No bowl invitation for Hounds

As expected, Eastern New Mexico University’s football season ended on Saturday.

ENMU coach Josh Lynn confirmed on Monday that the Hounds were not chosen for the second annual Texarkana Bowl. There had been some hope after the Hounds finished a 7-4 season with a 55-45 win over West Texas A&M in the fifth-place game of the Lone Star Conference playoffs at Blackwater Draw.

Lynn said Central Missouri (7-4) will face Henderson State (9-2) in the bowl game on Dec. 6 at Texarkana, Ark.

“We were in the mix,” said Lynn, who was in Arizona on Monday on a recruiting trip. “They had called us (to express an interest). But it was a good year — seven wins is a good year.”

link JOSHUA LUCERO: Staff photo

ENMU senior running back Jordan Wells rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns in the Greyhounds’ 55-45 win over West Texas A&M in Saturday’s Lone Star Conference playoff fifth-place game at Greyhound Stadium.

Senior linebacker Benjamin Pedro-Langford expressed similar thoughts after Saturday’s win over the Buffaloes, which gave ENMU consecutive seven-win seasons for the first time since 1998-99.

“It’s always good to have a winning record,” he said. “Although we aren’t where we want to be (playing for a conference championship), Eastern New Mexico football is definitely on the rise.”

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You’d have to say the LSC, not unlike a lot of college football conferences these days, was dominated by offense for the most part.

The Hounds averaged 39.7 ppg this season, yet were only fourth in the eight-team conference. Meantime, their points-against figure of 29.2 ppg ranked them second, just behind Midwestern State (28.4).

ENNU was fifth in NCAA Division II and led the LSC in rushing offense (330.2 ypg). The Hounds led the league in rushing defense (91.2) and total defense (370.4), finishing ninth in D-II in the former.

Senior E’lon Spight easily won the league rushing title with 1,641 yards, good for fifth place in Division II, although the five TDs scored by WT’s Geremy Alridge-Mitchell on Saturday (while Spight had none) allowed him to pass the ENMU running back for most rushing touchdowns in the conference (21-19).

Junior quarterback Jeremy Buurma threw sparingly, but averaged more than 21 yards per completion for the season with 18 touchdowns, just five interceptions and a 169.8 efficiency rating. Senior wide receiver Jacob Johnson caught 29 passes for 737 yards (25.4 per catch) and nine TDs.

Senior defensive back Kevin Reaves led the league in punt returns with a 14.6 average on 15 runbacks. Senior linebacker Seth Bailey of Texico had a team-high 81 tackles (48 solos) and was second in the LSC in interceptions with four.

Nine of ENMU’s 10 interceptions this season were by linebackers, with Pedro-Langford grabbing three and senior Julian Yearwood two.

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By virtue of its 35-33 win at Texas A&M-Commerce in Saturday’s LSC playoff championship game and an 8-2 overall record, Angelo State was the only LSC team to squeeze into the Division II playoffs. The Rams, tied for 23rd in this week’s NCAA Division II poll with Virginia State, play at No. 18 Michigan Tech (9-1) in a 10 a.m. (MST) first-round game on Saturday.