Photo courtesy of Austin Anthony.

Trying to land their spot in a bowl game while coming off a tight loss against Missouri State, the New Mexico State University Aggies took on the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers on Nov. 1 for WKU’s Homecoming game day. 

With a slow start scoring wise, both sides’ defenses put up a fight and fended each other off from completing effective plays. As the Aggies received a few costly penalties and lost an opportunity to put up points on the previous drive, NMSU’s need for another shot to grab some first quarter points only increased as an incomplete pass for WKU cost the Hilltoppers a potential touchdown. 

NMSU kicker Ryan Hawk sank in a 32-yard field goal with only a minute remaining in the first quarter to lock in a lead at 3-0 and give a sense of optimism to the Aggies.  

Trailing 3-0 to NMSU, the Hilltoppers took their first timeout not long into the first quarter.  

The Aggie’s defense stood strong, and are currently sitting second in Conference USA (CUSA) for interceptions, even with key defensive player Ezra Christensen out for injury. 

Keeping their streak of penalties, and with the second quarter not even halfway over, the Aggies received their fourth false start of the game, jeopardizing even more important yardage. 

NMSU’s Hawk made amends for some of the Aggie’s past mistakes by landing a 27-yard field goal, and advanced 3 more points to sit at 6-0. 

Responding to Aggie’s lead, WKU wide receiver Matthew Henry ran in a 22-yard receiving touchdown to snatch the lead at 6-7.  

“We didn’t get the ball for our athletes enough. I don’t think we pushed the ball downfield enough – we needed to do a better job of doing that early in the game,” Head Coach Tony Sanchez said post-game. 

Inching closer to halftime, WKU wide receiver Moussa Barry stood unfazed by NMSU’s defense as he caught a touchdown to pull the Hilltoppers away from the Aggies at 6-14. 

With NMSU now pushing to regain their lead, their luck was running high as WKU kicker John Cannon set out to seal off the first half with a 52-yard field goal attempt, but fell short and left the score as-is going into halftime.  

Starting off the third quarter with yet another false-start penalty, the Aggies initiated their uphill battle to regain the lead.  Nailing in a 50-yard field goal, Hawk attained another 3 points for NMSU, now at 9-14. 

“They’ve [WKU] had a bunch of tight games that they’ve been able to finish. It just shows [that] the margin in our conference is so small,” Sanchez said in a pre-game presser.  

Barreling through NMSU’s defensive line, WKU’s La’Vell Wright scored a 9-yard rushing touchdown and tallied up 7 more points to the Hilltopper’s lead, now at 9-21. 

As the Aggies continued to struggle in the offensive factor of their team, obtaining season-lows in passing completions, total offense yards, yards per play, and passing yards in this game, Hilltopper Matthew Henry ran the ball straight down to the end zone to once again clinch a touchdown for WKU. This added to the score, bringing it to 9–28. 

With the final 15 minutes looming over NMSU’s stalemate score, WKU’s offense pushed them further toward the Aggie’s end zone. Almost juggling the ball, Hilltopper Jackson West achieved his first WKU touchdown and pulled away from NMSU at 9-35.  

While rain began to appear over the field, the Aggie offense continued to fight and = piece together a few good plays. After taking a quick time out, NMSU cornerback Stilton McKelvey swept up a fumbled ball and ran it 71 yards to spark some life into the Aggie’s score at 16-35. Despite final pushes from each side, the score was frozen right up to when the final seconds ran out, finalizing NMSU’s loss. 

“It’s really not about anybody we play coming up – it’s really about us and finding our way on offense, finding a way to get some rhythm, be able to move the ball, and be able to score more touchdowns rather than kick so many field goals,” Sanchez said. 

Aggie football will return next week against Kennesaw State University for NMSU’s Homecoming on Saturday Nov. 8 at 2:00 p.m.