Football falls to SD Mines late in 4th, take on Chadron State at home

Las Vegas, NM --- The New Mexico Highlands football team fell to South Dakota School of Mines 8-7 on Saturday afternoon as both teams found it difficult to move the ball through the high winds.
 
After a scoreless first half, James Budgett busted out an 87-yard touch-down rush, to give the Cowboys the first score of the game with 7:10 left in the third quarter. NMHU kicker Isreal Farfan would connect on the PAT, to give the Cowboys a 7-0 lead.

The Cowboys were able to hold the Hardrockers at the Cowboy 1-yard line with a fumble recovered by NMHU's James Buchannon.

Late in the third, the Hardrockers were then able to capitalize off a blocked punt that resulted in a safety, and the Cowboys would lead 7-2 to start the fourth.

The Cowboy defense would continue to play strong as DeJuan Lang would sack the Hardrockers quarterback, and force a fumble which was recovered by Joseph Gutierrez. The Cowboys would take over and march down the field to the SDSMT 32-yard line where after three attempts, Farfan would eventually hit the left upright to miss a 49-yard field goal attempt.

Again, the Cowboy defense would step up big, as a Malik Brown interception on the ensuing Hardrocker drive, would give the Cowboys the ball back with 5:48 left in the game at the SDSMT 41-yard-line.

It was the Hardrockers turn to come up with a stop on defense as they would force the Cowboys to fumble the ball. The Hardrockers would recover, and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Cowboys would give the Hardrockers the ball on the NMHU 33-yard line with 3:17 left in the game.

The Hardrockers would score the go-ahead touchdown with 21 seconds left in the game, to defeat the Cowboys 8-7.  
UP NEXT: The Cowboys will take on Chadron State on November 2^nd at the Sanchez Family Stadium in Las Vegas, NM at 1 pm.

The Eagles (4-4, 3-4 RMAC) are coming off a 40-27 road win over Dixie State. Chadron State has ran the ball for 1418 total yards which includes 13 touchdowns and has thrown for 2320 yards which includes 24 touchdowns.

Leading the way for the Eagles offense is quarterback Dalton Holst as he has accounted for 2313 of the eagles 2320 passing yards. Holst has also thrown all 24 touchdowns for the Eagles this year. Taking the load for the Eagle running backs is Elijah Myles who has attempted 125 rushed with 660 total yards and 7 touchdowns. Wide-out Tevon Wright leads the team in receiving touchdowns with 11 and has 733 total yards on the season.

The Cowboys (1-6, 1-6 RMAC) were seconds away from winning back-to-back conference games against South Dakota School of Mines.

 The Cowboys have accumulated 1536 total yards of offense on the season which includes 757 rushing with 5 touchdowns and 779 passing with 5 touchdowns.

Ramone Atkins will look to take charge of the Cowboy offense as he has thrown two touchdowns with 358 total yards passing. Gunner Mefford and J'juan Muldrow have also thrown touchdowns for the Cowboys. James Budgett will look to lead the running backs as he has rushed for 326 total yards and two touchdowns. Donovan Hawkins and Emmanuel Lumanze have both recorded two receiving touchdowns on the season.

GO COWBOYS!!