Team_ENMU_Special_Greyhounds_Cropped_2025_WOU
21
Winner Western Ore. WOU 4-2 , 3-1
18
Eastern N.M. ENM 1-5 , 1-3
Winner
Western Ore. WOU
4-2 , 3-1
21
Final
18
Eastern N.M. ENM
1-5 , 1-3
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
WOU Western Ore. 0 0 7 14 21
ENM Eastern N.M. 0 10 0 8 18

Game Recap: Football | | Jose Montoya

Second half effort lifts Western Oregon over Eastern New Mexico

Greyhound football drops conference contest to visiting Wolves, 21-18

PORTALES, N.M. – A story of two halves proved to be the difference Saturday night at Steve Loy Family Foundation Stadium as Western Oregon beat Eastern New Mexico, 21-18.

"I thought we did a good job defensively in the first half," said head coach Kelley Lee.

Eastern New Mexico played well in the first half as they held the visiting Wolves to just 93 yards over four drives. Most of those yards came in the opening sequence as WOU drove down and attempted a 41-yard field goal that was blocked by DJ Moore midway through the opening quarter of action.

Late in the first quarter (1:44) ENMU proceeded to hold onto the ball all the way up to the midway point of the second quarter. That is the drive that gave Eastern New Mexico the first score of the game from a field goal courtesy of Ryan Travis. That was the senior's first made field goal for the green and silver.

Eastern quickly forced Western Oregon to punt the ball away and that led to the Hounds first touchdown scoring drive of the afternoon. The Hounds converted a pair of third down attempts on their way to an 11-yard passing touchdown via Chad Ragle to Jonathon Carter. That was Ragle's sixth passing score of the season.

At the half, ENMU held a 10-0 lead.

"Not a lot of possessions," remarked Lee when talking about the opening half. Despite the low possession total, the team still carried the advantage going into the next part of the contest.

Western Oregon got the ball to start the second half and they designed a perfectly executed drive to begin action. The Greyhound defense forced the Wolves to have a pair of third down situations on that drive, but WOU converted those with ease as both plays went for 20+ yards. This led to quarterback Jordan McCarty running into the endzone for a score.

ENMU would go onto have no success on the next two drives, while WOU would be stopped on their next possession. With the ball late in the third quarter, the Wolves would take the game into the fourth quarter trailing by four points with the ball in the redzone. The opening play was likely the most important conversion of the day for Western Oregon as they powered through for a first down on a 4th and 1 attempt. Seconds later they took the lead on a Carson Workman score.

Déjà vu struck again as Eastern New Mexico would continue to be stopped on consecutive drives and two drives after a scoring possession later, Western Oregon would have another one themselves. This time, they took advantage of ideal field position and ran six straight plays leading to a 21-10 advantage over the Hounds. McCarty earned his second rushing score on what would end up being the game clincher.

With 4:56 left, head coach Lee went to Ragle to lead the Greyhounds attack. Every play on that drive saw Ragle run the ball or pass the ball. The most important play of the sequence was converting the first of three first downs. Ragle faced a 4th and 7 and placed a beautiful ball to Gerry Gomez who caught the ball for a 33-yard reception and extended the drive. Ragle would end up completing five passes for 56 yards and ran five times for 16 yards. Eastern would get the game within three with a successful two-point conversion.

Trailing 21-18, ENMU attempted an onside kick and a successful recovery by the visitor's would seal the deal. Eastern New Mexico drops to 1-5 (1-3, LSC) and now looks towards a rivalry game in Canyon, Texas next weekend.

"I thought the kids played really hard," said Lee afterwards. "Injuries made it really hard for us to execute our game plan."

Stewart was the leading rusher for ENMU with 22 carries and 90 yards. Ragle boasted 10 carries for 67 yards. Santana helped carry the receiving core with three catches for 55 yards.

Defensively, newcomers Aaron Warren and Cyrus Moore continue to be the leading tacklers. Warren earned 12 tackles and Moore tallied eight total. Matthew Quartieri had the teams only tackle for loss on the day.

Next week, Eastern New Mexico faces off against West Texas A&M for the Wagon Wheel. Stay tuned to goeasternathletics.com for additional coverage leading up to the game.