Football Falls to ENMU

September 6, 2008

PORTALES, N.M. – Southwestern Oklahoma State University failed to capitalize on a handful of early opportunities and watched Eastern New Mexico run away with a 37-24 football victory Saturday night. The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 1-1 on the young season and made next week’s home game against Angelo State critical in its quest for what hopes are a third straight winning season. The Bulldogs had their chances to put Eastern New Mexico in a deep hole early in the game but couldn't't’t deliver key plays when it needed it the most. SWOSU had three visits inside the Greyhound’s 15-yard line in the first half but came away only with three points on Spenser Daniel’s 36-yard first possession field goal. ENMU, which rode the strong arm of quarterback Cory Baker, began to catch life after sputtering early. Baker completed 34-of-46 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Greyhounds. The Bulldogs found themselves down 14-3 before fighting back on a seven-play, 51-yard drive. The scoring play came when quarterback Steve Day connected with wide receiver Johnathan Haggerty for a 15-yard touchdown with 1:52 to play in the second half. Day threw a school record 56 attempts in the loss, but he completing just 21 of them. He threw for 292 yards and had two touchdowns and one interception. Haggerty was his primary threat catching eight passes for 99 yards. The last two minutes of the first half was wild with three touchdown scored in a span of four plays. ENMU answered with a 40-yard TD pass by Baker to go up 21-10. Day countered with a 39-yard scoring strike to Brandon Cobb to trim ENMU’s margin to 21-17 at the half. The Greyhounds put the game out of reach in the third quarter taking advantage of an errant SWOSU snap on a punt that resulted in a two-point safety. Then came back-to-back touchdowns for ENMU which including Baker’s second scoring toss. His seven-yard pass to Michael Carroasco to put ENMU ahead 37-17 entering the fourth quarter. SWOSU did manage one final score when Day kept on a one-yard quarterback sneak that put the final margin at 37-24 with 10:52 to play. SWOSU ran 89 offensive plays, 22 more than ENMU but ended up with just one more yard of total offense (329-328.) SWOSU had the ball six more minutes and had one fewer turnover than ENMU but couldn't't’t overcome the costly mistakes that were sprinkled throughout the game.

Defensively, SWOSU was led by Jaron Burgess who for the second game had the most tackles for the Bulldogs. He had eight stops, including four for losses totaling 23 yards.