CORSICANA, TEXAS – Eastern New Mexico used a key defensive stop late in the fourth quarter and two early touchdowns to claim a 20-13 victory in the 2019 Heritage Bowl over Southern Arkansas.
The Greyhounds scored on their first two drives of the ball game and made two key defensive stands late in the third and fourth quarters to claim the program’s first bowl victory and first win in the month of December. Senior Paul Terry closed out his storied season for the Greyhounds with all three touchdowns for the Hounds and 110 yards on 26 carries.
The story of the game ended up being a stellar second half of defensive football for the Hounds as Eastern New Mexico scored on their opening possession of the game and never relinquished the lead despite the Muleriders starting in quality field position twice in the third and fourth quarters. Both drives were created for Southern Arkansas by two costly fumbles for the Greyhounds, but the defense for the Hounds rose to the occasion and limited the opposition to a field goal and a turnover on downs with a stop at their own one-yard with 2:03 remaining in the contest.
Eastern New Mexico broke the school record for rushing yards in a season in the process, breaking the previous mark of 4,144 yards set by the 2015 team, finishing the 2019 campaign with 4,184 rushing yards. The Greyhounds also broke the Lone Star Conference record for rushing attempts in a season with a total of 770 attempts, eclipsing the previous total of 731 set back in 2016 by Eastern New Mexico.
The Greyhounds took the opening kickoff and made an early statement with an 11-play, 79-yard touchdown drive that was capped off with the first of two first quarter touchdowns for Terry. A missed extra point set the early advantage at 6-0 as the Hounds allowed the Muleriders to gain just 18 yards on their first possession before punting the ball back to the Greyhounds with 5:09 remaining in the opening frame.
Quarterback Wyatt Strand took his first shot downfield just three plays later and connected with junior Zachery Fields for a 77-yard gain down to the Southern Arkansas 11-yard line. Eastern went for it on fourth down from the Mulerider three-yard line just a few plays later and used Terry’s second touchdown run of the quarter to convert on the early gamble and put the Hounds ahead 13-0.
Strand finished the afternoon with 143 yards through the air while completing 6-of-10 attempts and added 49 yards on 19 carries on the ground. Fields caught two of those six passes from Strand for a total of 92 yards.
The Muleriders chipped away at the early deficit with 10 unanswered points throughout the second quarter as the Hound offense struggled to regain the momentum generated by 182 total yards in the first quarter for Eastern New Mexico. The Greyhound offense managed just 31 total yards in the second quarter while Southern Arkansas mounted a comeback to draw the halftime score to 13-10.
Neither team managed to get started on offense coming out of the halftime break as the teams alternated five drives that resulted in zero points. The Greyhounds finally broke through and leaned on Terry with four carries and 37 yards to piece together a 6-play, 61-yard drive that extended the Greyhound lead to 20-10.
Terry plunged in from one yard out for his third touchdown of the game with 47 seconds left in the third quarter in what would seem like the game-changing drive for the Hounds following a quick three-and-out for the Muleriders on the ensuing possession. However, a costly fumble by Terry on the very next play following the Southern Arkansas three-and-out gave the Muleriders possession at the Eastern New Mexico 22-yard line down 20-10.
The Hound defense stood strong and forced a second consecutive three-and-out to limit the Muleriders to a 38-yard field goal to make it a one possession ball game with 14:47 remaining in the game.
Southern Arkansas was gifted good field position once again with 8:46 remaining in the game after another Greyhound fumble that allowed the Muleriders to start at the 50-yard line. The Hound defense rose to the occasion once again and forced yet another three-and-out to force a punt that would send the Greyhound offense back out onto the field at their own 13-yard line.
Terry rushed for 14 yards to pick up a first down on the second play of a drive that started with 8:02 remaining on the clock and the Hounds clinging to the one-possession 20-13 advantage. That first down was followed by three botched plays for the Greyhounds and set senior punter Tyler Vargas up for a 56-yard punt that pushed the Muleriders back to their own 18-yard line.
Southern Arkansas answered the flip in field position by covering 75 yards in seven plays to set up a story book fourth-and-goal situation for the Hounds at their own five-yard line. Defensive lineman Daniel Garces and Quincy Arceneuax combined to stop the Mulerider rushing attempt just shy of the goal line at the Eastern New Mexico one-yard line to give the Hounds the ball back with 2:03 remaining on the clock, effectively ending the ball game.
Arceneaux and Garces put the exclamation point on a defensive effort for Eastern New Mexico that limited the Muleriders to just 19 yards rushing for the game and 285 yards of total offense. The Greyhounds totaled eight tackles for a loss including two sacks from freshman Mazin Richards, who finishes the 2019 campaign with a school record 12.5 sacks.
The Hounds milked the clock down to 11 seconds remaining and then prevented any last second heroics for the Muleriders on their last play of the game to take home the 2019 Heritage Bowl trophy.
Eastern New Mexico finishes the season 8-4, matching the second highest win total in program history, and etches their name into the record books as one of the most prolific rushing offenses in the nation.
