PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico football will return home following two straight road contests for the annual homecoming game against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday night at 6 p.m.
The Greyhounds will be looking for their fifth straight home win dating back to the 2018 season and their eighth win over the Javelinas in the last nine meetings between the two programs. Presented by Peter L. Thompson Dentistry, Saturday night’s game will serve as the conclusion to the annual homecoming weekend at Eastern New Mexico University.
THERE’S NO BETTER HOME THAN HOMECOMING
Following two straight long road trips against a Colorado Mesa team that was receiving votes in the national polls and a Texas A&M-Commerce team that entered the match-up ranked #12 in the nation, homecoming weekend for the Greyhounds could not come at a better time for head coach Kelley Lee’s squad. The Greyhounds will take on a Texas A&M-Kingsville team that has been outscored 79-to-21 by Division II competition so far this season, and will be looking for the program’s third straight homecoming victory.
The Greyhounds have won four straight home games dating back to last season and will look to match the longest home winning streak since the 2014-15 seasons on Saturday night.
Last week’s Lone Star Conference opener against #12 Texas A&M-Commerce saw the Lions jump out to an early 24-6 lead at the halftime break after scoring points on four out of their six drives during the first half. Senior Charles Countee recovered a fumble on the first snap for the Lions in the second half, but a three-and-out for Eastern and a 73-yard touchdown strike for the Lions on the ensuing possession moved the score to 31-6 and effectively ended the Hounds chance at the road upset.
Despite the deficit, Eastern New Mexico continued to fight and scored three touchdowns in the final two quarters to match Texas A&M-Commerce with 21 points scored in the second half.
ON THE AIR
All games will be broadcast on 105.9 KSEL-FM and KSELCountry.com with Donald “Doc” Elder calling the action.
All games will also be webcast online through the newly launched Lone Star Conference Network.
DOUBLE BILL BROTHERS
Seniors Wyatt Strand and Paul Terry both continued to shoulder the offensive load for Eastern New Mexico last Saturday night, each accumulating more than 100 yards on the ground. Terry has now rushed for 100 yards or more in all three contests this season for the Greyhounds and is tied for third in all of Division II football with 483 yards on the season.
Strand and Terry enter the fourth week of play ranked ninth and tenth in the LSC with 161.0 and 159.0 yards of total offense per game, the only two players from the same school in the top ten.
Strand has scored five rushing touchdowns over the past two weeks, four of which have come in the second half and one game-winning touchdown in overtime against Colorado Mesa in week two.
SCOUTING THE JAVELINAS
The Javelinas have been off to a rough start in Daren Wilkinson’s third year at the helm, dropping both Division II contests to start the year at home against Saginaw Valley State and Angelo State in weeks one and three. The lone win for the Javelinas came in week two against Division III opponent Sul Ross State. Texas A&M-Kingsville will hit the road for the first time in 2019 on Saturday and have lost four straight games against the Greyhounds in Portales, surrendering an average of 56 points in the last three contests.
The Hound defense shined in last year’s 31-14 win against the Javelinas for Eastern New Mexico on the road, allowing just 229 total yards of offense. Eastern had nine total tackles for a loss while Johnny Smith accumulated 197 total yards of offense and scored two receiving touchdowns.
The Javelinas accumulated just 296 yards of offense in a 44-7 loss at home against Angelo State last week and have struggled to find a reliable option at quarterback. Cade Dyal and Koy Detmer Jr. have essentially split time at quarterback throughout the first two games with Dyal throwing for 548 yards and three touchdowns in three games of action. Detmer Jr. started all 11 games for the Javelinas last season and accumulated 21 passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns.
The Kingsville defense has held their own yardage rise throughout the year, ranking second in the LSC with 281.0 yards given up per game. Junior Tre’Michael Tutt leads the Javelinas defense with 27 tackles on the season while junior Jacob Clarkson leads the team with three sacks and six tackles for a loss.
THIRD DOWN KINGS
Eastern New Mexico ranks third in all of Division II football with a third-down conversion percentage of 57.4 percent.
The Hounds have been particularly effective on third down in the second half of the first three games of the year, picking up the first on 17-of-29 attempts in the second half.
Despite the quality percentage for the season, Eastern has struggled in the first quarter of the last two games against Colorado Mesa and Texas A&M-Commerce to convert on third downs. The Hounds have converted just 2-of-7 when facing third down over the last two weeks.
DRIVING LIKE MANIACS
Eastern New Mexico has produced multiple stretches of quality offensive football throughout the early stages of the 2019 season and has produced four scoring drives that have spanned 70 yards or more throughout the first three weeks.
The longest drives of the young season in terms of both yardage and time came last week against Texas A&M-Commerce. The Hounds milked 9:01 off the clock early in the third quarter against the Lions on an 18-play, 83-yard scoring drive and then drove 98 yards on their final possession of the ball game in 15-plays late in the fourth quarter.
The Greyhounds navigated a 13-play, 56-yard drive on their first possession of the game last week, prohibiting Commerce from getting the ball untill 7:50 had already been drained off the clock.
COUNT ON CHUCK
The man known by many as Charles “Chuck” Countee picked up the first fumble recovery of his four-year career as a Greyhound and has now been responsible for six turnovers in a Greyhound uniform.
Countee has appeared in 36 total games throughout his career and is currently second on the team with 20 tackles after recording nine last week against Texas A&M-Commerce.
Countee is a two-time All-LSC Honorable Mention performer and ranks third since 1998 with 34 passes defended for his career.
WALK AWAY WITH THE BALL
Safety Vicen’te Walker has now recorded two interceptions on the season, both of which have come inside the Greyhound’s own ten-yard line. Walker put an end to the Lion’s opening offensive possession last week, picking off a Miklo Smalls’ pass at the Eastern New Mexico two-yard line.
The Augusta, Ga. product sealed the week one victory for the Hounds against Missouri S&T with an interception at the Greyhound nine-yard line with just over two minutes remaining in the game.
Walker is currently third on the team with 19 total tackles and second on the team with 11 solo tackles on the year.
THE UNWRITTEN HEROES
Eastern New Mexico continues to lead all of Division II football with 398.3 yards per game and is tied for second with 11 rushing scores through the first three games. Not enough can be said about the development and production of the offensive line unit over the course of the offseason and into the first three weeks of the season under offensive line coach and running game coordinator Andrew McCraw. A large portion of that success can be credited to multi-year starter Isaiah Callahan, who will be starting the 24th game of his career on Saturday night. Callahan was voted All-LSC Honorable Mention for his performance last season.
The other major factors in the offensive line’s success early this season has been the physicality of starting guards Bailey Adair and Vili Fisiiahi. Both players have brought a whole new level of strength to the unit and have been vital in the inside running success of fullback Paul Terry.
Senior Braeden Loftus-Fox has been at the heart of the unit all three games this season at the center position and has been instrumental along with Strand in captaining the nation’s most prolific rushing attack.
