Cowboys Prepare for Western State

OCTOBER 18 vs. WESTERN STATE: LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS

FULL NOTES (PDF)

This Week
The New Mexico Highlands football team (2-4, 2-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) looks to get back to its winning ways when it takes on the Western State Mountaineers (3-3, 2-2 RMAC). Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday (Oct. 18).
 
 
The Coaches
 
Highlands head coach Eric Young is currently in his fourth season and is 16-23 overall. He is 1-2 against Western State but won the only game played in Las Vegas.
 
The Moutaineers are coached by Jas Bains, who is in his fourth season at the helm of Western State. He is 7-32 as a college head coach but is 2-1 against the Cowboys.
 
 
The Series
 
New Mexico Highlands trails the all-time series 31-17 and have lost two of the last three in the series. However, New Mexico Highlands has won the last two contests in Las Vegas: 31-17 in 2012 and 32-31 in 2010 (both homecoming games). This is the first time since 2008 when the Cowboys are hosting the Mountaineers for a non-homecoming game.
 
 
Highlands Welcomes Proview
 
Highlands football fans are no stranger to Proview as they have live streamed on the internet Highlands home football for the past three seasons. New this season, the vast majority of home games will be shown in Albuquerque on channel 26. Meanwhile, games can also be seen live on channel 16 on public access television in Santa Fe,
 
Finally, New Mexico Highlands will have a block of time on Proview's new 24/7 sports network in Albuquerque that will show all Highlands athletic teams.
 
Recently last month, Proview has gone from just internet streaming high school athletics to becoming the first 24/7 television sports network in the state of New Mexico. Besides Highlands athletics and a handful of New Mexico Lobos sporting events, Proview is a youth sports network that shows more than 300 high school sporting events on both television and the internet from both the Albuquerque and Rio Rancho areas.
 
 
Sam FM: Getting Even Better
Can't make it to the game ? Every game will be broadcast live on 96.7 FM by Art Abreu, father of linebackers coach Art Abreu Jr. Also, join athletic director Jeff Falkner and the rest of the Highlands coaching staff on Monday night at 5:30 p.m. as we discuss the past week in Highlands sports and preview the upcoming week and even hear from special guests among the Highlands' athletic department.
 
 
Matchup of the Week: the Punters:
 
It is quite the unusual situation on Saturday when the match-up to watch may be the punters.
 
First up for Western State is Dakota Swinehart. Swinehart, a rugby-style kicker, was picked as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Preseason First Team All-Conference punter. He is currently fourth in the conference with 42.6 yards per punt.
 
On the other end of the football field is senior Patrick Carney for the Cowboys. Carney was named a Preseason All-American as a punter by both Lindy's and the Sporting News, as he is the leading returning punter in all of NCAA Division II.
 
In 2014 so far, Carney has placed 34.4 percent of his punts inside the 20 (10 of 29). With two more punts more than 50 yards Saturday against Colorado Mesa, Carney has punted for 50+ yards in 42 of 139 career punts (30.2 percent). Carney's average of 46.8 yards per game currently leads NCAA Division II (and would be fourth in the NCAAs behind a trio of Division I punters). His gap against the next NCAA Division II punter widened to 1.6 yards this week.
 
 
Light Em' Up
 
Senior linebacker Jared Koster continues to show he is one of the best linebackers in the nation. The week following being named the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week and USACollegefootball.org Division II Defensive Player of the Week, Koster recorded 13 tackles and a forced fumble against #17 Colorado School of Mines.
 
He has at least 13 total tackles and six solo tackles in every game this season, and leads the nation in both total tackles (15.3) and solo tackles (9.3) per game. He had 17 tackles (12 solo) against Colorado Mesa despite only two stops in the first quarter.
 
 
Just Get Used to Saying Orender to Slavin Now
 
Arguably, there has not been a more potent combination in NCAA football this season.
 
Since the start of conference ply, senior Lance Orender is 169-241 (70.1 percent) with 19 touchdowns. Just slightly less than half of those touchdowns (nine) have been to senior Tyler Slavin. Since RMAC play began, Slavin has caught 59 passes for 781 yards, an average of 195.3 passing yards per game. For their efforts, Orender was named RMAC Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 22) and the national offensive player of the week by Beyondsportsnetwork on both Sept. 22 and Sept. 29. He was named Quarterback of the week by USAcollegefootball.org on Sept. 22.
 
Slavin, meanwhile, was on a three-week streak of being named the Wide Receiver of the Week by Beyondsportsnetwork (Sept. 22, Sept. 29 and Oct. 6). He also won Wide Receiver of the Week by USACollegefootball.org Sept. 22 and Sept. 29.
 
Orender needs 157 more completions and 15 touchdowns to break the single season RMAC records in those categories. Slavin needs 49 more catches and 10 more touchdown receptions to break the season RMAC records.
 
 
A Little Running in the Air Raid
 
Most people by this time are aware that the Cowboys enjoy running the spread offense. However, it might surprise you that sophomore running back Vincent Venegas is averaging 66.3 yards per game on the ground. Most recently against Colorado Mesa, he eclipsed the 100-yard mark and had his first rushing touchdown in two seasons.
 
But he is a dual threat as a wide receiver. He has 38 catches for 266 yards and two touchdowns. He is the leading receivers among running backs in the RMAC.
 
 
Coming Up Next
Highlands ends its 5-game swing against Colorado schools next Saturday when they travel to Alamosa to battle rival Adams State at noon. After a two-game reprieve from the state of Colorado, the Cowboys finish the season at CSU-Pueblo.