Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
ENMU has won traveling trophy for four of last five years
CANYON, Texas — Ladies and gentlemen, we have a brand new ballgame.
Eastern New Mexico University did what it does better than anybody in the country, control the ball, and the Greyhounds punished host West Texas A&M with 447 yards of offense and four consecutive touchdowns to bruise their way to a 28-14 win to improve to 5-1 on the season and 3-1 in the Lone Star Conference.
Just as important in the minds of most Greyhound fans, tie up the all-time Wagon Wheel series at 15 wins apiece.
The Greyhounds have won four of the last five Wagon Wheel games, and dominated in all facets of the game. The Buffaloes (2-3, 1-2) posted just seven first downs and managed 254 yards of offense with a smattering of big plays at the end — including Justin Houghtaling’s 24-yard pass to Junior Pome’e with :49 to play.
Houghtaling, an Artesia native, competed 12 of 20 passes, and gave the Buffs and early lead with a 5-yard toss to Ja’Quarius Daniels midway through the first quarter.
Kamal Cass had 28 carries for 138-yards and a 9-yard touchdown run, while Wyatt Strand rushed 16 times for 98 yards and scored on runs of 1 and 14 yards in a 21-point fourth.
D’Maujeric Tucker rushed six times for 34 yards, including a 2-yard run early in the fourth quarter to give Eastern its first lead.
The Greyhounds were slightly above their gaudy average (38:48) in time of possession, holding the ball for 39:01 on the evening. But the Greyhounds used that to their advantage, as Strand scored his first touchdown on a quick snap as the Buffaloes expected him to milk the clock and tried to swap out a defensive unit.
In addition to knotting up the series that started back in 1986 — the teams didn’t play in 2000 or 2010 — the Greyhounds also gained the honor of being the final team to run up Kimbrough Memorial Stadium hill to claim the wooden trophy. West Texas A&M plans to move to an on-campus stadium next season, a year before it hosts the Wagon Wheel game again.
The Greyhounds come back home to face Texas-Permian Basin in their homecoming game, 7 p.m. Saturday at Greyhound Stadium.
