UT Permian Basin Football could not be stopped on the ground Saturday night against Western New Mexico, running for 351 yards and four touchdowns. The 351 yards are the fourth most in program history in a comfortable 37-14 victory.
Nathan Tilford ran for 108 yards and a pair of touchdowns while
Kory Harris had 105 yards on the ground.
The Falcons trailed 7-0 early but put together their best quarter of the season. After pinning the Mustangs deep,
Joseph Williams opened the scoring for the Falcons with a safety. On the ensuing drive the Falcons drove down the field and 11 plays later Tilford punched it in from five yards out for their first lead of the game at 9-7.
Three plays later,
Caleb Pierson intercepted a tipped pass and gave the Falcons the ball at the 23. From there
Taj Crenshaw went to work and picked up all 23 yards on three carries to go up 16-7. The Mustangs answered with a touchdown to make it 16-14.
Once again, the Falcons engineered a long touchdown drive capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by
Joseph Williams and sent the game into the locker room at 23-14.
The running game completely took over in the second half, as the Falcons only passed three times and they ran the ball for 178 yards. Tilford ran it in again on the opening drive of the half before the defense scored on the next drive. After forcing a fumble, the loose ball popped up into the arms of
Victor Idusuyi who ran it 19 yards for the touchdown and 37-14 lead.
Crenshaw had 58 yards on the ground while
MJ Link added 42 yards and
Brock Johnson carried it nine times for 37 yards.
The Falcons wrap-up the regular season next weekend in the Northwest against Central Washington on Saturday. Download the UTPB Athletics App to follow the team all season long.
