Saturday, September 9, 2017
SILVER CITY, NM —
Hayden Hill and
Zach Johnson each made six tackles and forced fumbles to lead a defensive charge by the Eastern New Mexico University football team (2-0; LSC 1-0) which forced five turnovers in Saturday's Lone Star Conference game. The effort led to 17 points on five turnovers for a 37-34 win over Western New Mexico University (0-2; LSC 0-1) at Altamirano Field.
The Eastern New Mexico University football team will return to action next Saturday, when they visit third-ranked Texas A&M-Commerce. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. MT. The Lions will host William Jewell this evening.
Inside the Series
- The victory was Eastern's 40th over Western New Mexico and improved the Hounds to 40-15-2 in the overall series
- ENMU has won its last 13 games in the series, which includes six straight road games
- The Greyhounds are now 17-9-2 on the road in the series with WNMU
The Key Plays
- An attempted on-side kick set ENMU up at the Mustang 40-yard line to start the game
- Eastern's first play was a 33-yard run by Strand
- Three plays later, Johnny Smith gave ENMU the lead
- WNMU's Tyler Butler forced a fumble which he returned 85 yards for the game-tying score
- Hardin intercepted WNMU's Javia Hall at the ENMU 43-yard line
- D'Maujeric Tucker capped the ensuing eight-play drive with a 13-yard touchdown run
- Hill forced a Hall fumble and recovered at the Greyhound 47-yard line
- The turnover led to a 32-yard field goal by Bailey Hale to give Eastern a 17-7 lead
- Late in the opening half, Page intercepted Hall at the Greyhound 23-yard line
- Hall found D'Angelo Bowie for a touchdown with 12 seconds left in the half to pull WNMU within 17-14
- The Mustangs opened the second half with a 10-play drive and took a 21-17 lead when Hall found Evan Beebe from 29 yards out on fourth-and-12
- ENMU answered with a 13-play drive, capped by a one-yard plunge from Cass for a 24-21 lead
- Hall responded with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Sean North but Desmond Blue blocked the PAT as WNMU took a 27-24 lead
- Josh Miller forced a Mustang fumble at the Greyhound 35-yard line, recovered by Zach Johnson
- A 59-yard spring by Tayshaun Gary set up a nine-yard touchdown from Cass to give Eastern a 31-27 lead
- Early in the fourth quarter, WNMU's Dominic Barry and Tariq Myricks converged to stop an ENMU fourth-and-one attempt at the Mustang seven-yard line
- After Dante Urrea thwarted a WNMU fourth-down pass, ENMU capped an 11-play, 83 yard drive with a one-yard sneak from Strand
- Leo Marin blocked the PAT to hold Eastern's lead to 37-27 with 1:36 left in the game
- Hall found Elijah Jones with a 23-yard touchdown pass with 55 seconds left
- Eastern recovered WNMU's fourth attempt at an on-sides kick and ran out the clock for the win
In the Numbers
- The Mustangs attempted four on-sides kicks in the game, all recovered by Eastern
- The Greyhounds dominated time of possession and held the ball for 35:05 of play
- Eastern won thee turnover battle by a 5-1 margin
- ENMU scored on six-of-eight trips to the red zone
- ENMU outgained the Mustangs on the ground by a 380-59 yard margin
- WNMU, the nation's third-leading passing game finished with 418 yards through the air after being limited to 84 in the first half
- Western limited quarterback Wyatt Strand to 37 passing yards, but the sophomore rushed for 68 yards and ENMU's final touchdown
- Kamal Cass rushed for 91 yards and two touchdowns
- The Mustangs had three turnovers in Greyhound territory, in addition to a turnover on downs
- Deion Page and Brad Hardin had ENMU's firsts interceptions of the game
Beyond the Box Score
- The win marks the third time in the last four seasons the Hounds have won their first two games of the season
- WNMU entered the game as the nation's third-most prolific passing offense
- Eastern's 17 points off turnovers are their most since scoring 21 points in the same fashion at Bacone on October 10, 2015
- The last time ENMU forced five turnovers came at Angelo State, September 24, 2016
- Tayshaun Gary's 113 rushing yards marked his second 100-yard outing against the Mustangs
- Desmond Blue's interception today marked the second straight time he had one against WNMU
