PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico will wrap up regular season play this Saturday afternoon on the road against Western Oregon in Monmouth, Ore.
Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. MST and will give the Greyhounds once last chance to state their case for a potential bowl bid following the conclusion of the regular season. Eastern New Mexico will look to build off of an upset win over #21 Angelo State last weekend inside Greyhound Stadium.
THE FINAL REGULAR SEASON BATTLE
Eastern New Mexico will hit the road for the longest road trip for the program since a trip to West Liberty, W.V. back on Nov. 2, 2017 for the final week of the 2019 season as they take on a Western Oregon team that is fresh off of clinching their first share of the GNAC title in program history and enters the final week with a record of 7-3. The Greyhounds made quite the splash last weekend in the final home game of the 2019 season with a 20-17 overtime win over Angelo State.
The win over the Rams knocked Angelo State out of the AFCA Division II National Coaches’ Poll and allowed the Hounds to re-enter the receiving votes category for the sixth time this season. The win also ensured that Eastern New Mexico posted a conference winning percentage of .500 or better for the fifth consecutive season and guarantees a finish of no worse than fifth in the LSC standings.
Eastern New Mexico is officially bowl eligible with their sixth win of the season, but will probably need a second consecutive win this weekend over Western Oregon to entice a bowl invite at season’s end.
WHAT A WAY TO SEND THEM OUT
The 2019 senior football class showed exactly why they have been on the winning side of so many games during their time as Greyhounds as they found a way to win on Saturday night against Angelo State despite never leading in the ballgame until senior Tyler Vargas connected on what would end up being the game-winning field goal to end the first possession of overtime for Eastern New Mexico. Angelo State attempted to answer with a field goal of their own on the ensuing possession, but Connor Flanigan’s 29-yard attempt was pushed wide right to give the Hounds the 20-17 victory.
Senior Paul Terry matched the school record that he set earlier in the season against Midwestern State with 40 carries for a career-high 233 yards to lead the way offensively for the Hounds. Terry broke the single season school record for rushing yards in the process as the Hounds secured a victory despite trailing entering the fourth quarter for just the second time under the direction of head coach Kelley Lee.
DRIVES FOR THE AGES
The turning point in Saturday night’s contest for the Greyhounds proved to be the 23-play, 90-yard touchdown drive on the Hound’s opening possession of the second half that allowed Angelo State to possess the ball just one time in the third quarter and tied the game up at 10-10. The drive proved to be the longest of the season for the Hounds in terms of both plays (23) and time consumed (12:04) and allowed the Hound defense to come out completely fresh for a wild fourth quarter of action.
That Hound defense limited the Lone Star Conference’s second-best total offense entering the week to just 265 yards of total offense for the contest and sacked Angelo State quarterback Payne Sullins seven times. No two drives proved more important for the defensive effort for Eastern New Mexico than the final two drives for Angelo State in the fourth quarter as the Hounds were able to keep the Rams off the scoreboard despite Angelo State starting on the Greyhound 38 and 45 yard lines.
BRING OUT THE BROOMS
Eastern New Mexico became the first school to sweep the weekly Player of the Week Awards for the Lone Star Conference as Terry, Vargas and freshman Mazin Richards were all recognized for their respective efforts. Terry and Vargas have now each earned two Player of the Week honors this season as Terry earned the award for his efforts in week two against Colorado Mesa and Vargas earned the award for his performance against Western New Mexico in week seven.
Terry earned the award after eclipsing E’lon Spight’s season rushing record of 1,611 yards on a 14-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter that capped off the aforementioned incredible drive for the Hounds and tied the contest up at 10-10.
Vargas made both field goal attempts from 46 and 39 yards out including the game winner in overtime. The San Diego native also handled the punting duties for the Greyhounds, averaging 40.7 yards per punt.
Richards increased his lead on the conference with 3.5 sacks against the Rams, giving the Burleson, Texas native 10.0 for the season. He totaled six tackles for the game, 2.5 of which were for a loss and was a vital piece to an inspired defensive effort for Eastern New Mexico.
SCOUTING THE WOLVES
Western Oregon finished the 2019 GNAC schedule with at least a share of the title and a record of 5-1 in league play. The Wolves have already taken on four LSC opponents, beating Texas A&M-Kingsville and losing to Angelo State, Texas A&M-Commerce and Midwestern State.
The Wolves can win the GNAC title outright with a Central Washington loss and will need a win over the Greyhounds if they have any chance of sneaking into the NCAA Division II Playoffs after remaining unranked in the Super Region Four Poll. The Wolves rank second in scoring offense (34.8 ppg) and first in scoring defense (26.8 ppg) in the GNAC. Sophomore Omari Land averages 95.1 yards rushing per game and has scored eight times on the ground this season.
Senior quarterback Ty Currie ranks second in the GNAC with 214.0 passing yards per game and has developed into a threat on the ground as well with an average of 76.9 yards rushing per game. The Wolves led the GNAC with an average of 253.0 rushing yards per contest and have totaled 27 rushing scores as a team.
Linebacker Nate Proctor leads the team with 63 tackles on the season while sophomore Jaylin Parnell has totaled a team high 10.5 tackles for a loss.
RUNNING INTO THE RECORDS BOOKS
Terry has now rushed for a school record 1,681 yards and counting this season and matched the school record with 292 carries for the year. He ranks second in all of Division II football in rushing and leads the nation with those 292 carries.
His 168.1 yards per game average is on pace to set the school record for average yards per game that Spight also set in 2014 at 146.4 ypg. Terry ranks third all-time in the Greyhound record books with 3,318 career rushing yards and fourth all-time with 586 career carries.
CONTINUING TO CONVERT
Eastern New Mexico converted on 7-of-8 attempts on fourth down last week against Angelo State with the lone failed conversion coming on a bad snap on a punt. The Greyhounds rank 10th in all of Division II football with a fourth-down conversion percentage of 70 percent (21-of-30).
The Hounds rank second in the Lone Star Conference with a third-down conversion percentage of 44.1 percent (67-of-152) on the year and lead the league in fourth-down percentage defense.
AMONG THE BEST IN THE COUNTRY
Richard’s 3.5 sacks this past weekend moves him into the top 10 nationally as he ranks 10th in the nation with 10.0 on the season as a freshman. Richards has recorded three of more sacks twice this season and has recorded a tackle for a loss in four straight games.
Vargas ranks 14th nationally with an average of 1.3 made field goals per contest and has made a field goal in all but two games this season.
THE RETURN OF WALKER
Junior Vicen’te Walker totaled a season-high 13 tackles in Saturday night’s win against Angelo State, which marks a season high in the safety’s return from an injury that sidelined him for a few weeks. 10 of those tackles for Walker were solo efforts.
THE BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
The Hound defense simply put in it’s best performance to date on Saturday evening, allowing a season-low 265 yards of total offense and limited the Rams to just 12 total first downs. The second half of the season has proven to be much improved for the Hounds defensively as they have surrendered less than 300 yards of total offense in three out of the last four games.
The Hounds also failed to turn the ball over for the first time this season after struggling in that phase of the game against West Texas A&M and UT Permian Basin. Eastern New Mexico maintained possession of the football for 40:45 of the game, their highest total time of possession in any game this season.
Saturday night was the second time the Hounds have defeated a nationally-ranked opponent under the direction of coach Lee after defeating #18 Southwest Baptist in Lee’s first game at the helm back in 2017.
300 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
Eastern New Mexico is a perfect 6-0 this season when rushing for at least 300 yards as a team. The Hounds are also undefeated when rushing for 400 yards or more and are 15-3 under Lee when eclipsing the 300 yard mark.
PERFORMING WHEN THE SUN IS SHINING
Saturday’s game against Western Oregon will be the first official day game for the Hounds all season. Eastern New Mexico has compiled a record of 4-1 in days games with coach Lee as the head coach of Greyhound football.
HISTORY WITH WESTERN OREGON
Eastern New Mexico got the better of Western Oregon last year in the inaugural meeting between the two schools by a final score of 19-14. The Hounds stopped the Wolves on a fourth-and-goal attempt with just over four minutes remaining in the game to close out the 2018 season with a victory.
Senior Charles Countee returned an interception for a touchdown in the meeting while Terry totaled 81 yards and the lone offensive score for the Hounds.
