Hounds pound Highlands 40-10 in season opener

BLACKWATER DRAW — This may be the final season at Greyhound Stadium. But it’s clear the Curse of Blackwater Draw is still alive, at least for New Mexico Highlands and its special teams.

The host Greyhounds scored all of their touchdowns following New Mexico Highlands miscues — including two where Cowboys special teams errors gave ENMU 30-yard fields — en route to a 40-10 Thursday night victory.

linkStaff photo: Kevin Wilson

ENMU junior D’Maujeric Tucker gets to the outside on a first-quarter run in Thursday’s season opener at Greyhound Stadium.

At the end of the first half the game was still close with the Greyhounds leading 14-10. But ENMU put together a 19-0 third quarter to seal win No. 1.

The first miscue for Highlands took place early, when quarterback Keith Moore fumbled the ball after he was sacked on the opening drive, just after the Cowboys reached the Greyhound red zone in just three plays. ENMU took the ball 79 yards in 10 plays with Cameron Mikell scoring a 12-yard run.

Mikell would score again late in the second quarter with a 10-yard run following a Cowboys special teams blunder in which punter Luke Jones properly handled a very inaccurate long snap, but still gave the Greyhounds a short field.

The game was sealed in the third quarter. On the opening kickoff, Highlands went for an onside kick but was flagged for fair catch interference. This gave quarterback Jeremy Buurma a short 40-yard field in which he scored on a 6-yard run.

“When you get opportunities like that, you just gotta score,” Buurma said. “You don’t always get them, so you gotta capitalize.”

Buurma finished the game just 3-13 for 79 yards and one touchdown through the air, but he did a great job of running the option offense as the Greyhounds ran 65 times for 352 yards and five scores.

For Highlands, running back Vincent Venegas had a good outing with 23 rushes for 136 yards but he couldn’t score any touchdowns for the Cowboys. Quarterback Keith Moore went 19-43 for 196 yards and one touchdown, but 124 of those passing yards came in the first half and the Cowboys were mostly shut out in the second half.

Coach Josh Lynn was happy with the win. Because this was a Thursday game, he said the team gets a few days of physical rest; just not complete rest.

“We’ll watch film tomorrow and give them the day off,” Lynn said. “But then (it’s) right back to getting ready for Adams State.”