No. 20 Angelo State turns back Hounds

With two narrow home wins already under its collective belt, Eastern New Mexico University’s bid for a third came up short on Saturday night.

Angelo State, ranked 20th in NCAA Division II, limited the Greyhounds to 106 total yards and no points in the second half, and the Rams claimed a 23-14 Lone Star Conference victory at Greyhound Stadium.

It was anything but easy, but the Rams (3-2, 2-1 LSC) tightened up their defense after the intermission and made it a two-score game when senior quarterback Gerald Gardner found sophomore wide receiver Kel Williams on a four-yard scoring pass with 9:11 left in the game to finish off a nine-play, 65-yard drive.

It was ASU’s second lengthy scoring march of the half, which erased a 14-10 deficit. The Rams went 85 yards on 10 plays in the third quarter, taking a 16-14 advantage when sophomore Donny Bishop recovered Williams’ fumble into the end zone in the final minute of the period.

“Our kids responded tonight,” Rams coach Jeff Girsch said. “We executed better in the second half.”

Until then, it had been a back-and-forth game.

ENMU (3-2, 1-2) chewed up nearly eight minutes following the opening kickoff, with sophomore QB Mario Sanchez finding junior running back Ja’Calvin Newsom on a 22-yard scoring pass to cap the 75-yard march.

Angelo countered with a lengthy drive, but had to settle for sophomore Brad Larson’s 20-yard field goal. The Rams gained the lead early in the second stanza when sophomore Chad Pharies tallied on a 4-yard run, but ENMU countered with another 75-yard drive capped by a 1-yard sneak from Sanchez midway through the period.

“They did a good job,” Hounds coach Kelley Lee said of the Rams. “We could never get a turnover tonight, and we really needed one.

“I thought we played well. I thought we made some great adjustments at halftime, but they were able to run the ball in the second half.”

Girsch, whose team reached the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs a year ago and was the LSC preseason favorite, was impressed with the Hounds.

“This is a really good football team,” he said. “They’re young, but they play hard.”

Angelo State finished with a 321-262 edge in total offense. Sophomore Brayden Wilcox led the way with 147 yards rushing on 23 attempts, while Gardner went 13-for-24 passing for 114 yards.

“We’re built to run or pass,” Girsch said. “They brought a lot of pressure at us, but I think we protected (Gardner) pretty well.”

Sanchez finished 6-for-9 through the air for 73 yards for the Hounds. Freshman Elijah Zeh had a team-high 57 yards on 18 carries while junior Jonathan Watson added 50 yards on just four totes, including a 41-yard run in the second frame.

The Hounds will be on the road for the next two weeks, starting with a trip to Central Washington on Saturday. The game kicks off at 7 p.m. (MDT) at Ellensburg, Wash.

The Wildcats (3-2, 3-0) are coming off a 55-17 blowout win at Western New Mexico in which they scored 45 unanswered points to break away from a 10-10 tie late in the opening canto.

Four of ENMU’s six remaining contests will be on the road.

“The way the league is this year, you’ve just got to take the games one at a time,” Lee said. “Every game’s going to be a dogfight.”