Box Score PORTALES, N.M. – The 21st night of September was truly one to remember at Steve Loy Family Foundation Stadium as Midwestern State settled for a win in a game that took more than five hours to finish. Kickoff was scheduled for 6 p.m., but the final whistle didn't blow until past 11 p.m. Lightning delays controlled the tone of the matchup, and the Mustangs found a way to capitalize on Eastern New Mexico mistakes directly after play was resumed.
"Give credit to Midwestern, they are a well-coached team," said head coach
Kelley Lee after the contest. "They handled the rain delays better than we did because a lot of our mistakes came after those times."
Those "mistakes" proved to be crucial as the Greyhounds committed a season-high four turnovers. Three of those came on either the first or second play of the drive. MSU earned 20 points off those turnovers, which catapulted them to the road victory.
For a second-straight week, Eastern New Mexico held the advantage yardage-wise. ENMU did not benefit from the 416-379 edge on MSU. Instead, the visitors were able to begin their drives in favorable positions and converted on those chances.
Ja'Calvin Newsom has carried the majority of the rushing load for Eastern over the past two games. The Albuquerque, N.M. native ran for 135 yards on just ten total carries. He found the endzone in the second half to get the Hounds within three scores (33-15).
Not including victory formation, MSU scored on seven of their ten drives on the night. A majority of those possessions were quick and effective.
Zerrian Meander and
Matthew Quartieri led the Greyhounds defensive unit with ten tackles a piece.
Uatahouse Tu'ifua and M. Quartieri finished with 1.5 tackles for loss.
Salofi Aumoeualego had one of his better games as a Greyhound as he had seven tackles, a quarterback hurry, and a forced fumble.
Eastern New Mexico will now take an extra week to prepare for Homecoming scheduled for October 5 versus Central Washington. The game is scheduled to kickoff at 6 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase.
