he Eastern New Mexico University football team (5-1; LSC 4-1) dominated in the opening half against University of Texas of the Permian Basin (1-5; LSC 1-3) but had to hold on for a dramatic 20-17 win. The win gave ENMU a Homecoming win at Al Whitehead Field at Greyhound Stadium and its best start since the 2002 season. The contest was sponsored by JP Stone Community Bank.

The tightly contested game was fitting on a night ENMU honored its undefeated 1957 football team, which won five games by a touchdown or less. Eastern also honored 2017 National Champion goat-tyer Tawny Barry from the rodeo team and the 2017 Homecoming honorees at halftime.

The Key Plays
A 13-yard touchdown pass to Kamal Cass capped Eastern’s opening drive which went 73 yards in seven plays
Bailey Hale’s 30-yard field goal with 2:51 left in the opening half stretched the lead to 10-0
On Eastern’s next possession, Cass took the first snap and raced 58 yards to give ENMU a 17-0 lead
Early in the third quarter, UTPB’s John O’Kelley forced a fumble which was recovered at the ENMU 14-yard line by Ryan Baker
Three plays later, Kameron Mathis found Kristian Brown with a 14-yard strike to put the Falcons on the board
Ieti Manu and AJ Fano converged to stop a fourth-down attempt at the ENMU 37 yard line on the ensuing possession
Seven plays later, Bailey Giffen’s 21-yard field goal pulled UTPB within 17-10
The Greyhounds overcame a holding penalty with a 25-yard pass to Sanchez Lofton and a 17-yard Cass run to setup a 43-yard Hale field goal to extend the lead to 20-10 with 3:24 left in the third quarter
Mathis hit back-to-back 37-yard passes on the ensuing drive to set up a one-yard touchdown plunge from Marquee Allison with 4:01 left in the third quarter
In the fourth quarter UTPB’s Frank Seiuli blocked a Greyhound field goal attempt and Clifton Holmes intercepted a pass, but the Hounds allowed just 24 yards of offense in the quarter to seal the win
Giffen’s 47-yard potential game-winning field goal sailed wide left to allow ENMU to run off the final 33 seconds of the game

Beyond the Box Score
The Hounds are 5-1 for the first time since the 2002 season
In building the 17-0 lead, the Greyhounds allowed UTPB just 56 yards of offense in the first half
Eastern’s seven sacks were its most since accomplishing the feat against Southeastern Oklahoma State on October 30, 2010
Wyatt Strand and Cass had 119 and 110 rushing yards in the opening half
The Hounds had outgained UTPB 309-56 in total offense in the first half

In the Numbers
Eastern rushed for a season-high 380 yards
Cass finished with 290 all-purpose yards on 159 yards rushing, 54 receiving and 49 on punt returns
Brad Hardin paced the defense with nine tackles, 1.5 sacks and a quarterback pressure
Fe’ao Vunipola added 1.5 sacks
Dakota Montoya chipped in a sack and had five quarterback pressures
Eastern finished with nine quarterback pressures and eight passes batted down, which included three by Deion Hart
The Hounds’ defense forced UTPB to go three-and-out nine times, which included three possessions in the fourth quarter
The Hounds held the ball for 38:30 of the game
UTPB’s Mathis passed for 213 yards
Chris Hoad made 19 tackles for UTPB and recovered a fumble

Up Next
The Eastern New Mexico University football team will visit Tarleton State next Saturday
Kickoff for the game has been moved up to 1 p.m. MT
The Hounds will return home to Al Whitehead Field at Greyhound Stadium on Saturday, October 21, to take on Texas A&M-Kingsville
The game will be sponsored by Wienerschnitzel and kickoff at 7 p.m.