PORTALES, N.M. – A wild night. That's what came to be for Eastern New Mexico as they faced No. 8 Angelo State on Saturday night.

"It was good to finish the game. Both teams had to deal with a lot of adversity with the rain and the lightning," said head coach Kelley Lee. "I thought we played extremely hard in the second half. Defense got several three-and-outs. Ultimately, we had some penalties that stalled our momentum and that hurt us."

The two Lone Star Conference foes opened league play in a matchup that will be remembered for several reasons.

ENMU welcomed hundreds of active-duty members at Cannon Air Force Base for Military Appreciation Night. The pregame festivities included a tailgate sponsored by the Portales Military Affairs Committee (PMAC), special national anthem performance, AC-130J flyover, and a presentation of colors.

On the field, the nationally ranked Rams struck first on a nicely orchestrated drive. The 12-play, 75-yard drive culminated in a rushing touchdown from Chad Pharies. However, Eastern New Mexico was poised to get on the board and find the equalizer.

After two drives stalling early in the contest, ENMU was licking their chops after a crucial ASU turnover gave the Hounds their first chance to score. Eastern ended up scoring five plays later and got on the scoreboard.

Angelo State would end up scoring more than half of their total points in the second quarter. They took care of short field position, and held a 24-7 advantage going into intermission. Midway through the second quarter, a major lightning/rainstorm hit the micropolis (ie. opposite of metropolis) of Portales.

Fans were asked to leave the stadium and take shelter in cars. The delay proceeded for three hours and left the teams in their respective locker rooms.

During the delay, both coaches continued to urge a continuance of the contest and were able to begin action around 9:45 p.m. MT.

The delay did not bother the Rams as they scored fairly quickly and were able to stop ENMU on their first drives after the lengthy wait for the weather to clear.

One positive is Eastern New Mexico chose to not give up in the game. The program challenged the No. 8 program in the nation and put them in very unique spots.

The ENMU defense forced eight non-scoring drives, which includes five of those in negative yardage.

Chad Ragle continues to be a regular presence for ENMU on the box score as he threw for 61 yards. He came into the season with his primary stats coming as a slot back. His teammate, Xavier Johnson, hit the century mark with 103 rushing yards on just nine attempts, including breaking through for a 44-yard play.

Also, five Hounds were credited with a reception. Gerry Gomez continues to be a regular target for Ragle as he snagged a reception for 11 yards.

Eastern New Mexico had solid numbers offensively with 252 total rushing yards – a season best.

Defensively, nine student-athletes had multi-tackle outings. Cyrus Moore had his name called quite a few times with eight tackles, including one for loss. The Hounds defense posted a whopping nine tackles for loss with Esaias Swindle and Aaron Warren both taking home 1.5 tackles for loss to their name.

The Hounds will now prepare for a matchup in Wichita Falls next week against Midwestern State.