Box Score SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – It was not the prettiest of victories, but the University of the Incarnate Word football team held on for a 33-26 win over Eastern New Mexico on Saturday night at Benson Stadium.

The Cardinals (3-2) jumped out to an early 26-7 lead in the second quarter, but the second half was all Greyhounds (1-2).  The Cardinals dominated the first half with 293 yards of offense, but Eastern New Mexico moved the ball well in the second half picked up 249 yards of offense.

The game came down to a few plays late in the fourth quarter.  After the Greyhounds pulled to within a field goal with 8:55 remaining, they were able to force the Cardinals into a punt.  Emmanuel Nunez's (Dallas/Seguin HS) punt landed short of the return man, but when it bounced it hit a Greyhound player and was recovered by the Cardinals.  They drove the ball to the 1-yard line and were stuffed on third down.  On fourth down, Junior Sessions (Mesquite/Mesquite HS) moved the pile just enough to score to make it a 10-point game with 3:17 remaining. 

The Greyhounds moved the ball quickly into UIW territory thanks to a 34-yard pass from Jeremy Buurma to Aaron Johnson, but the drive stalled out at the 31-yard line.  They settled for a Mitchell Cox 48-yard field goal attempt and it split the uprights with 1:50 remaining.

On the ensuing onside kick attempt, the Greyhounds recovered the ball twice, but were flagged for penalties on each occasion.  On the first attempt they were offside and on the second attempt they were called for kick catching interference giving the ball to the Cardinals.  UIW was unable to run out the clock and gave the ball back to the Hounds with 1:23 remaining in the game.

The Cardinals looked to have the game wrapped up after a Robby Horton (Beeville/Jones HS) sack on third down made it fourth-and-14 at the ENMU 20-yard line.  However, Buurma completed a 35-yard pass deep down the middle to Jacob Johnson who wrestled the ball away from a UIW defender.  Three incomplete passes later forced another fourth down and this time Buurma tried to scramble, but was stopped two yards short cinching the game for the Cardinals.

In all, the game featured two lightning delays totaling 1:01 and the game lasted a total of 4:02.  The teams combined for 22 penalties for a whopping 212 yards.

After a 26-minute delay due to lightning, the game could not have started any better for the Cardinals.  Daryl Irby (Pearland/Dawson HS) forced a fumble on the first drive of the game for the Greyhounds and the Cardinals recovered inside the ENMU 20-yard line.  Three plays later Matt Bass (Alvin/Alvin HS) bulled in from the 2-yard line to make it 7-0 after just 2:52.  The Greyhounds fumbled the ensuing kickoff and it was recovered by the Cardinals again.

This time, UIW drove all the way down to the 4-yard line and had first-and-goal, but a false start penalty set the team back and they were unable to find pay dirt.  They settled for a 25-yard field goal by Jake Wilcox (San Antonio/O'Connor HS) with 8:54 still to play in the first quarter.

The Greyhounds responded on their next drive.  Eastern New Mexico ran the ball 10 consecutive times moving the ball 45 yards in the process.  On the 11^th play of the drive Buurma faked a run and then found Myles Johnson open for a 34-yard touchdown pass that made it a 10-7 game with 4:11 left in the first quarter.

After the teams traded punts, the Cardinals got the ball back with good field position thanks to a short punt that was returned 24 yards by Chase Ragusa (Cypress/Cypress Woods HS).  Once again the Cardinals drove deep into Greyhounds territory, but were forced to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Wilcox with 11:25 left in the second quarter.

The UIW defense quickly forced a punt and on the second-and-10 from their own 11-yard line, Sessions rushed around the left end untouched to the end zone for a school-record 89-yard score with 9:39 to play in the half.  Wilcox tacked on the extra point to make it 20-7 UIW.

Later in the period, the Cardinals started another drive deep in their own end from the 10-yard line.  On the first play of the drive, Trent Brittain (Eastland/Eastland HS) hit Clint Killough (San Antonio/MacArthur HS) on a short curl route and he broke away from his defender and then out-raced the rest of the Greyhounds team for a school-record 90-yard scoring pass with 3:16 left in the quarter.  The Greyhounds blocked the PAT attempt and David Strickland returned it for two points for the visitors.

The game once again hit a snag with 2:56 left in the second quarter when a second lightning delay was announced.

The Cardinals appeared set to tack on a few more points before halftime after resuming play, but a fumbled snap gave the ball back the Greyhounds after they drove into the red zone.  The game went into halftime with the score 26-9 in favor of the Cardinals.

In the third quarter, UIW could not move the ball gaining a total of 17 yards.  The defense held strong until an Eastern New Mexico interception gave the visitors the ball at the UIW 32-yard line.  The Greyhounds drove 32 yards in six plays, all rushing, and scored on Vaughn Johnson's 1-yard plunge with 4:35 to play in the quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Cardinals were forced to punt giving the ball to the Greyhounds at their own 26-yard line.  The Greyhounds engineered a 13-play, 74-yard drive that took 5:21 and made it a 3-point game with 8:55 to play.  They converted three first downs on the drive and took advantage of a 15-yard face mask penalty against the Cardinals.  Christian Long scored the touchdown from 1-yard out to set up the final harrowing minutes of the game.

The Cardinals finished the game with 373 yards of total offense, but were 0-for-15 on third down conversions.  Fortunately, they went 4-of-5 on fourth down tries.  Sessions was the offensive star of the game picking up a career high 144 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries.  He also had one reception for 14 yards.  Casey Jennings (Fremont, CA/Washington HS) led the team with four receptions for 34 yards.  Brittain finished the game 11-of-30 for 170 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

The UIW defense gave up 262 rushing yards to the Greyhounds who run a Wing-T offense.  Devin Haywood (San Antonio/Roosevelt HS) led the team with 10 tackles and a fumble recovery.  Three other players had seven tackles apiece and Horton had the lone sack.  Nunez averaged 44.6 yards per punt on seven punts with a long of 56 yards.
Jordan Wells led ENMU's offense with 15 carries for 90 while Jacob Johnson had three catches for 75 yards.  Buurma was 9-of-25 passing for 161 yards and a touchdown.

The ENMU defense was led by Joshua Bounds who had five tackles and two sacks.  Seth Bailey had a team high 10 tackles while Kevin Reaves had seven tackles and a blocked extra point.  Punter Anthony Torres averaged 44.2 yards per kick on six opportunities with a long of 56 yards.

The Cardinals are back in action next Saturday at 7 p.m. at Southeastern Louisiana.
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