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Hounds looking for their seventh win against MSU

STAFF WRITER

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After a decisive 53-10 victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State University last week, the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds prepare for their final regular season game as they head to Wichita Fall, Texas to take on the Lone Star Conference’s Midwestern State in a battle of two top-four teams in the conference today at noon.

Staff photo: Matthew Asher

Eastern New Mexico quarterback Wyatt Strand throws a pass during Wednesday’s practice at Greyhound Stadium. Strand is looking to lead ENMU to its seventh win of the season as they take on the LSC’s top-ranked Midwestern State today in Wichita Falls, Texas at noon.

With LSC playoff seeding at stake, No. 4 ENMU (6-4, 5-3 LSC) has a tough test against the LSC’s No. 1 team as the Midwestern State Mustangs (8-1, 7-1) sport a very balanced offense which compliments their good defense.

Offensively, MSU is second only to ENMU in the running game in the LSC. The Mustangs average 213.9 yards on the ground and 226.4 yards through the air. They average 36.2 points a game, the third best in the conference.

“They’re just solid,” ENMU coach Josh Lynn said. “Whatever they want to do they do. They’re a good football team in all three phases. That’s why they have just one loss.”

Quarterback Quade Coward leads the Mustangs with 2,270 yards of total offense and 16 total touchdowns. Through the air, Coward has thrown for 1,905 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions while he’s run for 365 yards and four scores.

“He’s a program kid. He’s been with them for three years and he’s playing with a lot of confidence lately,” Lynn said.

Wide receivers Statron Jones leads the team with 389 yards and two receiving scores. His teammate Breion Evans is right behind him with 380 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

“They do a good job also throwing to the running backs. They’re a very balanced team,” Lynn said.

The running game is the strong point of the Mustang offense, just like with Eastern. Vincent Johnson leads the team with 680 yards and 18 scores, ranking him fifth and first, respectively in the LSC.

“They have three running backs they rotate all the time so the yardage is skewed,” Lynn said. “But they use Johnson for short-yardage scores.”

For Eastern, they once again plan to use their option attack to control the clock. Clovis-native Kamal Cass leads the LSC with 107.3 yards per game and has scored 11 rushing touchdowns.

Quarterback Wyatt Strand will look to get Eastern its seventh win of the season for the third time in four years. He knows this will be a tough game but he’s ready.

“They’re good on both sides of defense,” Strand said. “Everybody’s pretty new there but their defensive end, Harold Willis, has been there for a while. I’m definitely looking for him when running the option. But everything’s looking good. First team (offense) has been sharp. We’re ready.”

Without a LSC playoff this season, Eastern’s hope for one more game following this one will be depending if they can get a bowl game. While a bowl game would be nice, Lynn simply wants win number 7 for now.

“This game decides if we end up tied for third or tied for fourth in the conference. And yes, seven wins is much better than six wins,” he said.