Junior running back Lincoln Pare rushed for 143 yards with two touchdowns as the Texas State Bobcats defeated the North Texas Mean Green 30-28 in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas, Friday evening, marking the second season in a row Texas State won this bowl game. Total attendance was 28,725.
Pare also caught four passes for 32 yards and accumulated 110 rushing yards alone in the fourth quarter. His 73-yard touchdown run was the second-longest in SERVPRO First Responder Bowl history. Pare’s dominant performance earned him the First Responder Bowl MVP award.
“[Pare] is going to be a captain moving forward and he is just the epitome of what we want as a Texas State Bobcat on and off the field. That is how you win games, with guys like him,” Texas State Head Coach G.J. Kinne said. “For him to come back and win MVP to end the season, credit to him and what he is all about.”
Kinne has led Texas State to a 2-0 record in bowl games and back-to-back eight-win seasons for the first time since the Jim Wacker era.
Senior quarterback Jordan McCloud finished his final collegiate game passing for 307 yards, one touchdown and one interception. In his collegiate career, McCloud threw for 10,135 yards and 88 touchdown passes. The senior finished with 37 total touchdowns in 2024, good for a Texas State program record.
Senior wide receiver Jaden Williams finished the game catching eight passes for a career-high 155 yards with a touchdown. Williams’ 70-yard reception from McCloud is tied for the third-longest pass reception in SERVPRO First Responder Bowl history.
“[I am] super proud of the guys. Obviously, we had to make it interesting on ESPN for the second time in a row putting on a show. Hats off to North Texas and Coach Morris. They had those guys ready to go,” Kinne said. “Their backup quarterback [Drew Mestemaker] came out there and played lights out. He is a good player and I have a ton of respect for [North Texas].”
Freshman quarterback Drew Mestemaker’s start in the First Responder Bowl was his first since he was on his high school’s Freshman B-Team. Mestemaker, a walk-on, finished the bowl game with 393 passing yards and three total touchdowns.
North Texas took an early 14-3 lead in the first quarter following a 46-yard touchdown pass from Mestemaker to freshman receiver Miles Coleman.
Texas State took a 16-14 lead against North Texas after a 24-yard touchdown pass from McCloud to Williams with just over three minutes remaining in the first half.
In the third quarter, the Bobcats extended their lead to 23-14 by mounting a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive using just under seven minutes of the clock, capped off by a one-yard touchdown rush from Pare.
North Texas defensive lineman Breylon Charles forced a strip sack on McCloud with five minutes left to play in the ball game. The Mean Green capitalized on the turnover with a one-yard rushing touchdown from freshman running back Makenzie McGill. North Texas trailed 23-21 with three and a half minutes remaining.
Texas State quickly answered the North Texas touchdown with a score of its own, as Pare scored a 73-yard rushing touchdown, extending the Bobcats’ lead to 30-21.
Mestemaker also ran in a 70-yard touchdown with 1:49 left, making the score 30-28 for Texas State. However, it was too little, too late for North Texas.
With Kinne inked to a seven-year extension, the former Tulsa quarterback will return to San Marcos for the Bobcats’ 2025 season opener on Aug. 30 at UFCU Stadium against Eastern Michigan.
