MONMOUTH, Ore.--Trailing heading into the fourth quarter, Western Oregon rallied for three scores to send a Homecoming crowd of 1,700 home happy with a 50-35 win over Eastern New Mexico on Saturday afternoon at McArthur Field.
That's back-to-back wins for the Wolves, who evened up their overall record at 4-4. Western Oregon is now 2-4 in Lone Star Conference play. Eastern New Mexico, who at one point led by two touchdowns, remains winless at 0-8 and 0-6 in conference play.
Western Oregon had 484 total yards with a near perfect balance of 245 passing yards and 239 on the ground.
"We did a good job offensively and defensively in the fourth quarter," said Wolves head coach
Arne Ferguson. "It was good to come back. We controlled the time of possession after halftime and that was one of the keys to the game."
The Greyhounds led the entire first half. They took a 14-7 first quarter lead, with WOU's lone score coming on a
Tyler Konold six-yard run. ENMU had two drives that were capped by touchdown runs to give them the lead.
With 6:38 left before halftime, WOU's
Jordan McCarty found
Jaylen Fite for a 78-yard catch and run to pull the Wolves to within a digit, but the extra point attempt was missed. The Greyhounds answered with two more scores on the board this time via the air to take a 28-13 lead. McCarty brought his team back to within a score with just a little over a minute left before intermission on a 18-yard strike to E`lijiah McChristian. That capped a seven-play, 77-yard drive and made the score 28-20 at the break.
WOU opened the third quarter with a 12-play drive that culminated in a 24-yard field goal by Butcher to make it 28-23. The Greyhounds answered again with a rushing score and Western Oregon did the same with McCarty dashing in for a 4-yard tally putting the score at 35-29 for the visitors heading into the fourth quarter.
The final period was all WOU. They tied the game after a 11-play, 63-yard drive finalized on a two-yard run by Konold, and with Butcher's kick Western Oregon had their first lead of the game at 36-35.
Western Oregon's defense then went to work. Two sacks on the Greyhounds' next drive gave the ball back to the Wolves who then went on a 10-play drive that killed some clock and ended with a McCarty to
Emmitt Fee scoring pass of six yards. WOU now led 43-35.
Western's final score came after a Eastern New Mexico fumble in the end zone, forced by
LJ Imo that was recovered for six points by
Keagan Howard. On the ensuing kick-off, Eastern moved the ball down to the WOU eight-yard line, but ran out of time and downs. Western Oregon then took a knee to run out the clock.
"Our defense stepped when we needed it most," Ferguson added. "We had the fourth quarter sacks and an end zone interception by
Davis Fry that were huge for us. We did a good job in the red zone on both sides of the ball in the second half."
Time of possession in the second half belonged to Western Oregon in a big way, 20:30 to 9:30. Western Oregon was 7-of-13 on third down opportunities and 1-for-1 on fourth down. They were six-for-six in the red zone.
McCarty was 13-for-23 through the air for 245 yards and three touchdowns.
Cyris Taylor had thee of those grabs for 55 yards. On the ground Konold had 93 yards on 13 carries and he scored twice.
Jermaine Land added 69 yards on the ground. Defensively,
Malik Ross had seven solo tackles and 13 total. He had a quarterback sack and a sack assist.
Greyhound quarterback Clifton Cooper was 31-for-40 for 423 yards and two touchdowns. Receiver Darwin Parker had six catches for 103 yards and two touchdowns.
"When we don't beat ourselves, we can be a pretty good team," Ferguson said. "I was really happy with how we came together in the second half."
The Wolves will head to Western New Mexico next Saturday for a clash with the Mustangs that will start at 11 am Pacific. That's the first of three final games in the 2026 season.
"We play three good opponents and our goal will be to play two good halves against each," Ferguson added. "If we can finish 7-4, that's a pretty good season."
