Lincoln Pare ran for two touchdowns, including a 73-yard scamper late in the fourth quarter, to help Texas State beat North Texas 30-28 on Friday in the First Responder Bowl in Dallas.
Pare finished with 143 yards on 21 carries for the Bobcats (8-5), who won the First Responder Bowl for the second straight season. Jordan McCloud completed 26 of 35 passes for 307 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Jaden Williams caught eight of McCloud’s throws for 155 yards and a score.
Drew Mestemaker, a former walk-on quarterback pressed into starting duties for the Mean Green (6-7) because of transfer portal defections, finished 26-of-41 for 393 yards with a pair of touchdowns and two interceptions. He also ran for a 70-yard score to trim the North Texas deficit to two with 1:49 left in the game.
The Mean Green forced a punt after Mestemaker’s scintillating run, but the freshman signal-caller was intercepted on fourth down from his own 7-yard line to seal the game.
It was Mestemaker’s first college start and his first of any kind since his freshman year of high school.
The Bobcats struck first, moving 58 yards in 11 plays to a 34-yard field goal from Mason Shipley at the 8:58 mark of the opening quarter. Mestemaker hit Miles Coleman with a 46-yard touchdown pass two and a half minutes later to push North Texas in front at 7-3.
Shipley booted a 21-yard field goal with 2:45 left in the first quarter to bring Texas State to within 7-6. Mestemaker responded with a 16-yard scoring pass to Landon Sides on the first play of the second quarter to move the Mean Green ahead 14-6.
Shipley added a 47-yarder with 11:02 to play in the first half to trim Texas State’s deficit to five points. The Bobcats roared to the lead when McCloud connected with Williams on a 24-yard TD with 3:27 to play until halftime.
Pare’s 1-yard touchdown plunge on the opening possession of the second half increased the Texas State advantage to 23-14.
The Mean Green pulled to within two points after a 1-yard scoring rush by Mackenzie McGill II with 3:20 to play. But Pare provided the key run two snaps into the ensuing possession, bursting through a hole in the left side of the line and outsprinting the defense to boost Texas State’s lead back to nine points.
