Silver slaughters in spring game

PORTALES - Heavy winds, a little bit of rain and that little thing called Friday the 13th, couldn't dampen the spirits of Eastern New Mexico football in their annual Green and Silver spring game on Friday night. The Silver squad went on to beat the Green squad, 50-28, to cap off spring practice 2018 for the Greyhounds.

"I thought it was a good game," coach Kelley Lee said. "I thought it was really competitive, I thought there was good things from both teams. The real difference is one side took care of the ball - (and Green had) three turnovers.

"Some of those are forced and you gotta give credit to the defense, and they were able to score on one of them. But, I thought the teams, outside of those three turnovers, was pretty evenly matched up."

The Green squad actually struck first, and on the first play of the game, no less. Ish Garrett took an end around and went 70 yards to paydirt, but it would prove to be the only Green lead all night.

The Silver squad's first drive was much lengthier, as quarterback Terrence Trujillo gained 12 yards on a keeper early in the drive, before a Tayshaun Gary 6-yard gain on fourth-and-5 extended the series further, opening the door for Paul Terry to take an inside handoff to the left, bounce it to the middle, and then finally outside for a 30-yard score to tie the game at 7-7.

From that point on, it was all Silver. Garrett lost a fumble on the next possession, giving the Silver the ball at the Green 22. Eight plays later, kicker and former Clovis grad Luke Bussen hit a short field goal with just 45 seconds to play in the opening quarter.

Another Green fumble in the early stages of the second quarter was recovered by a Silver defender and taken 45 yards to the house. Soon after, Green quarterback Wyatt Strand would lose the ball on an option miscue, and once again, Silver was in business.

Corey Williams gained 12 and 16 yards on separate plays, and eventually, punched it on fourth-and-goal from the 3, extending the lead to 24-7, with 4:40 to play in the half. As for the second half, once the weather got better, both sides started to thread the needle through the air, as the two sides unofficially combined for nine completions of at least 10 yards - not bad for a running team.

"When the wind finally let up, it was a good chance to get out here and work it some," Lee explained. "We wanted to do that because it also lets our defense work some, instead of running the option. I thought they did well, and we made some nice catches."

As for the defense, with a third defensive coordinator in as many years in former Greyhound Mike Walton, that side of the ball was certainly a topic of conversation all spring. According to Walton, he believes his defensive players made plenty of progress, week-in and week-out during the spring as they tried to adjust to his new 4-2-5 scheme.

Walton went on to say that it can be a challenge trying to run everything that they want to run when they're practicing against an option offense everyday. Nonetheless, Walton is excited about the direction that things are headed.

"More than anything, they're a great group of kids, from an effort standpoint (and) they're not afraid to work," Walton said. "They did a good job of adjusting and learning, but they still got a ways to go. We've got some things we got to get cleaned up, just probably like anybody else in America does.

"But I was really excited about the way they work and the attention they paid. They're very young from an experience standpoint, so we're trying to teach them how to run on the field and play hard consistently. We're starting from the ground up, but we'll get there."

With the spring practice sessions completed, Lee is looking for his team to finish strong in the weight room and in the classroom, as the spring semester comes to a close.

Overall, Lee says that this spring was an exceptional one for his team.

"One of the best we've had," Lee said. "We just got better everyday. Sometimes springs are up and down, back and forth. But I just thought there was steady improvement everyday we came out and worked. Everyday, in some aspect, I thought we got better and I thought we did so tonight (as well)."