A&M-Kingsville extinguishes Greyhound offense in 36-10 win

PORTALES — Losing one of your best players, if not your best, is a factor any team would have to overcome.

First-year Eastern New Mexico University football coach Tye Hiatt said the Greyhounds were no exceptions tot he rule after standout senior wide receiver Justin Manyweather went out with an ankle injury during the second quarter of Saturday’s Lone Star Conference opener against Texas A&M-Kingsville at Greyhound Stadium.

Manyweather put the Hounds on the board with a 94-yard kickoff return early in the first period, but ENMU did little offensively after that and the Javelinas pulled away in the second half for a 36-10 victory.

“That’s the thing we told the kids,” Hiatt said. “In football, you’ve got to handle adversity, and we didn’t handle it very well today.”

Manyweather’s kickoff return — the first for a touchdown for ENMU since D’Maujeric Tucker went 100 yards against Tarleton State in 2014 — staked the Hounds to a 7-3 lead, and they went up 10-6 early in the second stanza on a 29-yard field goal for freshman Cage Jones — who was replacing senior kicker Cooper Hamilton, sidelined due to a leg injury.

“Losing Justin was really big,” Hiatt acknowledged. “I thought we played well enough on defense to win.”

Kingsville (2-1 overall), which posted its first win in an LSC opener since 2012 and moved above the .500 mark for the first time since 2016, inserted sophomore Zadock Dinklemann at quarterback later in the period. He hit senior receiver Ty Chisum on a 43-yard scoring pass three minutes before halftime, and the Javelinas never trailed again.

A mishandled kickoff to open the second half put the Hounds deep in their own territory, and not long after that freshman quarterback Nate Valencia was called for intentional grounding in the end zone, resulting in a safety.

Later in the period, the Javelinas took advantage of a fumble by Valencia at the ENMU 2, going up 22-10 two plays later on a 1-yard run by sophomore Christian Anderson, and never looked back.

Kingsville’s defense limited ENMU (1-2) to eight first downs 124 yards of total offense, and picked up a touchdown when senior defensive back Dalion Gants recovered an ENMU fumble in the end zone late in the third stanza.

“We knew they were good defensively,” Hiatt said. “We just didn’t adjust to their physicality.

“We had some golden opportunities in the second quarter, and the game could’ve been different if we had capitalized.”

ENMU will play on the road for the first time this Saturday when it visits Midwestern State in a 6 p.m. (MDT) kickoff at Wichita Falls, Texas.

Manyweather’s status for this week’s game was unknown as of Saturday night. Hiatt said he is hopeful Hamilton will be able to return this week.

It will be the home opener for the Mustangs (3-0, 2-0 LSC), who own conference wins over seventh-ranked Texas A&M-Commerce (a 31-30 neutral-field decision) and, on Saturday, at No. 17 Angelo State 35-17.

“We’ve got to be able to respond when things happen,” Hiatt said. “The biggest thing is regardless of who we’re playing next week, we’re just focusing on getting better day-to-day.”