New Mexico Football Report

I'm up against the clock with the weekend looming,  so I'll keep this week's edition short and sweet. The Great State of New Mexico was saved from yet another fruitless Saturday of college football by a solitary victory (not counting NMMI's big road win, 64-27, over Scottsdale Community College, which snapped a two game losing streak for the Bronco's and put them over .500 again)

NMHU returned home from a long road trip to Spearfish, SD with a win, while WNMU came back from Chadron, Nb. empty handed. ENMU continued in a downward spiral by dropping its fifth consecutive game. The UNM Lobos jumped out to a big lead, only to lose both of their Qb's to injuries as Fresno St. ran off 42 unanswered points. NMSU held Louisiana Tech well under 70 points, which was a victory in and of itself.

UNM's loss brings up a football anomaly that has always puzzled me.... how is it that losing your starting quarterback invariably results in the defense falling apart? At the time that B.R. Holbrook went to the sidelines with a shoulder injury the Lobos were up 24-7. Only one in-state team is assured of finishing with a winning record (Highlands) while UNM, WNMU & NMMI still have a shot at finishing at .500 or better. ENMU and NMSU went into the toaster a few games back and they are burnt to a crisp.

ENMU Greyhounds  21          Midwestern St. Univ. Mustangs  51

Eastern's defense hasn't kept anyone under 40 points in four games and under 30 in five. So, I think I can pinpoint what their problem is. The ENMU game recap touted the fact that for part of the second & third quarters the Hounds were within one touchdown of a ranked team.  Then, the Mustangs turned on the after burners and ran off 24 unanswered points in the fourth to lock up the game. Sr. Qb. Wesley Wood had a typical day for Eastern, meaning that he carried the load while getting grounded and pounded. 

The lopsided 51-21 loss drops the Hounds to 2-6 overall, 1-5 in the LSC. Midwestern St. was ranked #11 in the nation coming into the game and has since moved up one spot to #10. The win sets up a showdown between Midwestern St. & West Texas A&M for the Lone Star crown.The Josh Lynn era is off to a shakey start at ENMU, the Hounds are going through a streak of ineptitude usually reserved for the NMSU Aggies.  

The Mustangs called off the dogs once they secured a big lead, but even their third string Qb. ran through Eastern's defense like "a hot knife through butta" It's the defense Coach Lynn!, YOUR DEFENSE IS THE PROBLEM! No charge for that advise, just glad I could help out.  The Greyhounds return to the cozy confines of Blackwater Draw on Saturday for a game against the equally hapless Texas A&M- Commerce Lions. 

TAMU-C, has lost four straight and sports an overall record of 1-7, it doesn't get any easier than this for the Hounds. I don't like the trend of tacking on TAMU to your school name, it's even more generic and non-descriptive than your standard run of the mill directional school name.  TAMU-C was once known as East Texas St., it's a bland commuter school located within the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex.

Texas A&M- Commerce sounds like a  second rate, thirteenth grade community college.  A&M implies that they teach farming, tractor repair and plumbing. Seriously!, is Commerce a city or just a wide spot on the road to somewhere else?  East Texas St. was infinitely better. Every year the Lions host the "Harvey Martin Classic" named after the former Dallas Cowboy defensive standout and ETSU's best known alumnus.

The game had been held at the decrepit Cotton Bowl (the house that Doak built and that bulldozers will someday demolish) but has since relocated to Jerry Jones' glitter palace of dashed hopes & dreams (Cowboy Stadium) The game has been incorporated into the annual Lone Star Conference Football Festival.

As described on the TAMU-C wiki page, the Harvey Martin Classic is played against "a random Lone Star Conf. opponent in order to reach out to the numerous Dallas alumni, as almost all of the Lion football players are from the DFW area" RANDOM?... ooooh!, did somebody say random?..... "DING DONG!...  special delivery, biggest midget in the game, can't get rid of me... give me just a minute and I'll be in your vicinity" Random, I love that word...  

WNMU Mustangs  23     Chadron St. Eagles  41  

This is how you start out your game recap, courtesy of the Chadron State athletic website:  "The theme for Chadron State College's 2012 homecoming was “Zombie Apocalypse,” which was fitting because it took until the fourth quarter for the Eagles' offense to come alive" 

Walking Dead still beats the hell out of DOA, which is what Western's offense was during the fourth quarter.

 

UNM, ENMU, & Western New Mexico all need to stop using the same script writer. This fledgling Tarantino is only good for two storylines "team jumps out to a big lead and then blows it" or "team keeps it close going into the fourth quarter before getting blown out" They need to take a page from Highland's book (hard nosed bunch of over achievers overcome mistakes and somehow find a way to win)

The Mustangs led going into the fourth quarter, on the road against the nationally ranked Chadron St. Eagles, before they gave up 21 unanswered points to pull defeat out of the jaws of victory.  I'm using "unanswered points" way too much when recapping games by New Mexico colleges. The 41-23 win secured a #24 AFCA rankings for the Eagles and dropped WNMU to 4-5 overall, 3-4 RMAC.

I pointed out last week that WNMU seems to play much better on the road than at home and that certainly was the case once more. In the end, the game was decided by Chadron's beefy  offense simply wearing down Western's defense. The Eagles outgained Western 539 to 420 in total offense and converted on 3 crucial drives inside the Mustang red zone.

Mustang Qb. Mitch Glasmann was consistent as always, 22-41 passing for 271 yds., 1 td., but he was sacked twice and Western's offense was stymied throughout the critical fourth quarter.  Weekend at Bernie's turned into a nightmare for the Mustangs and that long 16 hour bus ride home must have felt like.... uhh!, sixteen hours! Give me a break! No team transported in a bus or van to games, should be in the same conference with teams that are almost two full days (round trip) away. 

But asking over sized football players to sit in a bus that long, is just cruel. When WNMU was a member of the PacWest, they didn't have to ride on tramp steamers to games in Hawai'i and Alaska, no! they flew on regularly scheduled commercial flights. But, then again it was travel costs that drove Western back to the low budget RMAC. The PacWest like the WAC failed as a football league, though it continues on as a basketball only conference. 

 NMHU Cowboys  46       Black Hills State Yellow Jackets  31 

"Eleven hours in a tin can, lord there's gotta be another way" Perhaps it was the long bus ride that left the Cowboys a bit out of sorts. Imagine an eleven hour bus ride at the end of which, you must brave the elements and collide full force with your opponents. Throw all those factors into the equation and it's no surprise that the Cowboys turned the ball over six times.

 "It is not adversity that kills, but the impatience with which we bear adversity" What was a surprise is that Highlands was able to overcome those miscues and pull away from the Swarm in the fourth quarter. It's not everyday that a team can overcome that much adversity and walk away with a win. Ultimately, Highlands' shock & awe offensive game plan was too much for Black Hills to contain for an entire game.  

"We knew they were an explosive, big-play type offense. They kind of lull you to sleep and then 'boom,' they hit you for a 40, 50-yard play on a pass route or a run," said Yellow Jacket head coach John Reiners. " When Emmanuel Lewis is on his game, you can't hope to stop him, you can only hope to contain him. Something that Black Hills St. was only able to do in spurts. Despite the turnovers the Cowboys managed a 17-6 lead at the half. 

The second half started out on a sour note as NMHU fumbled away the opening kickoff, the Jackets quickly cashed in from the Cowboys six yard line. On Highlands' ensuing possession, EJ Woods fumbled and Black Hills State quickly tacked on a field goal. Emmanuel Lewis then connected with Darius Davis for a touchdown to give Highlands some breathing room, 24-16. The Jackets responded with another field goal from Devin Rounds.

A Cowboy turnover led to another quick score by Black Hills St., giving them their first lead of the game, 25-24.  This is when that thing about "being patient in the face of adversity" kicked in. The Cowboys went out and executed their offense, utilizing a mix of running and passing plays that wore the Yellow Jacket defenders down. Lavelle Peterson was the work horse, battering his way in for three fourth quarter touchdowns to secure the victory. 

Highlands finished with 556 yds. total offense, EJ Woods & Lavelle Peterson brought life back to the Cowboys dormant rushing game. Woods carried 24 times for 94 yds. and Peterson had 13 carries for 90 yds. and those three big touchdowns. Darius Davis had 4 receptions for 128 yds. Emmanuel Lewis ran his streak of 300+ yds. games to eight. He finished with 24-39 passing for 371 yds. and 2 td's.

The win assured that the Cowboys (7-2 overall, 6-1 RMAC) will play with a share of the league title at stake,  next week against CSU-Pueblo. If Highlands beats CSU-Pueblo and WNMU, CSU-Pueblo beats Western St. and Chadron St. knocks off both Ft. Lewis and Colorado Mines, then there would be a three way tie for the league title.  If CSU-Pueblo beats Highlands, the championship is theirs for the taking. 

Chadron St. should handle Ft. Lewis, but the game with Colorado Mines is a toss up. NMHU plays arch rival WNMU to end the season and the Mustangs have the edge in that series. The CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves are ranked #1 in the AFCA/USA Today Coaches Poll. However in the NCAA Div. II Super Region 3 rankings they've dropped to second behind, Ashland Univ. of Ohio. 

NMHU is ranked 10th in the Super Region 3 rankings, which are used to determine playoff qualifiers and seedings.  The AFCA rankings are strictly a popularity contest and carry no weight with the NCAA. The ThunderWolves are riding a 24 game regular season winning streak and have now won 20 consecutive RMAC games. With a win over Highlands they would clinch at least a share of its second straight league championship. 

Just prior to publishing this post, I was alerted to a report in the Rapid City Journal concerning the sudden death of  Black Hills State Univ. football player Nick Bazemore. The Yellow Jackets are currently on the road for a game on Saturday in Silver City, N.M. against the Western New Mexico Mustangs. I know that they journey with heavy hearts, I offer Coach Reiners, his staff and the team my thoughts and prayers.

The following is the news report (in part) as published in The Rapid City Journal 

Black Hills State University students mourned Monday (Oct. 1st.) the loss of an 18-year-old football player and classmate who was found dead Sunday night in his dormitory room. Nick Bazemore was a redshirt freshman on the Black Hills State University football team and a star football player and track and field athlete at Campbell County High School. A fellow student discovered his body shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday.

An autopsy is pending to determine the cause of death, but natural causes have been ruled out, he said. “The scene shows us that it was not a suspicious death,” was the initial report received from the  Spearfish, SD police department on Monday.  Autopsy results have not yet been released nor is the cause of death known, but the sense on campus Monday was that Bazemore took his own life.

Head football coach John Reiners said the football team and his assistant coaches are struggling with Bazemore’s death. “It’s a very tough day today,” Reiners said Monday. “We have a game this weekend, but it seems trivial right now.” Although a knee injury kept him sidelined this season, Bazemore had a future with the Yellow Jackets, Reiners said. “He was definitely on the way up, there’s no doubt about it,” Reiners said. “He had a bright future. He was a great kid, not just a great football player.”

If it was a suicide, it could be the first one on the Spearfish campus. University spokeswoman Corrine Hansen said she cannot recall a suicide in her 23 years at the school. University officials offered assistance Sunday night to students who stayed at Wenona Cook Hall, even offering them the option of staying in a motel during the initial investigation.