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Greyhounds' football: Week 4 recap and report card

PORTALES — Neither wind, nor rain, nor Lone Star Conference foe Angelo State, could stop the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds in Saturday night's football clash. Despite driving rains and crazy wind, along with a one-hour lightning delay, the Hounds' hot start was enough to hold off the Rams, 31-21.

"We were just executing all three phases — offense, defense, special teams really well," Greyhound coach Kelley Lee said of the Greyhounds' fast 21-0 start, prior to the delay. "(Our defense forced) several three-and-outs there, and then I think our first three or four drives (on offense) we scored."

Eastern (3-1, 2-1 Lone Star) ran its triple option offense to perfection early on. The Hounds faced an early third-and-10, before quarterback Wyatt Strand scrambled up the middle and gained 20 yards.

The drive continued for several more plays before the Greyhounds faced a fourth-and-2 at the ASU 13. However, the Hounds kept their offense on the field and proceeded to convert, as Strand connected with Tayshaun Gary for a touchdown which, when followed by Bailey Hale's extra point, gave their team a 7-0 lead.

When it was all said and done, the drive went 13 plays, 66 yards and lasted 7:01.

Eastern quickly got the ball back and picked up where it left off on the first drive. Strand converted another third down, thanks to a sneak on third-and-2. Strand then avoided the Rams' (2-2, 0-2) pass rush on a third-and-7 to extend the drive once again, as he scampered for 21 more yards.

Kamal Cass gained 15 yards on the next play, before Strand just barely missed a wide open Russel Montoya in the back corner of the end zone. The Hounds did, however, manage to earn a first-and-goal at the Rams 3, but came up short on four straight runs.

No worries. An ASU three-and-out put the ball right back in the hands of the Greyhound offense. Lee and company then went into their bag of tricks on the first play of the drive, as Strand lateraled to Montoya, who then hit a wide open Johnny Smith, who went 55 yards to paydirt and extended the ENM lead to 14-0 after Hale's extra point.

Ultimately, Eastern possessed the ball for 12:49 in the first quarter, and 42:04 when the game was over. The Greyhounds added another early second quarter score, following a Ram fumble - and then, the storm came.

Swirling winds and driving rains made it seem like Portales got its 17 inches of average annual rainfall all in one night. But, it was lightning that caused the actual delay, which lasted 61 minutes.

When the game resumed, the Greyhounds came out confident and were dancing in the rain. However, if anyone remembers the San Francisco 49ers' near-comeback victory in Super Bowl XLVII over the Baltimore Ravens — spurred by a long power outage in the Super Dome — things quickly changed in the losing team's favor.

Saturday's delay seemed to give the Rams a similar boost. They quickly moved the ball down the field, and ENM defenders could not wrap up the now-slippery ASU playmakers, which ultimately led to a 42-yard touchdown run from Josh Stevens.

The Rams then blocked a punt deep in the Greyhounds' end, but the Hounds were saved on a facemask penalty. ENMU proceeded to score one play later on a 57-yard Cass touchdown run, as he burst around the corner of the far sideline to extend the score to 28-6.

After the Rams overcame some self-inflicted wounds, they managed to put together two fine drives to cut the deficit to 28-18, less than three minutes into the third quarter. "It's tough because in a game like that where you have all that momentum, it gives time for the other team to regroup," Lee said of the momentum shift after the delay.

"You're playing at such a high level - you kind of come down off of a high. It's hard to regenerate, (but) I thought we did a good job regenerating it when we came back out, but then you have the short half, and it's like twice. I could just feel our second-half energy, our guys were spent emotionally."

Eastern then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, setting up the Rams at the Greyhounds' 30-yard line. ASU got down inside the 3, but had to settle for a 20-yard field goal, making it a one-score ballgame.

Driving winds and rains blew in the direction of the Ram offense in the fourth quarter, as ASU squandered opportunities to tie the game. But, the Rams partially blocked a Greyhound punt and got the ball at the Eastern 33 with 8:46 remaining.

However, ASU quickly went three-and-out, and came up several yards short on a fake punt. The Hounds then turned around and put together a 10-play, 48-yard drive that lasted 5:21, settling for a short Hale field goal to put the game on ice.

"We were trying to be a little bit conservative, because we didn't want to do anything with the ball that could give them a short field, because our defense was playing well," Lee explained. "We finally figured out a few things we could do without having to put the ball on the perimeter, in between the tackles, and we challenged our offensive line - they responded with that last drive."

Eastern will next play the much-anticipated Wagon Wheel game this Saturday against hated rival West Texas A&M. For Lee and company, the rivalry is always exciting and is something that he and his Greyhounds always look forward to every year.

"At a school like Eastern New Mexico — a small school, Division II football — when you have a rival like West Texas and you play for something like the Wagon Wheel, that's our USC-UCLA, Florida-Florida State, Miami-Florida State, Alabama-Auburn," Lee said, enthusiastically.

"That's that game to us, and so, it's an exciting game. It's a game that we like to prepare for, we like to play in it, coaches like to coach in it and players like to play in it. So, it'll be a fun week of practice and a fun game."

GREYHOUNDS' WEEK 4 REPORT CARD

OFFENSE

The Greyhounds controlled the tempo for most of the game, and came out red-hot, prior to the lightning delay. ASU could not stop Eastern before the rains came, as Eastern possessed the ball for 12:49 in the first quarter, and well-over 40 minutes in all. Wyatt Strand was a big reason for the Hounds converting 6-of-8 on third downs before the storm, plus a key fourth down, as well. Strand had 55 rushing yards on five attempts after the first quarter, and finished 4-of-8 for 43 yards and a touchdown through the air. Cass, meanwhile, led a rushing attack that finished with 286 yards on 5.8 yards per carry. When it was all said and done, Cass had 182 yards on 37 carries, including the 57-yard touchdown. Generally Speaking, the offensive line played exceptionally well, but the difficult weather conditions after the lightning delay forced their protection to break down at times. Nonetheless, they stepped up and did their jobs when it counted.

FINAL GRADE: A

DEFENSE

The Hounds' defense came out and played fiercely in the early going. Eastern applied lots of pressure to start the game, and made life uncomfortable for Rams quarterback Jake Faber. In fact, the Rams gained just 2 rushing yards by half-time, while Faber completed just 12-of-30 passes on the night. However, despite strong involvement from the entire Greyhound defense all night, including six players with at least four tackles - and 11 with multiple stops, the long delay caused some setbacks, especially after half-time. The Hounds struggled to wrap up Ram playmakers after the delay, and soon, some of their all-out blitzes were neutralized by a somewhat effective Ram passing attack in the second and third quarters. After building a 22-point lead, however, the Hounds nearly let it evaporate. However, the defense pitched a fourth quarter shutout, making the plays they needed to make in crunch time, including the three-and-out stop at their own end, following a blocked punt by ASU.

FINAL GRADE: A-

SPECIAL TEAMS

Weather conditions certainly affected the Hounds' special teams, as early efficiency before the storms turned into near-disasters after the lightning delay ended. Eastern fumbled a kickoff, and had two punts blocked - although the first one was called back on a facemask penalty against the Rams, quickly leading to a Greyhounds touchdown. Bailey Hale went 4-for-4 on extra points and hit his only field goal attempt. On the flipside, ASU also had its share of special teams struggles, including mediocre punts and a fumbled snap on their first exra point attempt. Considering the circumstances, it's hard to grade this one too harshly.

FINAL GRADE: C+

— Eric Murray