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Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
CMI correspondent: Joshua LuceroENMU senior slotback Chase Kyser looks to avoid a tackle by West Texas A&M's Curtis Slater during the first half of Saturday's Wagon Wheel game at Greyhound Stadium. Kyser caught seven passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
CMI correspondent: Joshua LuceroENMU defensive end Tyler Wencka tackles West Texas A&M running back Khiry Robinson during the second half of Saturday's Wagon Wheel game at Greyhound Stadium. The 17th-ranked Buffaloes beat ENMU 44-21
BLACKWATER DRAW — Eastern New Mexico had two weeks to prep for 17th-ranked West Texas A&M. But the Buffaloes had two playmakers Saturday night, and the Wagon Wheel again when the dust cleared.
CMI correspondent: Joshua Lucero
ENMU senior slotback Chase Kyser looks to avoid a tackle by West Texas A&M's Curtis Slater during the first half of Saturday's Wagon Wheel game at Greyhound Stadium. Kyser caught seven passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
Senior running back Khiry Robinson rushed for 131 yards and a career-high four touchdowns, and Nathan Slaughter set him up most of the night from the receiving end as the Buffs cruised to a 44-21 Lone Star Conference win at Greyhound Stadium.
CMI correspondent: Joshua LuceroENMU defensive end Tyler Wencka tackles West Texas A&M running back Khiry Robinson during the second half of Saturday's Wagon Wheel game at Greyhound Stadium. The 17th-ranked Buffaloes beat ENMU 44-21
West Texas A&M (7-1, 6-0 LSC) took its seventh-consecutive Wagon Wheel trophy since the 2004 season — the teams didn't play in 2010 due to a conference realignment — and outplayed the overmatched Greyhounds in nearly every phase of the game.
"Our kids played tough, and West Texas is an awful good football team," Greyhounds coach Josh Lynn said. "I was proud of our kids. We didn't play good enough to win tonight."
The Buffs, winners of seven straight since their season-opening defeat at current No. 1 Colorado State-Pueblo, never trailed and outgained the Greyhounds 454-391, including a 128-22 third quarter that squelched any upset hopes.
Slaughter, a 5-foot-10, 185-pound junior from Lubbock, caught seven passes for 133 yards, including a 27-yard touchdown in the first quarter and a pair of long receptions in the second half that each set up Robinson scoring runs.
"He made some plays," West Texas A&M and former ENMU coach Don Carthel said. "He dropped a couple early, but he played very well."
The Greyhounds (2-5, 1-4) played well at times, mostly having to play catchup after the Buffs took a quick 14-0 lead on a 1-yard Robinson run — set up by a 48-yard Robinson jaunt where he broke up a pair of gang tackles — and Slaughter's reception.
Twice in the last 3:30 of the second quarter, trailing 21-7, Greyhounds picked off passes from Dustin Vaughan, who had an otherwise stellar effort with 19-of-32 passing for 318 yards and two scores.
The second interception was returned 49 yards by junior Jayson Serda.
"Jayson's just one of those kids," Lynn said. "He comes through with big plays when we need it. He's not the eldest leader, but he's a definite leader in the secondary."
Quarterback Wes Wood made it a 14-point swing with a 34-yard keeper that stretched the field, but the Greyhounds couldn't get the game-tying score or much of anything in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, Robinson got a pair of touchdown runs in the third quarter — a 2-yard run set up by a 42-yard Slaughter reception, and a 12-yard run to finish a seven-play, 63-yard drive.
Chase Kyser caught seven passes for 92 yards and a pair of touchdowns — a 19-yarder in the second quarter and a 32-yard catch with 14:09 left to give the Hounds a glimmer of hope and make it 35-21.
With ENMU facing a fourth down deep in its own end on its next possession, Lynn said he considered going for it with 10 minutes left and nothing to lose, but decided not to after the using a timeout to weigh the decision.
"My heart was telling me to do it," Lynn said. "Based on the result, I probably should have."
The resulting punt was blocked out of the end zone by Eric Finefeuiaki for a safety — the second time this season the Buffs have managed that — and WT finished off an ensuing 54-yard drive with a 1-yard scoring run by Robinson.
The Buffs also blocked a punt in the first quarter to help set up Slaughter's scoring reception, while WT punter Kevin VanVoris put three of his five punts inside the 20 — including a 70-yard boot in the first quarter that took several Buffs bounces to the ENMU 5.
"Field position was a big difference," Lynn said. "I thought West Texas did a good job of keeping us pinned back."
The Greyhounds go from the frying pan into, well, another frying pan on Saturday when they travel to second-place Midwestern State (6-1, 5-1).
