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11/10/2017 | Football
Friday, November 10, 2017
PORTALES, NM – The regular season finale is set to be a big one at Al Whitehead Field at Greyhound Stadium. The 20th-ranked Eastern New Mexico University football team (8-1; LSC 6-1) will take on the fourth-ranked and undefeated Midwestern State Mustangs for a share of the Lone Star Conference Championship. The game is sponsored by Big Valley and kickoff has been moved to 7:05 p.m. Prior to warmup, the Greyhounds will emerge from the locker room at 5:40 p.m. for the Dawg Walk to the stadium. This is a great opportunity to support the Greyhounds prior to their first contest as a nationally-ranked team since the 2003 season. How to Follow the Game The game will be broadcast by KSEL Country 105.9 FM, with a livestream offered on the station’s website. Live statistics will be available on www.GoEasternAthletics.com. The contest’s video stream will be available on ESPN 3 platforms which include WatchESPN and the ESPN app. Links will be provided on the ENMU football schedule page and main index page. About the Greyhounds The Eastern New Mexico University football team is 4-0 at home this season and 8-2 in their two seasons at Al Whitehead Field at Greyhound Stadium. Kelley Lee is in his first season as head Coach of the Greyhounds and has an 8-1 record. Last week’s victory over West Liberty tied him with Howard White for 11th on the ENMU career win list, and has him within one victory of tying Greyhound legend B.B. Lees. The last ENMU head football coach to win at least eight games in his debut season was Bill Kelly, when the Hounds posted an 8-2-1 mark in 1983 and reached the NAIA playoffs. No ENMU football coach has won more than eight contests in their initial season. Nationally, ENMU leads the NCAA Division II in time of possession and is second in rushing offense. ENMU’s defense is fifth in the nation against the run and tied for tenth in the country in preventing fourth-down conversions. Third and fourth down have been critical to ENMU’s success, and the team ranks first in the Lone Star Conference in fourth down conversion percentage on both sides of the ball. The Hounds defense leads the league in third down stops, while the offense is third. ???????Kamal Cass leads the league in all-purpose yards and ranks tenth in the nation. Wyatt Strand is tenth in the LSC in rushing while Johnny Smith is 12th. Turnovers have been a key for Eastern this season, with Zach Johnson and KeAndre Hall tying for second in the LSC in recovered fumbles with Johnson also tying for second in recoveries. Charles Countee is sixth in the league in passes broken up. In the Series When the teams met in the 2016 season finale at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas, the Hounds charged to a 17-0 lead. MSU’s quarterback Quade Coward rallied the Mustangs to a 28-24 lead with just 52 seconds left in the fourth quarter. In the final 49 seconds of the game, LSC Freshman of the Year, Wyatt Strand drove the Greyhounds 70 yards in seven plays, and hit a game-winning 19-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Johnson as time expired. About Midwestern State The fourth-ranked Mustangs enter the weekend with an unblemished 8-0 record. Head Coach Bill Maskill is in his 16thseason with the Mustangs and has a record at MSU of 127-46. Running backs Adrian Seales and Vincent Johnson have both topped the 600-yard mark for the season and have combined to score 21 touchdowns. Layton Rabb has completed 66 percent of his passes this season for 2,217 yards with a 20-to-four interception ratio. His favorite target has been Tyrique Edwards with 34 catches for 516 yards and five scores. Josh Wydermyer leads the defense with 53 tackles, while Alec Divalerio has four sacks. DaMarcus Wilson has three interceptions for the Mustangs. |
