Greyhounds heading into Lions' den

PORTALES — The Eastern New Mexico University football team will face its biggest test of the season so far when the Greyhounds travel to No. 3 Texas A&M Commerce tonight in a battle of 2-0 teams.

The Lions have been the class of the Lone Star Conference recently, winning the past three LSC championships.

A&M-Commerce earned its two victories this season in very different ways. The Lions opened the season by eking out a 8-7 win over No. 6 North Alabama, taking the lead for the first time on a field goal with 1:12 remaining in the game.

A&M-Commerce followed that up with a dominant 59-6 win over William Jewell where the Lions led for all but the first 2:19 of the game.

Meanwhile ENMU has a pair of close victories, earning its two wins by a combined five points after defeating Western New Mexico 37-34 on the road last week.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us, they’re a tremendous team and coach Lee has got them playing really, really well,” A&M-Commerce coach Colby Carthel said. “It should be a really good football game.”

The Greyhounds will need to slow down a Lions passing attack that took a huge step forward between weeks one and two.

Attempts to contact ENMU coach Kelley Lee were unsuccessful.

After managing only 179 yards through the air and throwing three interceptions in the season opener, Lions quarterback Luis Perez rebounded last week with a 236 yard, four touchdown, zero interception performance.

Though Perez is a senior, A&M Commerce features youth at skill positions including top two rushers freshman E.J. Thompson and redshirt-freshman Carandal Hale, so Carthel hopes the offense’s chemistry continues to develop.

“Those guys did get better last week and we hope they continue to gel,” Carthel said.

For ENMU, redshirt-junior running back Tayshaun Gary added 113 yards on just nine carries last week, providing another weapon for the Greyhounds triple option running attack that features 2016 All-American running back Kamal Cass and shifty quarterback Wyatt Strand.

A&M-Commerce will look to slow down ENMU’s rushing attack as much as possible, knowing it’s difficult to shut down completely.

“That’s just the key, hope you can slow it down, you know you’re not going to stop it,” Carthel said. “It’s a chess match defensively to slow down that triple option.”

The Lions have slowed down its opponent’s rushing games so far this year, allowing just 96 yards on the ground over their first two games.

Carthel has great respect for they Greyhounds players, especially Cass.

“They’re really good football players and good kids,” Carthel said. “I got to know Cass and he’s an All-American on and off the field.”

A&M-Commerce has won the past three matchups and beat the Greyhounds 49-10 last year.

The Greyhounds have earned seven and 18 votes, respectively, in the past two weeks of the American Football Coaches Association Poll respectively. A victory over the third-ranked Lions would almost assuredly vault ENMU into the top 25.