Central Washington's fast start sinks Hounds

PORTALES - This wasn't the way Eastern New Mexico University hoped to celebrate its Homecoming.

Central Washington blew out to a 28-0 lead before the midway point of the second quarter on Saturday night and handed the Greyhounds their fourth consecutive loss, a 45-17 Lone Star Conference shellacking at Greyhound Stadium.

Sophomore running back Tre'Jon Henderson rushed for 152 yards and three touchdowns as the Ellensburg, Wash.-based Wildcats rolled up 476 total yards in the contest. Henderson tallied on runs of 33 yards in the second quarter, 2 yards in the third and 28 yards in the fourth as CWU (3-1, 3-0) won their third contest in a row.

ENMU closed to 28-10 at halftime, but the Wildcats scored again midway through the third quarter and were never threatened.

"That's a really big hole to climb out of, especially against a really good team." ENMU coach Tye Hiatt said. "We're going through a really tough stretch right now. Ever since our last home game against Midwestern State, we haven't looked like the same team."

Sophomore quarterback Quincy Glasper capped an 80-yard drive for Central Washington with a 5-yard TD run early in the game, then added a 10-yard scoring run one play after the Wildcats' Brett Accimus recovered an ENMU fumble.

ENMU sophomore Cooper Hamilton missed a 31-yard field goal, his first miss this season after four makes, and CWU marched 80 yards in seven plays, capped by Henderson's 33-yard run with 9:45 to go in the second stanza. After a three-and-out for the Hounds, Glasper found sophomore wide receiver Marcus Cook deep over the middle for a 67-yard score and a 28-0 lead at the 8:21 mark.

ENMU rallied to cut it to 28-10 at the half on a 6-yard scoring pass from backup quarterback Mario Sanchez to junior wide-out Asa Wondeh and a 41-yard field goal as time expired by Hamilton, but that was as close as they got.

Junior Howard Russell added ENMU's other score on a 75-yard run early in the final stanza. Henderson's final touchdown run and a 26-yard field goal by freshman Jude Mullette capped the scoring for the Wildcats.

ENMU starting QB Kason Martin sat out due to shoulder issues sustained during the team's previous outing at Texas A&M-Kingsville. Hiatt said he wasn't sure how long Martin will be sidelined.

Sanchez, a sophomore from Denver City, completed 11-of-20 passes for 93 yards, while Russell finished with 88 yards on 12 carries.

The Hounds face another stiff challenge this week, taking on third-ranked Angelo State on Saturday at San Angelo, Texas. The Rams won handily on Saturday at Western Oregon 30-7 to improve to 5-0 (3-0 LSC) for the first time since 2005.

"We'll have our work cut out for us," Hiatt said.

Right now there are no easy solutions for what ails the team.

"We've got to play better and execute better," Hiatt said. "The only way to fix it is to just keep working at it."