Saturday, October 17, 2015

STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS —De'Aundre Sanders 51-yard interception return in the third quarter snapped a 28-all tie and staked the Eastern New Mexico University football (5-2; LSC 2-2) team to a lead it would not relinquish. The Greyhounds went on to win a thrilling 49-44 shootout over Tarleton State (1-5; LSC 1-4) in Lone Star Conference action at Memorial Stadium.

Eastern came up with a season-high three interceptions and saw the duo of Jeremy Buurma and Kamal Cass combine for 256 rushing yards with five touchdowns. The Texans erased a pair of 14-point deficits and nearly came back from a late 11-point deficit.

The victory improved ENMU to 13-10 in the series against the Texans and was the Hounds' first since a 34-27 win on October 14, 2000. Eastern's last road win in the series came during the 1999 season.

Eastern received the opening kickoff and capped a 73-yard drive with a 24-yard touchdown sprint from Buurma. On the eighth play of the ensuing drive, Lawrence Hall stepped in front of a Zed Woerner pass and returned it 25 yards to the Easter 41-yard line. Five plays later, Buurma found Cameron Mikell for a 35-yard touchdown pass. Tarleton State immediately responded with a scoring drive and capitalized on a Greyhound fumble to pull even in the second quarter.

Late in the second quarter, Cass' one-yard dive capped an 11-play drive to give the Hounds a 21-14 lead. After forcing a punt, Buurma capped another drive with a four-yard touchdown run to double Eastern's lead. Tarleton scored on an 11-yard pass with just three seconds left in the half to pull within 28-21.

After an exchange of punts in the third quarter, Jabari Anderson broke a 69-yard touchdown run to pull Tarleton State even. After a Greyhound drive stalled at the Tarleton 21-yard line, the Texans faced a third-and-10 from their own 36-yard line, when De'Aundre Sanders returned his first interception of the season 51-yards to give Eastern the lead for good, 35-28, with 6:08 left in the third quarter. Buurma scored his third rushing touchdown of the game on the second play of the fourth quarter to give ENMU its third 14-point lead of the game.

Tarleton State responded with a 10-play drive capped by a 10-yard scoring pass to Le'Nard Meyers with 10:53 remaining in the game. After recovering another fumble, the Texans drove to the Greyhound three-yard line, but a sack from Elliot Peters and Fe'ao Vunipola forced a 29-yard field goal which trimmed ENMU's lead to 42-38 with 8:10 left.

Late in the quarter, a facemask penalty allowed Tarleton State to start a drive at the Eastern 46-yard line. The Greyhound defense allowed just four yards, with Jerrell Bradford breaking up a fourth-down pass. The defensive stop set up a short field, which allowed ENMU to drive 58 yards on six plays to extend their lead to 49-38, on a 13-yard run from Cass with two minutes left. Woerner led one more scoring drive to pull the Texans to within 49-44, but Adrian Horton recovered the ensuing onside kick to allow Eastern to run out the clock.

Eastern entered the contest ranked fifth in the nation in fourth-down conversion percentage and managed to convert two of its three attempts. Both conversions came on a go-ahead scoring drive in the second quarter. The Hounds converted two turnovers into 14 points, while Tarleton State managed 10 points off three turnovers. ENMU outrushed the Texans by a 385-190 yard margin. Cass paced the Hounds with 138 yards and two touchdowns. Buurma scampered for 118 yards and passed for 141 yards and a score. Horton caught two passes for 61 yards. Hall led the defensive effort with 12 tackles and an interception. Jerell Bradford also had an interception along with eight tackles. For the third straight game, the defense had at least eight tackles for a loss.

The Eastern New Mexico University football team will return home next Saturday, to face #25 Angelo State. The game will kick off at 1 p.m. MT, and is sponsored by Rooney Moon Broadcasting.