PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico will square off with West Texas A&M in the 34th annual Wagon Wheel Game on Saturday night inside Greyhound Stadium at 6 p.m.
Both teams will enter the contest with a 5-2 record on the season in a game that will be presented by J.P. Stone Community Bank. Eastern New Mexico will also recognize the 1999 Lone Star Conference South Co-Championship Team at halftime of the game.
PHASE ONE COMPLETE
Eastern New Mexico dominated in-state rival Western New Mexico 48-17 last weekend to move the class of 2019 football seniors to 7-0 in their career in rivalry games. The Hounds will look to complete their Greyhound careers a perfect 8-0 against Western New Mexico and West Texas A&M this Saturday night in the 34th addition of the Wagon Wheel Game.
Last year’s 28-0 win over the Buffs in Canyon, Texas provided the Greyhounds with a one-game advantage in the Wagon Wheel Series, 17-to-16. Eastern New Mexico will look to match the longest winning streak in the Wagon Wheel series on Saturday night with the fourth straight win over West Texas A&M, matching the longest win streak since the 1999-2002 seasons.
The Greyhounds couldn’t ask for better momentum heading into Saturday night’s showdown with West Texas A&M after outscoring Western New Mexico 31-7 in the second half to pull away to their second straight Chile Bowl victory. The Hound offense rolled up a season-high 576 yards rushing, six yards shy of the school record, and limited the Mustangs to just 289 total yards.
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.
A BALANCED BEATDOWN
The Greyhounds came out firing in the second half of action on both sides of the ball and once again played an outstanding second half of football. Senior Paul Terry continued to run the ball at will, carrying the football 25 times for 180 yards and two scores, while junior Justin Manyweather scored rushing touchdowns of 39 yards and 64 yards to finish the night with 152 yards on just 11 carries.
Quarterback Wyatt Strand joined in on the fun in the backfield with 131 yards on 14 carries and two scores himself. The Greyhounds averaged 9.1 yards a carry and accumulated the highest rushing total since Oct. 24th against Angelo State in which they rolled for 583 yards on the ground.
As impressive as the offensive unit was for the Hounds, the defense stepped up in a big way and produced their most complete performance of the season. Against a Mustang offense that entered the match-up ranked atop the Lone Star Conference in passing, the Greyhounds gave up just 164 yards through the air in route to surrendering just 289 yards of total offense.
Those 289 yards are the fewest the Greyhounds have given up all year and the 17 points the Hounds allowed marks last Saturday night as the first time this season the Greyhounds have allowed less than 20 points in a game. Junior Noah Sweitzer and sophomore Colby Russ each totaled 11 tackles for the evening while linebacker Lamontre Huval made nine tackles and forced and recovered a fumble.
RIGHT BACK IN IT
Saturday night’s win pushed Eastern New Mexico’s conference record back over .500 at 3-2 and helped set the stage for three monumental conference games to finish the regular season. The Hounds will take on West Texas A&M, UT Permian Basin and Angelo State to finish out the 2019 conference schedule with their post season hopes very much in tact.
The Hounds enter week eight in fourth place in the league standings behind Angelo State and Texas A&M-Commerce, each with just one loss in league play. The Hounds will have a chance to hand Angelo State their second loss when the two programs square off in Portales on Nov. 9th while Texas A&M-Commerce still has to make road trips to Angelo State and West Texas A&M in 2019.
Tarleton State has clearly established themselves as the front-runner towards a Lone Star Conference Championship, but the at-large bid into the NCAA Division II Playoffs and a potential bowl bid is very much in play for Texas A&M-Commerce, Angelo State and Eastern New Mexico.
SCOUTING THE BUFFS
The Buffs missed two field goals in the final five minutes of the game to fall at home against Angelo State 17-14 last week. The Buffs boast non-conference wins against Azusa Pacific, William Jewell and Central Washington, but have dropped each of their two major conference tests against #4 Tarleton State and Angelo State.
A Buff offense that seemed to be much improved throughout the early stages of the season has sputtered in the last two weeks, totaling just 14 points in each game against UT Permian Basin and Angelo State. West Texas A&M ranks fifth in the LSC in both scoring offense (33.3 ppg) and scoring defense (26.3 ppg) .
Redshirt sophomore Nick Gerber has tossed 10 touchdown passes to lead the Buffs aerial attack throughout the 2019 season. Gerber has completed just over 50 percent of his passes for 1,385 yards and enters the Wagon Wheel Game with an average of 197.8 yards through the air.
Senior Duke Carter has returned to the Buff backfield once again and enters the week with an average of 57.3 yards per game. Carter has scored four times on the year after carrying the ball 105 times for 401 yards.
Defensively the Buffs have been led all season by a steady combination of Frank Honang and Hayden Dennis, who each rank in the top five of the LSC with 80 and 78 tackles respectively.
A STRENGTHENED LEAD
Eastern New Mexico enters week eight averaging 406.7 yards rushing as a team, ranking first in all of Division II football by exactly 50 yards. The Hounds are averaging 5.94 yards per rush as a team and have totaled 25 rushing touchdowns on the season.
Eastern ranks 19th nationally in total offense (464.3 ypg), 14th nationally in third-down conversion percentage (50.5 percent), and continues to sit atop the national rankings in time of possession (35:45).
CLOSING THE GAP
Senior Paul Terry has maintained a steady number two position in the Division II rushing title race all season, but began to narrow that gap this week with his 180-yard performance last week against Western New Mexico. Terry has already eclipsed his rushing total from last season with 1,167 yards on the season and leads the nation with 202 carries for the year.
Sophomore Jaleel McLaughlin from Notre Dame (OH) leads Division II with 1,277 yards on the season.
NOT JUST A KICKER
Despite the offensive and defensive dominance last week for the Greyhounds, it was senior kicker Tyler Vargas who was recognized for his efforts by the LSC as the Special Teams Player of the Week. The recognition is long over due for Vargas as he has connected on a conference-high 10 field goals on the season and ranks fifth in the LSC averaging 39.9 yards per punt.
Vargas made field goals from 28 yards and 47 yards against Western New Mexico and converted on all six PAT attempts as well. He punted just one time against the Mustangs, but pinned the opposition inside their own 20 with a 46-yard boot.
TRUST THE COMPUTERS
Computerratings.com and Masseyratings.com, regarded as the two most trusted and accurate sports rating generators online, both agree that the Greyhounds performance this season has been vastly undervalued. Both systems have Eastern New Mexico ranked inside the top 25, while Computer Ratings has the Greyhounds ranked 18th in all of Division II football.
The strength of schedule the Hounds possess is a key factor in both systems calculations as well as a consistent offense that has performed at a high level against top ranked defenses. Massey Ratings ranks the Greyhound’s schedule as the 16th toughest in Division II football while both systems have the Hound offense ranked 18th and 27th respectively.
CHASING PERFECTION
As mentioned earlier, this year’s senior class for Eastern New Mexico has never experienced a rivalry loss during their time as Greyhounds. The Hounds were especially relentless last season in a 28-0 win over West Texas A&M in Canyon, Texas.
The likes of Strand, Terry, Johnny Smith and Charles Countee can end their Greyhound careers on Saturday night having never lost to the Buffs and have outscored West Texas A&M 92-44 so far in three meetings.
THE WINS BEYOND THE WHEEL
The history between Eastern New Mexico and West Texas A&M extends longer than the first official “Wagon Wheel Game” in 1986, but the advantage in the series still remains in favor of the Greyhounds. Eastern is 21-17 all-time against the Buffs including the six meetings between the two schools prior to 1986.
Eastern New Mexico hasn’t lost to the Buffs in Portales since 2012 and have won both games against West Texas A&M with Kelley Lee at the helm of the program.
STICK TO THE GAMEPLAN
Eastern New Mexico had prided itself on jumping out to an early lead and maintaining the constant pressure a relentless ground attack provides opponents all game. The Hounds are a perfect 13-0 under coach Lee when leading after the first quarter and are 16-2 under Lee when putting the first points on the board.
The Greyhounds have also been excellent in closing out tight games down the stretch and are 9-2 under Lee in games decided by 10 or less points. The Hounds are also a perfect 13-0 in the Lee era when leading heading into the fourth quarter.
A RETURN OF THE HOUNDS
Eastern New Mexico will be recognizing the 1999 Lone Star Conference South Co-Championship Team at a pregame tailgate and at halftime of Saturday night’s contest. The Hounds went 8-3 that season, including a mark of 6-3 in conference play, and featured some legendary performances from some of Eastern New Mexico’s best.
Current defensive coordinator Michael Walton totaled 147 tackles during that season while former Greyhound head coach Josh Lynn and current ENMU Hall of Honors member Cale Sanders each finished in the top three on the team in receiving yards.
