Press release of the NMSU Athletics
Led by walk-in second quarterback Dino Maldonado and the one-two punch from Juwaun Price and O’Maury Samuels, the NM State Aggies Football program drove a brilliant 22-0 start to a 43:35 win on Saturday night at Aggie Memorial Stadium.
Maldonado made his first career start after stepping into action against New Mexico last week due to injuries to Jonah Johnson and Weston Eget. He starred on Saturday, making his first six passes of the evening and 12 of his first 13 in total. In the end, Maldonado completed 24 of 32 passes for 321 yards and three scores.
In total, nine different aggies (1-3) recorded a reception led by Robert Downs III, who caught the team’s five best balls for 51 yards.
For the second straight week, Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda was Aggies’ lead recipient. The Saddleback College product intercepted three passes for 78 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter.
On the ground, Redshirt rookie Juwaun Price ran 62 yards for 13 carries and added three catches for 53 yards through the air. Price scored two goals on the ground and added a 58 yard kickoff return to finish with 191 all-purpose yards. Huntley ran for three touchdowns against UTEP on Senior Day in 2019 (November 23).
Las Lunas-born O’Maury Samuels also found the end zone for the Aggies using a three-yard rush in the first quarter to score his first career touchdown.
Defensively, the Aggies were controlled by captain Trevor Brohard, who returned after missing the last two games due to COVID-19 logs. Brohard finished with eight total tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. The Aggies finished the game with a total of nine tackles for the loss.
In the defeat, South Carolina State (0-3) quarterback Corey Fields Jr, completed 30 of 47 passes for 352 yards and four points. Fields recorded 188 yards in the second half.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
For the third time in four weeks, the Aggies started the ball game on the offensive, using an impressive 26-yard connection from Maldonado to Price in the first game of the game to spark an 81-yard drive with nine games, the one with one 14th culminated – Yard Rush from Price.
After a quick three-and-off from the NM State Defense, Maldonado returned possession on NM State 19, and Maldonado orchestrated an 85-yard drive with 11 games that ended with Samuels’s three-yard score. The drive included two over 20 yards, including a 25-yard strike for Price and a 20-yarder for Garcia-Castaneda.
The drive was the second of five consecutive touchdown drives the Aggies recorded to open the contest.
At 13-0 the Aggies kicker Ethan Albertson stepped up for the point after the try, but Patrick Godbolt blocked the try. The loose ball fell on the tight end Thomaz Whitford, who successfully brought the ball back in the end zone for two points and gave the Aggies a 15-0 lead with 3:43 in the first quarter.
SC State used two first downs to march into NM State territory for the first time after their second possession of the game, but the Aggie defense forced Dyson Roberts to punt on fourth and five.
Maldonado took over the 20-yard line and used a 15-yard connection to Downs III to ignite an 80-yard seven-game drive that gave the home team a 22-0 lead with 12:02 in the second period . NM State’s third straight scoring drive ended with an eight-yard rush from Price.
South Carolina State and Fields Jr. recorded the first of two scoring drives in the first half, with a 9-play, 75-yard drive to reduce the Aggie advantage to 22-6 with 7:31 to get in the second to play. The drive ended with a 14 yard run by Kendrell Flowers and a missed PAT.
The Aggies responded with eight games to march 75 yards for the night’s fourth touchdown.
Maldonado crowned the drive with a 17-yard shot for Garcia-Castaneda and a 30-yard dime for Jared Wyatt in the right corner of the end zone, who gave NM State a 29-6 lead with 4:47 on the left.
In the waning moments of the first half, the Bulldogs took advantage of a 20-yard stroke from Fields Jr. to Will Vereen and a 37-yard pass to Richard Bailey for a touchdown that put NM State at 29-13 with a 2: 00 to. play abbreviated.
Needed an answer, Price kicked off the Aggie’s fifth and final touchdown drive of the half with a 58-yard return to set up the offensive in Bulldog territory.
At the very next scrimmage game, Maldonado hit a wide open Garcia-Castaneda for a 41-yard score that gave the Aggies a 36-13 lead with 1:43.
The Aggie defense forced another SCST punt with 39 seconds of play time, which gave Maldonado and the offense one last chance for points before the break.
Maldonado took advantage of a 20 yard rush from Price and a 22 yard connection with Andre Bodison to get the ball to the visitor’s 38. Two games later, the caller spiked football and set the stage for Albertson to attempt a 49-yard field goal that narrowly ended when the Aggies paused with a 36-13 lead.
Corner DJ McCullough intercepted Fields ‘third down pass at SCSU 48 during the Bulldogs’ opening drive of the second half. With an impressive 19 yard return combined with a 15 yard staff foul, the Aggies took over the SCST 14.
Maldonado took advantage of a seven-yard close against Bodison and an eight-yard scramble to create a first-and-goal situation. After Samuels Rush pushed the ball to the one-yard line for two, Samuels ran the ball back to second and goal and was stopped with no win.
Martin and the Aggies were third behind the opposing team and challenged another trick when linebacker Eric Marsh appeared in the Aggies’ backfield. Maldonado rolled to the left and fired a perfect blow at a wide-open marsh that secured the sixth and final touchdown of the Aggie of the night.
The result gave NM State a 43-13 lead, 11:42 to play in the third game, and marked the last successful drive of the night for the offense as the Aggies would only create two net yards over the last six drives.
South Carolina State took advantage of the Aggie’s attacking battles and scored three touchdowns in the next five drives.
The first Bulldog touchdown came on the 12-play, 75-yard drive, which included a big fourth down and nine completion. The conversion resulted in a six-yard pass from Fields Jr. to Hezekiah Massey, who cut Aggie’s lead to 43-20 at 4:07 to play in the third quarter.
After the first aggie punt of the competition, a 45-yarder from Josh Carlson, Fields Jr. took over on his 29-yard line at 2:08 to play in the quarter. On the first down, Fields Jr. found Kendrell Flowers four yards away. On the following second down pass, Fields was intercepted by cornerback Syrus Dumas. The pick was Dumas’ first of his career and came in his first career start.
On the following Aggie Drive, Maldonado and the offense stagnated on the fourth down and six of SCST 37 and returned the ball to the Bulldogs at 14:21 to play in the contest.
Fields Jr and the Bulldogs took advantage of a personal foul on Garrett Bishop, wiping out a three-yard first down loss, to spark a 63-yard seven-game drive. The ride ended in an 18-yard connection between Fields Jr and Vereen that cut NM State’s lead to 43-27 in 10:49 minutes.
After the Aggies and Bulldogs had successively brought punts from the Aggies and Bulldogs to first place and 10 of 25 were played with 5:59, a holding penalty stopped another Aggie Drive.
The stalled possession sparked a 70-yard eight-game state drive that ended with a 20-yard pass from Fields Jr. to Kendrell Flowers and a two-point conversion that put NM State’s lead at 43: Play 35 with 1:35 too shortened.
The state of South Carolina needed possession again and tried an onside kick, which Downs III was able to restore with 93 seconds of play.
To kill the remaining time on the clock, NM State managed only four meters on the following drive. The drive lasted only 24 seconds as the Bulldogs used all three timeouts to force another Carlson punt.
The player delivered for the Aggies with a 43 yard kick that was shot at three to put the Bulldogs back.
Sixty-three seconds to go at eight points, SCST found a modest eight-yard gain on the first down before Fields Jr. was intercepted by linebacker Nick Giacolone 58 seconds before the end.
The interception, the third night enforced by the Aggies, sealed the first NM State win of the season and the first win at Las Cruces in 665 days.
COACH SPEECH (HC DOUG MARTIN):
“I’m just happy for our players after everything they’ve been through and all the adversity we’ve been through. This is a very special group of guys. They did everything we asked them to and they did everything right. I know it didn’t end the way we wanted it to. You’d better want to end these games, but it’s a win. Our children deserve it. To see the party in this locker room, our boys had fun together, that was a special moment. Overall, I’m just thrilled with them. We still have a lot to do to keep winning and getting better, but that was still a big deal for these kids. ”
ABOUT DINO MALDONADOS GAME AND THE SECOND HALF FIGHTS:
“We tried early on to have a lot of game actions and screens running for Dino because those are pieces he didn’t have to read. It was just a case of ‘you’re going to throw it to this guy’, it’s a screen. That gave Dino a good start. And of course everyone makes adjustments at halftime. So in the second half we faced a lot of man coverage, which forced us to do throws and reads. We had problems there and didn’t do as well as we needed to. The state of South Carolina put a lot of pressure on in the second half and Dino honestly doesn’t have the experience it takes to deal with situations like this. He will get there. ”
ON THE STATUS OF JONAH JOHNSON AND WESTON EGET:
“We’re about to get Jonah and Weston back. Both of them could probably have played tonight if we needed them. But we wanted to try to get out of this game without hurting them any more so we could keep them the rest of the way. We’ll see where they are this week. I won’t know how they are doing until we’re at the practice site on Tuesday. We’ll evaluate both of them in training next week, but we have to be ready and better as a team because we’ll meet a completely different team next week. ”
NEXT:
The Aggies return to the Aggie Memorial Stadium next Saturday when the Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii visit Las Cruces for a 6pm kick. The competition will serve as the NM State’s annual AG Day and homecoming competition.
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