Hounds fall hard in opener

PORTALES - Eastern New Mexico University's football team went into Thursday night's season opener at Greyhound Stadium with less than a full deck of players.

Central Washington wasted no time making the Greyhounds pay.

Sophomore quarterback J.J. Lemming tied a school record with five touchdown passes, three coming inside the first 10 minutes, and the Wildcats cruised to a 66-24 victory in ENMU coach Tye Hiatt's debut with the program.

Central Washington scored on 10 of its 12 full possessions in the game - and one of the stops came in the closing minutes - en route to its first season-opening win since a 34-10 victory at Texas A&M-Kingsville three seasons back.

It was the fourth-most points alowed by ENMU in school history, and the most since absorbing a 66-0 loss at Southwestern (Oklahoma) State on Nov. 25, 1969.

"We knew they had a young secondary," third-year Wildcats coach Chris Fisk said. "We were able to get some guys touches tonight, and I thought J.J. Lemming threw the ball well."

Lemming, making his first collegiate start, also ran for a score. He played three quarters and finished 14-of-22 for 332 yards while his backup, Zach Matlock, added a pair of scoring tosses in the final stanza.

ENMU was without a number of players due to COVID issues and contact tracing, but Hiatt was quick to say that wasn't the reason for the outcome.

"No excuses," he said. "We have to be better on the back end (secondary), but we also have to do a better job in the box."

Lemming was sacked just once in the game.

ENMU had two three-and-outs to start the game, then turned the ball over on a fumble. Meantime, the Wildcats scored in drives of just three, three and five plays, all ending with Lemming TD passes, for a 21-0 lead at the 5:20 mark of the opening segment.

"The score was what it was," Hiatt said. "Like I told the kids, we have to be able to do a better job of communication (on the field) and handling adversity."

To their credit, the Hounds countered the early deficit with an eight-play, 55-yard TD drive culminating in a 2-yard Currie Thomason run, then forced a three-and-out and went 59 yards in eight plays to pull to 21-14 on a 1-yard quarterback keeper by freshman Nate Valencia early in the second stanza.

It took Central just two plays and 30 seconds to cover 75 yards, with Lemming throwing a 37-yard TD pass to Darius Morrison.

ENMU closed to 35-17 on freshman Cooper Hamilton's 39-yard field goal as time expired, but the Wildcats tallied on five consecutive possessions when play resumed.

That stretch was only interrupted by a 95-yard scoring strike from Valencia to senior wide receiver Justin Manyweather, the second longest scoring pass in school history behind only a 97-yard catch-and-run by Michael Matthew against Angelo State in 2011.

Despite the big halftime lead, Fisk said the Wildcats were a bit disappointing on defense.

"We didn't tackle very well," he said. "It was great to see at halftime that the kids were disappointed in their own tackling."

Central Washington finished with 501 total yards. Meantime, its defense limited ENMU to 126 yards - most of it on the long TD play - and three first downs after halftime.

Fisk expressed empathy toward the Hounds afterwards, noting his team played one game in the spring against FCS (Division I-AA) power Montana and was able to get in some practice time.

"That was another thing that helped us," he said. "Even though we took our lumps in that game, it helped us get ready (for this season) and be more composed."

Valencia went 14-for-23 for 184 yards for the Hounds, who finished with 310 total yards. Manyweather caught five passes for 144 yards, while freshman Howard Russell rushed for 69 yards and Thomason added 66.

"I thought our offense did some good things," Hiatt said. "But we can't turn the ball over (ENMU had three for the game, and several other near-giveaways). That was disappointing for us."

Fisk, whose team plays at FCS power Eastern Washington this week, said he knows ENMU is better than what it showed against the Wildcats.

"I think there's a good football team in there," he said. "I hope they keep in there. Given time, I hope they can get it going."

ENMU plays the second of three home games to start the season on Saturday in a 6 p.m. kickoff against Adams State.