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New Mexico Lobos vs UNLV Rebels Football Recap
New Mexico 21, UNLV 14
No, this was not an important game within the larger context of national college football. No, there weren’t many TV cameras or credentialed journalists at this contest, a low-key and decidedly off-the-radar-screen scrap at the bottom of the Mountain West Conference. No, this late-season gridiron meeting between two basketball schools didn’t gain very much in the way of attention. However, don’t tell the young men who play football for the University of New Mexico that this game didn’t matter.
What the lads from the Land of Enchantment did this past weekend is something they’ll carry with them when they graduate and encounter other adversities in their adult lives. If a band of brothers ever needed a galvanizing and instructive lesson for how to handle life’s burdens and absurdities, they found it near the finish line of a trying, taxing year.
Yes, the drought is over: The New Mexico Lobos snapped a 12-game losing streak and won their first game of the 2011 season on Saturday night in Albuquerque.
Demarcus Rogers scored the game-winning touchdown on a two-yard run with 1:15 left. The sophomore running back, who had just one touchdown all season entering the game, scored twice for New Mexico.
The Lobos entered the game wondering if they’d ever breakthrough in 2011. Their coach, Mike Locksley, was fired earlier in the season following a scandal which further embarrassed the UNM program. New Mexico football was enough of a laughingstock on the field, but Locksley’s off-field behavior threw even longer and darker shadows over the program, making everyday life very difficult for each and every player in the UNM locker room. The Lobos, to a man, lived in the most bizarre and spirit-sapping environment a college football team could possibly experience… well, at least until the Penn State scandal came along. Life isn’t fair, but it had been particularly cruel for the Lobos, who needed to find something to hang their hat on before this season ran its course. A team ranked last in the nation in scoring offense and scoring defense needed to prove to itself that it could reach beyond its pain and depression, attaining a moment of satisfaction and a positive lifelong memory.
Happily, Los Lobos created that special moment, crafting one of the feel-good stories of this college football season.
The Lobos took a 7-0 lead on an 80-yard touchdown pass from B.R. Holbrook to freshman Deon Long on their first play from scrimmage. It was New Mexico's first lead since Sept. 24 against Sam Houston State.UNLV tied the score on Dionza Bradford's 45-yard touchdown run with 8:50 left in the first quarter.
New Mexico answered with a long drive capped by a one-yard run by Rogers that put the Lobos back on top, 14-7, with 32 seconds left in the first stanza. New Mexico led until Tim Cornett's four-yard touchdown run tied the game for UNLV with 14:22 to play in the fourth quarter. Bradford ran for a career-high 152 yards on 20 carries for the Rebels.
The Lobos' game-winning drive was set up by their defense. Linebacker Carmen Messina stripped UNLV quarterback Taylor Barnhill, and defensive end Jaymar Latchison recovered the fumble at the Rebels' 34-yard line with 1:58 left.
Holbrook completed 15 of 23 passes for 274 yards and a touchdown to give New Mexico just enough firepower to get the job done. Freshman running back Crusoe Gongbay posted 93 rushing yards on 13 carries for the Lobos. Quintell Solomon caught six passes for 94 yards. Long finished with 99 yards receiving to give Holbrook a second high-quality receiving target.
Barnhill completed 7 of 10 passes for just 54 yards for UNLV. UNLV has now lost 14 road games in a row.
> Find a great selection of New Mexico Lobos apparel & merchandise online as well as the MWC Football Scoreboard!
By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer