stephens to score the Texans' second touchdown at 12:55 in the fourth. A Stephens rush failed, and Tarleton trailed 24-13.

- Blake Weist hit a 39-yard field goal with 7:02 left in the contest to cut the lead to eight, 24-16.

- On the ensuing kickoff, Nate Robinson returned the ball 95 yards for a touchdown to make it 30-16 in favor of the RiverHawks. The extra point was good to increase the lead to 15.

- Aaron Doyle then walked on the field for the Texans and had a keeper for a 15-yard gain before hitting Frye for a 60-yard receiving touchdown. Weist had the PAT to make it 31-23 with 6:08 on the clock.

- The Texan defense held the ensuing drive by the RiverHawks, but a nice NSU roll on the punt put Tarleton back to its own eight yardline with 3:34 left in the game.

- Texans fail to get down the field and turn the ball over on downs, thanks to several dropped passes.

- Tarleton loses the season opener, 31-23, despite outgaining NSU 463 to 287. The Texans had 328 yards passing and 135 yards rushing to NSU's 193 yards passing and 94 yards rushing.

- The Texans were 6-of-18 on third-down conversions and two-of-four in red-zone scores.

See more info at TarletonSports.com.