Hounds notch first victory at Kingsville

Staff report

KINGSVILLE, Texas — The Eastern New Mexico University football team accomplished two firsts on Saturday night — its first Lone Star Conference win, and its first victory all-time at Kingsville.

In fact, the Greyhounds pitched a shutout in a 31-0 win over the Javelinas, ending an 0-14 road drought in the series.

Junior quarterback Jeremy Buurma ran for one touchdown and threw for another as the Hounds (3-2, 1-2 LSC) improved to 6-23 all-time against the Javelinas (1-4, 0-3).

Buurma completed only 6-of-11 passes, but four of them went to senior wide receiver Jacob Johnson, including a 75-yard strike with five minutes left in the half that made it 21-0.

Senior E’lon Spight ran 8 yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter,while senior D’Maujeric Tucker added a 5-yard TD run in the final period. Sophomore Mitchell Cox kicked a 39-yard field goal in the final minute to complete the scoring.

Linebacker Benjamin Pedro-Langford was in on a team-high 10 tackles, including two for losses, and he and fellow linebacker Seth Bailey each had a pass interception.

Kingsville took the opening kickoff and drove to the ENMU 5 yard line before the Hounds held. Then senior Kevin Reaves blocked Max Lehnig’s 32-yard field goal attempt.

The Hounds followed by driving 80 yards in 14 plays, taking the lead on a 1-yard run by quarterback Jeremy Buurma with 2:28 left in the first quarter. The Hounds went on to lead 21-0 at halftime.

The Javs had outscored the Hounds 37-18 on average in the previous 14 meetings at Kingsville. Dating to 1999, ENMU had held leads at Kingsville of 14-7 in 2007 and 7-0 in 2009.

The shutout was the first for ENMU since a 52-0 whitewashing of Oklahoma Panhandle State on Nov. 10, 2007 at Goodwell, Okla. The Hounds’ last LSC shutout came on Sept. 10, 2005, a 28-0 blanking of Southeastern Oklahoma at Durand, Okla.

ENMU hits the road again next Saturday with a 1 p.m. kickoff against McMurry at Abilene, Texas.