CANYON, Texas -- Midwestern State's run of winning seasons came to a close with Saturday afternoon's 34-24 loss to West Texas A&M at Buffalo Stadium.
 
The Mustangs close the year with a 5-6 record to end a run of 19 consecutive winning seasons. Midwestern posted a 4-7 mark in 1999 preceding a run of success that produced three Lone Star Conference championships, a bowl appearance and eight NCAA Division II playoff showings.
 
The team didn't go down without a fight despite falling behind the Buffs 27-3 at the half.
 
Sophomore quarterback Triston Williams hit Anthony Tennison for a 65-yard scoring strike less than two minutes into the second half, but WT answered with a 47-yard Nick Gerber-to-Semaj Mitchell scoring strike to put WT up 34-10 with 11:30 to play in the third quarter.
 
The Mustangs took advantage of an errant punt snap to score on a 1-yard run by Lazarus Fisher at the 6:30 mark of the third, then junior quarterback Kaylor Sullivan hit Xavier Land on a 14-yard TD connection to cap an 11-play, 78-yard drive to pull MSU to within 10.
 
The Mustangs proved effective through the air with Williams finishing with 214 yards on 11-of-22 passing with a touchdown and two interceptions, while Sullivan completed 12-of-18 passes for 105 yards with a TD and an interception.
 
Senior Xavier Land led the receiving corps with eight catches for 77 yards and a touchdown. He closes his career third on MSU's all-time receiving yardage list with 1,871 yards and is also third with 149 career receptions.
 
Fellow senior Tyrique Edwards had six catches for 70 yards to move into eighth place on the all-time receiving yards chart with 1,527. He also jumped into sixth on the all-time receptions list finishing with 114.
 
Sophomore Kylan Harrison added three receptions for 78 yards including a 69-yard catch on the Mustangs' first offensive play of the game.
 
Sophomore Lazarus Fisher paced the ground attack with 77 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown.
 
Senior defensive back Marcus Wilkerson made a career-high 14 tackles in the finale to close the year with team-best 84 tackles.
 
West Texas A&M signal caller Nick Gerber threw for 218 yards with three touchdowns to lead Buffs' attack.
 
WT closes the season with an 8-3 mark.