Rudy C. went out to Lobo football practice on a
breezy
Monday evening as the Lobos got back to work Monday night. In a season
where
the Lobos have no bye weeks and are now suffering through serious
injuries….
Porterie, Clark, Harrison and those little nagging injuries like
Ferguson and
Baker the Lobos have a silver lining… (Silver lining as in Cherry and
Silver
lining… Okay even that is a little silly for this homer.)
Anyway
a pair of the silver linings showed up in Las Cruces
Saturday night as the Lobos dominated their in state rivals New Mexico State
35-24 for the 6th straight victory over the Aggies.
It
didn’t happen very easily as the Aggies jumped out to a
quick 14-0 lead before most fans settled in with their popcorn and
favorite
cold beverage. The folks on the message board were going nuts thinking
the
season was over, and in Loss Cruces Memorial Stadium Aggie fans rose up
to
taunt their big brothers from the North…
A
funny thing that Hal Mumme’s Aggies may have forgotten… To
quote the new Metallica CD:
You rise you fall
your down and you rise again
What don't Kill you Makes you more strong
You rise you fall your down and you rise again
What don't Kill you Made you more strong
Rise Fall down Rise again
Broken Beat and Scarred
But we die hard!
Down
14-0 the Lobos did not panic, instead they went to the
bread and butter of this program. Tough hard hitting blitzing defense
that
started pounding on NMSU’s Chase Holbrook and on offense Ride The
Hitmen and a
huge dose of Rodney Ferguson!
The
Lobo offense responded to the early Aggie lead with a
Rodney Ferguson plunge into the end zone. What made this TD so amazing
was that
Rodney had left the game earlier with what appeared to be a shoulder
injury… It
looked like Rodney’s night was over, however…
Broken
Beat and Scarred
But we die hard!
The resilient Lobo
football team looked to New Mexico Bowl hero Paul Baker who responded
with 37
carries of his own for 147 yards and TD. Baker was amazing going
between the
tackles breaking outside and just doing what ever it took to eke out
every inch
of yardage he could… Baker would later go out with some injury of his
own, but…
Broken Beat and Scarred
But we die hard!
In comes RS-Frosh James Wright to make a punishing run for a first down for the Lobos and bust
a 55
yard touchdown run of his own!
BTW-
before we give all
the credit to our RB’s did anyone notice The Hitmen were planting
Aggies on
their butts all night long! I believe the best pancake block in a long
time was
Jr. Josh Taufele just flat out crushing some poor unfortunate Aggie
that got in
his way. The Hitmen took it upon themselves and delivered in a way that
was
flat out amazing and had to make Coach Lenzmeier smile as The Hitmen
were
reborn Saturday night!
The
Lobo defense with
both Ian Clark and Phillip Harrison out also showed that
Broken
Beat and Scarred
But we die hard!
With
Harrison gone (according to his father his career may
be over.) the D-line continues to improve weekly. How about Jaymar Latchison?
And has anyone noticed that Mr. Brett Kennedy looks to be very solid as
an
interior lineman?
With
Clark out the Lobos brought in an extra linebacker
instead of two Lobo safeties and the Lobo linebackers were flat out on
fire.
Herbert Felder and Zach Arnett were simply amazing. Felder harassed
Holbrook
all night long while Arnett would use his explosive hitting to crush
Aggies.
Terel Anyiabe was also explosive in the Aggie backfield. I would say
the Lobo
LB corps rates serious mad props!
Now
the game was still in doubt early in the 4th quarter
as the Aggies put together a nice drive to go up 24-16 with 12:27 left
in the
game, however…
Broken
Beat and Scarred
But we die hard!
That
is when RS-Frosh Brad Gruner asked to win the game
rather then to not lose the game. Now Gruner was expected to make plays
for
this team, not just manage the team, and Mr. Gruner responded!
On
the following drive Coach Dave Baldwin pulled a play he
had been waiting to use all night… Gruner in the shotgun fakes the hand
off to
Baker who streaks to the right taking every Aggie defender with him…
Surprise
Gruner has the ball and takes off for 46 yard scamper. 2 plays later
Gruner
hits McQueen for his first passing touchdown!
Lobo
defense takes over and Gruner leads his team out once
again, as he and Baker combine for a first down and Gruner makes what
might be
the play of the night rolling out and hit TE Chris Mark on a 3rd
and
3 play for the first down! With the drive extended Baker eventually
pushes
through for his first TD of the game and the Lobos had their first lead
of the
night!
The
Lobo defense stand strong and RS-Frosh James Wright
tastes the end zone and the Aggies are left wondering what they must do
to beat
the Lobos…
Meanwhile
the Lobos rose and fell but they got up again…
Broken, beat, and scarred… They die hard!
Offensive Player of the Game
Paul
Baker
What a man! Baker
said, “I’ll do it!” And that
is exactly what he did. He put this team on his back and was one of the
leaders
that took this team to victory! 37 carries 147 yards and TD!
Defensive
Player of the Game
This
is a tough one that comes between 2 linebackers. One
just a tackling machine and the other just harassed the QB all night
long…
I
went with the harasser!
Herbert Felder was a man possessed at hitting the QB as
Herbert was in on Chase Holbrook all night long!