Week 7 wrap: Greyhounds keep Chile Bowl

SILVER CITY — The Eastern New Mexico football team went to Silver City and struck gold Saturday night.

In the Chile Bowl at Western New Mexico University, the Greyhounds got their explosive rushing attack going again and rolled over Western 48-17, notching their 15th straight win over their in-state rivals.

As a result, Eastern improved to 5-2 overall, 3-2 in the Lone Star Conference, while Western dropped to 1-6 overall, 1-3 against LSC competition.

“It’s a really tough place to play,” ENMU head coach Kelley Lee said, “so any time you go down there and get a win you feel good about it.”

The Hounds recorded six rushing touchdowns and relied on big plays — with three touchdown runs of over 30 yards — to pull away in the second half after holding a precarious 17-10 halftime lead. Eastern recorded 576 rushing yards — thanks to three rushers surpassing over 100 yards — in defeating Western, and took home the Chile Bowl trophy for the second straight year.

Senior Paul Terry rang up 180 rushing yards and two touchdowns to pace an Eastern offense that totaled 639 yards. Junior Justin Manyweather scored on runs of 39 and 64 yards to rack up 147 on just 10 carries.

And while their offense was watching from the sidelines, the Hounds’ defense limited Western New Mexico to just 289 yards of total offense on 68 plays and didn’t allow any offensive scores in the second half, during which ENMU outscored Western 31-7. Sophomore Colby Russ and junior Noah Sweitzer each totaled 10 tackles on the night, leading the Hounds to their best defensive performance of the season.

Senior quarterback Wyatt Strand totaled 131 yards on the ground and chipped in two rushing touchdowns to captain Eastern’s offense to a spectacular second half.

Lucky seven

The Greyhounds’ offense got started early with a seven-play, 48-yard touchdown drive after stalling out on their game-opening possession. Strand finished off their second possession with a five-yard rushing score, followed by the first of six extra points from soon-to-be Lone Star Conference Player of the Week Tyler Vargas, making it 7-0.

A missed field goal attempt for the Mustangs on their ensuing possession set up Strand and company with another opportunity to score, and they soon capitalized with a 48-yard field goal by Vargas.

Eastern looked for more after sophomore Ryan Moore picked off a deep Western New Mexico pass attempt in the Mustang end zone, setting up the Greyhound offense at the opposing 25-yard line.

Eastern, though, coughed up the ball just four plays later, then allowed Western to find the end zone for the first time with a 32-yard touchdown pass from C.J. Fowler to Reggie Colson III which, when followed by Ignacio Correa’s extra point, sliced the margin to 10-7.

Eastern, however, soon increased its lead, as Manyweather broke free after making multiple defenders miss in the open field, and scored on a 39-yard touchdown run with 4:32 remaining before halftime.

The Mustangs took the ball after the Manyweather score and drove down the field in just over four minutes to tack on a 30-yard Correa field goal with 30 seconds remaining in the half, closing to within 17-10 by the break.

The Greyhound defense came out of halftime with an immediate defensive stand on the Mustangs’ half-opening drive, forcing a punt that got Eastern started at its own 22. On the drive’s third play, Manyweather took another pitch from Strand on the option and got loose once again, scoring from 64 yards out.

Eastern forced another Mustangs punt, and then drove 77 yards in 11 plays to set Vargas up with another field goal, this time from 28 yards out to extend the lead to 27-10. Western New Mexico managed to stay in it with Joshua Powell’s 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the next play, closing the gap to just 10 with 2:07 left in the third quarter.

Strand contributed the Hounds’ third rushing touchdown of 35-plus yards at the 13:34 mark of the final quarter, bursting loose for a 45-yard score to cap off a seven-play drive. Terry continued to extend Western’s advantage with two rushing touchdowns less than five minutes apart to bring the score to 48-17 with 7:08 remaining in the game.

Soon, Eastern had pulled off a 31-point rout by powering through adversity.

“We had a lot of injuries,” Lee said, “and we had some new people playing different positions. … Once we got our feet wet we played a good game. I was proud of them.”

ENMU will play home again this Saturday for the annual Wagon Wheel Game against West Texas A&M. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.