PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico football totaled 533 yards of offense, including 366 through the air, but Colorado Mesa pulled away in the middle quarters to hand the Greyhounds a 42-23 loss Saturday afternoon at Al Whitehead Field at Steve Loy Family Foundation Stadium.
Eastern New Mexico (0-2) outgained Colorado Mesa (1-1) by a 533-408 margin and recorded 22 first downs in the contest. The Greyhounds finished with 167 yards on the ground while three ENMU quarterbacks combined to complete 23-of-38 passes for 366 yards and two touchdowns.
The Greyhounds wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. On the fourth play of the opening drive,
Clifton Cooper connected with
Darwin Parker for a 46-yard touchdown, giving Eastern an early 6-0 advantage just 61 seconds into the game.
Colorado Mesa answered later in the opening quarter when Liu Aumavae found Trek Keyworth for a 48-yard touchdown, putting the Mavericks ahead 7-6 with 3:39 remaining in the period.
Eastern responded with a 14-play, 69-yard drive that carried into the second quarter.
Clayton Vincent capped the possession with a 29-yard field goal, putting the Hounds back in front, 9-7, with 13:53 remaining in the half.
The Mavericks answered on their ensuing possession as Marvin Jones broke free for a 28-yard touchdown run to give CMU a 14-9 advantage. Colorado Mesa extended the lead later in the quarter with a 13-yard touchdown pass to take a 21-9 advantage into halftime.
Coming out of the break, Colorado Mesa added to its lead with a 54-yard touchdown pass from Cole Hansen to Noah Greer, making it 28-9.
Eastern put together a 13-play drive on its first possession of the second half, moving from its own 17-yard line to the Colorado Mesa 30 before the Mavericks stopped the Hounds on downs.
The Greyhound defense later came up with a takeaway.
Caleb Jefferson intercepted Hansen and returned the ball 14 yards, ending a Colorado Mesa drive late in the second quarter. Jefferson finished the game with three tackles, an interception and a pass breakup.
Colorado Mesa took advantage of an ENMU turnover late in the third quarter, scoring on an 11-yard Bronco Hartson run to extend the margin to 35-9. Hartson added another touchdown early in the fourth to give the Mavericks a 42-9 advantage.
The Greyhounds continued to battle in the fourth quarter. ENMU marched 80 yards on 13 plays before Trevino found the end zone for the second time, this time on an eight-yard rushing touchdown.
Kaden Dow converted the extra point to make it 42-16 with 8:47 remaining.Eastern struck again on its next possession, covering 77 yards in five plays.
Jake South connected with
Trei Kibbles for a 41-yard touchdown to bring the final score to 42-23.
Despite the loss, the Greyhound offense posted its strongest yardage output of the young season. ENMU averaged 6.5 yards per play and held a 366-224 advantage in passing yards. Eastern also converted eight third downs and three fourth downs.Cooper led the Greyhound passing attack with 196 yards and a touchdown on 8-of-15 passing. South added 106 yards and a touchdown through the air, while
Ryder Lambert completed five of six attempts for 64 yards.
Kibbles led all ENMU receivers with 118 yards and a touchdown on four receptions. Trevino contributed 58 receiving yards and a touchdown on three catches in addition to 43 rushing yards and a score.
Demitrius Alexandre added 49 yards on two catches, while
Gerry Gomez finished with 40 receiving yards.
Emeka Megwa paced the Hounds on the ground, rushing 12 times for 64 yards, including a game-long 24-yard carry. ENMU finished with 167 rushing yards on 44 attempts.
Defensively,
Robert Anderson led Eastern with nine total tackles, including seven solo stops and a tackle for loss.
Matthew Quartieri followed with eight tackles, while
Raheim Ross recorded six.
Julian Williams finished with five tackles and a tackle for a 15-yard loss.
The Greyhounds finished the afternoon with 533 yards on 82 offensive plays compared to Colorado Mesa's 408 yards on 72 plays. Penalties proved costly for Eastern, with ENMU being flagged 14 times for 112 yards compared to four penalties for 44 yards against the Mavericks.
ENMU will head into their bye week to prepare for the start of conference play against Texas A&M Kingsville on the road September 19
th at 6 p.m.
