New Mexico Football Report

Time and again, someone will remind me that there are other colleges that play football in New Mexico besides UNM & NMSU.  There are indeed and this season, Left Nut Sports is branching out to cover New Mexico's "other" collegiate gridiron clubs. WNMU in Silver City, New Mexico Highlands Univ. in Las Vegas and ENMU in Portales. All three compete at the NCAA Div. II. level, and just like the Lobos & Aggies, winning seasons have been far and few between

You would think that New Mexico's three small colleges would play each other on a regular basis. Granted, NMHU and ENMU faced off for the second year in a row in this past Saturday. But prior to 2011 you would have to go back seven years to their previous meeting in 2003. The Greyhounds haven't played WNMU since the last game of the season in 2005.  NMHU and WNMU, being in the same conference play every year.

As a member of the Lonestar Conference, ENMU recruits heavily in Texas and the schedule reflects that fact.  As the name would imply the Lone Star Conference is top heavy with Texas schools. ENMU & Cameron Univ. (Lawton, Ok.) are the only member schools from outside Tejas. Other than men's soccer and men's cross country (both in 2011) ENMU has never won a league title in any men's or women's sport.

As recently as last year, the Lone Star Conf.  consisted of two eight team divisions, that was before five schools from Oklahoma bolted (mostly for the Great American Conf.) The new downsized  Lone Star is now made up of 11 schools (one of which is Texas Woman's University) A league disclaimer reminds us that "Texas Woman's is a women's college; therefore,  they don't sponsor men's sports"  Tarleton State Univ's men are known as the Texans and the woman are called the TexAnns... I kid you not!

WNMU Mustangs  54  Sul Ross State Univ. (Tx.) Lobos  44

If the all of WNMU's games play out like this one, the Mustangs may well be the best gridiron show in New Mexico.  Defense was an afterthought as both teams played pinball style football, bouncing and careening around the field. WNMU beat Sul Ross St. (American Southwest Conf. NCAA D-3) 54-44, that's 98 points between them. The Mustangs needed every last one of their 54 to outlast the feisty Lobos (the only other college besides UNM to use that mascot) in Alpine, Tx. 

Big plays, trick plays, broken plays... the only thing WNMU didn't try was the 'ol Driscoll Rangers play where the center hands the ball to the Qb., who then nonchalantly strolls through the defense, before he runs like hell once they realize that the ball is in play. Mustang Qb. Mitch Glassman, completed 18 of 34 passes for 264 yards, including four touchdowns. John De La Rosa rushed for 102 yards on 9 carries. Oscar Ceniceros led the defense with a Herculean 16 tackles, seven of them solo. 

 WNMU is coached by Adam Clark, who has a strong D-2 background, he recruits extensively in California (20 of the Mustang's recent signees came from the Golden State) Western has not had a winning season in twenty years, Clark is hoping to turn that around this season. The Mustang play in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conf. alongside in-state rivals New Mexico Highlands Univ. The RMAC is an NCAA Div. II league that once included BYU, Wyoming and Utah., it was affiliated with the NAIA before joining the NCAA in 1992. 

Mitch Glassman is a true freshman, albeit two years older than your average freshman. He led Chaparral Hs. of Temecula, Ca. to a Southern Section CIF championship and had hoped to play Div. 1 football, instead, he fell off the radar for two years and wound up in Silver City. Markis Sumpter, a Sr. wide receiver from Oceanside, Ca. and a first team all RMAC selection in 2011, received honorable mention preseason All-American honors from the Beyond Sport Network, against Sul Ross St. he caught four passes for 88 yds. and two touchdowns. 

NMHU Cowboys  42    ENMU Greyhounds  14

 In front of a raucous home crowd, the NMHU Cowboys spotted the Eastern Greyhounds a  14 -0 lead , before storming back to take control of the game. Cowboy Qb., Taylor Genuser was  just cooling his heels in preparation for the "big comeback" Genuser, a Jr. from Clovis, Ca. connected with Kevon Williams to cut Eastern's lead in half.  The tall (6'3") Cali signal caller was then picked off by ENMU CB, Willie Riley, but NMHU like Carlos Santana had everything coming their way.

The Hounds looking like world beaters, drove to the Cowboy's 26 yard line, before ENMU Qb. Wesley Wood fumbled and DiAmaal Holmes returned it 60 yards for an NMHU touchdown to tie the game. That deflated ENMU faster than one of  my spare tires and Highlands scored the final  28 points in the game, including 21 in the fourth quarter. Genuser passed for 287 yards and  four touchdowns for the Cowboys, but was sacked four times. NMHU had four turnovers to Eastern's two, however the Hounds were unable to capatilize on any of them.  

For NMHU second year head coach, Eric Young it was his second win over ENMU (43-36 in 2011) Young comes to NMHU from College of the Siskiyous, a  Junior College located in bucolic Weed, Ca.  By comparison, his new digs in Las Vegas, NM. can be downright bubonic at certain times of the year.  Young's first season at Highlands met with mixed results, the Cowboys won their first  four games, then lost their next seven.  That's not what Coach Young had in mind when he preached consistency to his new wards. 

To say that Coach Young recruits California would be an understatement (there's close to 40 Cali recruits on the team) The Cowboys unlike the Hounds have had some success on the gridiron. NMHU won the RMAC title outright in 1981 and shared the title with Chadron St. in 1999.   Eastern's next game is this Saturday against the run and gun Sul Ross St. Lobos, at Blackwater Draw, NM. The Pokes travel to Durango, Co. to play Fort Lewis College, who were once known as the  Aggies, then the Raiders and now go by the generic tag of Skyhawks.