Hounds ride dominance early to win

SILVER CITY – Despite watching a 20-point, first-quarter advantage dwindle to a single-score game twice, Eastern New Mexico University football coach Kelley Lee said he was never really worried.

ENMU recovered an onside kick with less than two minutes left and ran out the clock to claim a 41-34 Lone Star Conference victory over Western New Mexico in the teams’ annual “Chile Bowl” clash.

Early on, it looked like the Greyhounds (3-5, 1-5 LSC) were going to run away with it, leading 20-0 with a minute left in the opening stanza. They finished with 528 total yards – including 495 on the ground – but the Mustangs (2-7, 0-7) managed to make things interesting at the end.

“We kind of controlled it the whole way,” said Kelley, whose squad ended a five-game losing streak. “Give them credit, but it feels good. We needed to feel good about ourselves. We’re the small-school state champs (with wins over WNMU and New Mexico Highlands).”

ENMU improved to 44-17 all-time against the Mustangs, but had lost the previous two matchups on the heels of a 16-game winning streak. They are 6-2 in the series since WNMU joined the LSC in 2016.

Senior fullback Ron Craten carried 26 times for 216 yards and three touchdowns for the Hounds, and on Monday was named the LSC player of the week on offense. Craten leads the league in rushing (771 yards), scoring (66 points) and rushing touchdowns (11), and is the only back in the league averaging more than 100 yards (110.1).

Defensively, sophomore linebacker Matthew Quartieri posted 13 total tackles, including 11 solo stops, while sophomore defensive back Micah Lewis had a pass interception and three breakups.

Craten, freshman Chad Ragle and sophomore Jarius Stewart capped long drives with touchdown runs to stake the Hounds to a quick lead, but by halftime Western New Mexico had pulled to 20-14 as freshman wide receiver Deuce Zimmerman caught TD passes of 11 and 10 yards from senior quarterback Josh Magana.

Lewis’ interception on the first play of the third frame put the Hounds in business at the WNMU 41, though, and they made it 27-14 eight plays later on Craten’s second TD run, from eight yards out.

After a three-and-out for the Mustangs, ENMU went 66 yards in just six plays for Craten’s final TD, a 5-yard run.

WNMU closed to 34-20 by quarter’s end, but freshman slot back Azorion Sterling broke off a 40-yard TD run with just under 13 minutes left, allowing the Hounds to withstand WNMU’s final push.

Magana finished 29-of-41for 274 yards and five touchdowns. Four went to Zimmerman, who caught 11 passes for 124 yards.

It was the first of three road games in their final four outings for the Hounds, who visit Sul Ross State this week, host Texas-Permian Basin on Nov. 9 and travel to Texas A&M-Kingsville on Nov. 16.

With a sweep, they would finish with a winning record.

“We’ve got to travel quite a bit,” Lee acknowledged of the final stretch. “We’ve got a lot of kids out with injuries, but hopefully we cane get a few of them back.”