Las Vegas, New Mexico - The Cowboys jumped out to a big lead early and then out slugged Western New Mexico for a 69-55 win in the 2025 La Batalla Bowl at Sanchez Family Stadium. With the win, the Cowboys improve to 2-0 on the season.
Once again this week the story of the game was the rushing attack for the Cowboys as they amassed 537 yards on the ground.
Jeffery Jones had 387 yards on 24 carries and four touchdowns,
Tevita Valeti had 138 yards on 11 carries and a pair of touchdowns, and
Mason Peterson went for 28 yards on seven carries and a score. The Cowboys averaged 11.9 yards per carry against the Mustangs.
The 385 yards by Jones is a new NCAA Division II freshman single game rushing record as he broke the record previously held by Garrion Corbin of Tiffen University against Quincy on November 16, 2002.
Through two games, Jones has 614 yards on 43 carries (14.1 yards per carry) and seven touchdowns.
Ike Udengwu was six of twelve passing for 135 yards throwing the ball. He connected with
Mason Peterson on a 43 yard score midway through the fourth quarter.
The game started with a bang for the Cowboys as
Jaden Montalvo took the opening kick-off back for a 95 yard touchdown.
From there NMHU would build a 28-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, on rushing scores from Valeti and Jones.
Western New Mexico outscored the Cowboys 21-10 in the second period and cut the lead to 38-28 at the intermission.
With the score tied at 55 in the fourth quarter,
Tevita Valeti scored on a 15 yard run to put the Cowboys on top 62-55. After the NMHU defense stopped Western New Mexico on a fourth down, Jones put the game out of reach when he scored with 1:45 to go in the game.
Freshman
Alekzander Britt was nine for nine on extra points and he knocked through a pair of field goals of 25 and 40 yards.
Awsten Turnbow had 11 tackles, am interception, and a critical blocked extra point for the Cowboys. NMHU blocked two extra points in the third quarter, one by Turnbow and the other by
Nalu Shimizu.
Western New Mexico committed seven penalties for 45 yards while the Cowboys were flagged 19 times for 166 yards.
The Cowboys return to action on September 20th when they host South Dakota Mines in the 2025 Homecoming game. Kick off is set for 1:00 pm.
Notes:
With the NMHU win tonight in the 14th La Batalla Bowl, the Cowboy's cut the Mustangs lead in the series to 8-6.
The Cowboys 2-0 start is the first since the 2018 when they beat Fort Lewis and Adams State to start the season.
69 points is the most points scored by a team in the history of La Batalla Bowl.
Saturday's 124 combined points was the most ever in the history of La Batalla Bowl.
With tonight's win in Las Vegas, the Cowboys defeated Eastern New Mexico and Western New Mexico in the same season for the first time since 2012.
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