Another home conference season began on Saturday, Sept. 22, as the Texas A&M University – Kingsville Javelinas (1-3, 0-3) hosted the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds at Pepsi Field at Javelina Stadium on Hispanic Heritage Weekend. Unfortunately, the Javelinas dropped another conference battle to the Greyhounds, 31-14.
The Javelinas received the ball to begin the game, but were forced to an opening three and out in front of 4,644 in attendance at Pepsi Field at Javelina Stadium. The Greyhounds from Portales, N.M., would receive the punt and would capitalize on the ensuing possession as Paul Terry rushed for a 2-yard goal line touchdown to put the visitors up early 7-0 in the 1st quarter. Then, two possessions later after three and outs from both teams, the Javelinas would get back on the offensive side of the ball. But, after a few promising plays to open the 3rd drive of the game, Koy Detmer Jr. (Somerset, Texas) threw his first of two interceptions on the night. The Greyhounds would score one play later after the interception return by De’John Burns, as Wyatt Strand would punch it into the end zone to make it 14-0, Greyhounds in the first. At the end of the first quarter in sunny Kingsville, the Javelinas found themselves down 14-0.
Although the Javelinas were down early, they would respond with an 11 play, 73-yard drive to open the 2nd quarter. The drive would be capped off with a 3-yard touchdown rush from Nick Pelrean (Houston, Texas) to narrow the deficit to 14-7, Greyhounds. After, a few empty trips by both teams, and a few good Julio De La Garza (Brownsville, Texas) punts, the Javelinas got a huge defensive play at the ENMU 3-yard line, as Caleb Valentine (Fulshear, Texas) recovered a fumble inside the red zone. Although the momentum would switch to the blue and gold in front of their home crowd, two plays later, the Javelinas fumbled in their red zone in less than 50 seconds of that drive to conclude that offensive drive. Neither team would find success for the remainder of the quarter, so the Javelinas would find themselves down 14-7 at the half.
The Javelinas would come out of the locker room with a vengeance as on the ensuing kickoff, Alan Smith (Humble, Texas) would recover a fumble forced by Keshon Rowe (Katy, Texas) to put the Javelinas in striking contention. The Javelinas’ offense started with a fresh set of downs and scored on the first possession of the second half as Detmer found Roe Posada (Katy, Texas) for a 2-yard touchdown pass to even the game with 11:09 in the 3rd quarter. After the score from the home team, the Greyhounds would not look back, as, on the 5th play of the ensuing drive, they found themselves back in the end zone as Wyatt Strand connected with Johnny Smith with a 28-yard touchdown to reclaim the lead at 21-14. The next possession for the Greyhounds, Strand once again found Smith for a 66-yard touchdown pass to put the Javelinas in an even bigger deficit at 28-14 with 6:45 left in the 3rd quarter. For the remainder of the game, the Javelinas would not find themselves in scoring contention after multiple three and outs and a turnover with penalties. Eastern New Mexico would tack on a field goal at the 4:34 mark in the 4th quarter to increase the deficit to 31-14.
For the game, Eastern New Mexico rushed for 374 yards on 57 attempts, while A&M Kingsville would only rush for 71 yards on 29 attempts. Detmer completed 19-of-35 passes for 158 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. The Greyhounds finished the game with a total of 474 yards on 63 plays, and the Javelinas would total 229 yards on 65 plays. On the defensive side of the ball, Payton Hendrix would finish with a game-high 15 tackles for the blue and gold.
After the game, head coach Daren Wilkinson addressed the media on his thoughts of the game at McCulley Hall by saying, “First of all, I thought Eastern New Mexico came in very prepared, and they are well coached. They deserved to win because they were the better team tonight. All credit goes to them for what happened out there.
“We just got to a point right now as a football team where everyone is looking for someone to make a play because we are doing something in the game we never do in practice. We are practicing extremely hard, and it not like we are not preparing ourselves for a game,” Wilkinson continued. “It is like we are going out to the game and we are forgetting the journey it took to get to that point. It is really frustrating.” As far as this upcoming week, Wilkinson said one thing is key.
“We have to believe in one another. We got to continue to grind it, get better at fundamentals. We have to take it one game at a time,” he said.
Defensive lineman, Caleb Valentine talked about the game and what he is looking forward to in the upcoming weeks as the Javelinas look to get better each week.
“I look forward to coming together as a team and just re-grouping after a couple tough losses that were close,” he said. “Also, coming back on Monday and practicing as hard as we can and everyone just doing their job, and just getting back to the basics.”
The Javelinas will continue their four-game homestand on Saturday, Sept. 29, as they’ll take on New Mexico Highlands at Pepsi Field at Javelina Stadium. Game time is 7 p.m.