WICHITA FALLS, Texas --- They all don't have to be pretty - a win is a win. And this one gets the Wolves closer to a Lone Star Conference title.

The Western Oregon football team slugged out a 21-16 win over Midwestern State on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium to keep their LSC title hopes in their own hands.

The win sets up a first-versus-second matchup this Saturday in Monmouth with first-place Angelo State and it's 7-0 conference record after a 17-16 win at home over No. 17 Central Washington on Saturday.

As for Saturday's win, the Wolves (6-3 overall, 6-1 LSC) held the Mustangs (3-6, 2-5) to 231 yards of offense and got two interceptions from Andrew Simpson - giving him six on the season, tied for the fifth-most in single-season program history.

WOU jumped out on top on its first possession, taking advantage of great field position at the MSU 36 after just a 23-yard punt after forcing the Mustangs to go three-and-out on the first possession of the game. The Wolves needed six plays to go the 36 yards, capped by a Jordan McCarty 1-yard touchdown pass to Damon Hickok to make it 7-0 with 10:56 left in the first quarter.

The Wolves defense again stepped up as on the third play of the next possession Simpson got the first of his two interceptions and ran it back 19 yards down to the MSU 20. Four plays later McCarty rushed it in from a yard out to make it 14-0 Wolves with 7:43 left in the first quarter.

WOU led 14-6 at the half before taking the second half kickoff and going 75 yards on 12 plays - taking 6:38 off the clock - and scoring on a 19-yard pass to Isaiah Rickard to make it 21-6 Wolves.

Midwestern State took advantage of a WOU fumble and run it back 66 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-13 and the Mustangs' third field goal of the game made it 21-16 with still 12:03 left in the contest. 

The Mustangs had two more chances to take the lead and drove the ball down to the WOU 18 with less than a minute left, but Tyler Copeland broke up a pass on fourth-and-7 to secure the win for WOU.

Aden Murphy led the Wolves with seven tackles, Malcolm Liufau had four tackles and a sack, Gio Antonini had four tackles, a sack and two quarterback hurries and Nijawn Sterling had four tackles and 1.5 sacks. Along with his two interceptions, Simpson added two pass breakups and a tackle.

McCarty finished 9-for-14 passing for 85 yards and two touchdowns while leading the team with 70 yards rushing and another score. Kainoa Sayre had 47 yards rushing on 10 carries. Hickok had a team-high three catches for 31 yards and a score.