Greyhounds grab Heritage Bowl victory

CORSICANA, Texas — As he had much of the season, Paul Terry carried the brunt of the Greyhound offense, and the defense came up big when it had to for the first bowl win in Eastern New Mexico program history.

Terry ran for 110 yards and all three touchdowns, and the Greyhounds got a pair of late stops to preserve a 20-13 victory over Southern Arkansas Saturday in the Heritage Bowl.

The Greyhounds finished the season 8-4 and got their first bowl victory in three tries. The team had not made a postseason contest in the 2017 or 2018 seasons, and had fallen in the C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl in each of the previous two seasons.

“I’m just really happy for our seniors to do something that’s never been done before,” ENMU coach Kelley Lee said. “I’m really proud of the way we finished our season strong, and to finish with a bowl win really caps it off.”

Terry scored on rushes of 1 and 3 yards during a 13-0 first quarter, and on a 1-yard effort late in the third quarter to make it 20-10 before the Muleriders (8-4) mounted their comeback attempt.

The Amarillo native rushed for the century mark in 11 of the team’s 12 games this season, and finished his season second in Division II with a school-record 1,888 rushing yards.

The Green and Silver never trailed, but certainly didn’t build on a strong early start. After the team’s first two drives chewed up 177 yards and 9:45 of possession time in the first, four of the Greyhounds’ next five drives were three-and-outs and the other was a missed 51-yard field goal late in the second quarter.

“They had defended teams similar to us in their conference,” Lee said. “We had some stuff we prepared just for them. After a while, they adjusted to that. They’re good at defending the option. You’ve got to give them credit. It’s tough to move the ball on them.”

The game was, as most involving the Greyhounds are, a battle of run-heavy versus pass-heavy offenses. Eastern ran 55 of the game’s 80 running plays, while the Muleriders had 41 of the 51 passing plays. The Greyhounds trounced the Muleriders 201-19 on the ground, and were outgained 266-143 in the air. Senior quarterback Wyatt Strand was 6-of-10 through the air, while rushing 19 times for 49 yards. His main target was Zachery Fields, who caught two passes for 92 yards, including a 77-yarder on the second touchdown drive.

The Greyhound defense held twice in the second half on Terry fumbles, surrendering a field goal on a drive that started at their own 22 late in the third and forcing a three-and-out after Southern Arkansas’ Briant Parker recovered a Terry fumble at the 50 with 9:50 to go.

Southern Arkansas got first and goal with 2:41 to play on an 18-yard reception by Micah Small to the ENMU 9, but the ENMU defense stopped Dennis Daniels a yard short of the end zone on fourth and 5.

“The defense played great all game long,” Lee said. “Other than the touchdown with a blown coverage, Southern Arkansas struggled to move the ball.”

The Greyhounds ran out all but the final 11 seconds, with Tyler Vargas punting to the Mulerider 33. Southern Arkansas, which had burned all of its timeouts on the preceding drive, had a desperation hook-and-ladder play snuffed out at their own 40.

Hayden Mallory completed 18-of-40 passes for 266 yards to eight different receivers, including a 69-yard scoring toss to Jaidon Parrish in the second quarter.

Vicen’te Walker and Colby Russ each had seven tackles, five solo, to lead the Greyhound defensive effort while Davon Conyers had five pass breakups.

Lee credited the bowl committee and the city of Corsicana for putting together a great experience, with plenty of activities in the days leading up to the game, a Friday pep rally and a Saturday police escort to the stadium.