Hounds' first game of season canceled

PORTALES — To accommodate an NCAA Division II mandate for schedule reduction, Eastern New Mexico University and New Mexico Highlands have canceled a Sept. 3 football game at Greyhound Stadium that would have opened the season for both teams.

The schools announced the move Tuesday evening.

The move gives the Greyhounds a 10-game regular season — the maximum allotted for Division II teams in response to the COVID-19 pandemic — that will now begin Sept. 12 at Adams State.

The Cowboys will now open their season at home against Colorado School of Mines, also Sept. 12.

Faced with the NCAA mandate, the Greyhounds didn’t have many options on cancellations. The eight-game Lone Star Conference schedule is locked in, and a Nov. 7 non-conference contest against Azusa Pacific isn’t a desirable cut because it’s part of a four-year, 54-game agreement the LSC has with the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

That left New Mexico Highlands and Adams State, and eliminating the game with the Cowboys was preferable because it gives ENMU an even schedule slate (five home, five road) and both squads get one more week of practice before the games count.

A release from ENMU said the teams had not yet discussed rescheduling the game but intended to do so in the near future. The teams have played each other 45 times since the series began in 1941, with ENMU leading 32-13, and the last matchup between the schools came in 2015.