Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
PORTALES -- It didn't take too long to figure out the West Texas A&M Buffaloes would be leaving Greyhound Stadium one wheel heavier than when they came in.
The Buffaloes eventually took back the round wooden trophy Saturday night, jumping out to a 28-0 lead just 16 minutes in en route to a 35-14 victory over Eastern New Mexico.
The Greyhounds outgained the Buffs 373-286, but could not recover from six turnovers -- five lost fumbles and an interception.
Redshirt sophomore Nick Gerber accounted for four Buffalo touchdowns -- two rushing, two passing -- and the WT offense took advantage of early Greyhound miscues to build up their advantage. One of Gerber's few mistakes actually turned into a 1-yard gain, as Ricky Barfield intercepted a 3rd and 10 pass in the end zone, only to lose the fumble a yard short of the original line of scrimmage. Armed with a new first down, the Buffaloes made it 21-0 on a Duke Carter IV rush from 6 yards out.
The Greyhounds, held to negative yardage in the first quarter, faltered again early in the second on a punt play that turned into a lost fumble and a WT first-and-goal at the 6. By the time Gerber found McCall for a touchdown toss a play later, the Buffaloes had scored four touchdowns with just 85 yards of offense.
Gerber had 5-yard scoring runs in the first and fourth, and also had a 14-yard scoring pass to Semaj Mitchell just 4:13 into the contest.
Eastern New Mexico finally got on the board with 1:48 left in the first half on Johnny Smith's 3-yard run, and showed some life in the third quarter with a blocked pun. However, the ensuing drive resulted in no points after the Buffaloes stopped them on fourth-and-goal, and the Greyhounds never seriously threatened after that.
Wyatt Strand scored with 50 seconds left, reaching the 1 before the ball was stripped and recovering his own fumble in the end zone.
The Buffaloes fair caught a pooch kick and ran the victory formation before storming the east side of the stadium where the Wagon Wheel laid for the taking.
The Greyhounds will head east this week, with a 5 p.m. Saturday kickoff at Texas-Permian Basin.