PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico football team overcame an hour long lightning delay to come from behind and defeat Texas A&M-Kingsville by a final score of 48-24 on homecoming night inside Greyhound Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Hounds rushed for 515 yards on 66 carries and scored 31 points in the final 23 minutes of the game to overcome a 31-17 deficit midway through the third quarter. Senior Wyatt Strand rushed for 195 yards and two touchdowns and fellow senior Paul Terry added 179 yards to pace a Greyhound offense that totaled 564 yards of offense for the evening.
Texas A&M-Kingsville scored 14 unanswered points coming out of the lightning delay that occurred just after the second-half kickoff before Eastern New Mexico responded to the switch in momentum and stormed back with five straight scoring drives to regain control of the game. Both teams scored just 17 points in the first half before both offenses came alive in the second half of action.
Strand got the comeback kick-started with a 19-yard rushing touchdown just two minutes after Texas A&M-Kingsville built a 31-17 lead after the two touchdowns coming out of the delay to open the second half. Redshirt junior Rakeem Hatchett recovered a fumble on the very next Javelina play to get the ball back for the Greyhounds at the opposition’s 26-yard line setting up a 13-yard score for senior Darryl Wiggins just one play later to tie the game up at 31-31.
The opportunistic Greyhound defense forced another Javelina turnover on the ensuing drive as freshman Mazin Richards intercepted a pass and set up the Hounds on the Kingsville side of the field yet again. A 39-yard field goal from redshirt senior Tyler Vargas put the Hounds up 34-31 with 1:47 remaining in the half.
The Javelinas would tie the game up one more time with a field goal of their own at the 12:02 mark of the fourth quarter, drawing the score to 34-34. The Eastern offense found the end zone on it’s next two possessions as junior Zachery Fields hauled in a 10-yard touchdown pass from Strand and Terry rumbled in from 38 yards out following another forced turnover by the Greyhound defense to cap off the victory.
The Hounds forced four turnovers throughout the game and limited the Javelinas to just 70 yards rushing. Junior Lamontre Huval finished with seven tackles on the night while juniors Vicen’te Walker and Quincy Arceneuax each forced a fumble.
Strand finished the night with three total touchdowns after completing 5-of-7 passes through the air for 49 yards and a touchdown and the aforementioned 195 yards on the ground. Wiggins also scored twice on the ground and finished the evening with 52 yards on just three carries.
The win marks the first Lone Star Conference victory of the season for the Hounds and moves their overall record to 3-1 (1-1 LSC). Eastern New Mexico will head to Wichita Falls, Texas next week for a road match-up with Midwestern State.
Kick-off for that game is scheduled for 6 p.m.
