Box Score STEPHENVILLE – Vaughn Smith (RB, Jr, Menlo Park, Calif.) and Zach Henshaw (RB, Fr, Fischer) both rushed for more than 100 yards, while the Tarleton offense put-up its second-straight 500-yard game on the way to a 35-23 win over Eastern New Mexico in front of 6,437 fans at Tarleton Memorial Stadium in Stephenville on Saturday.
 
Smith and Henshaw each surpasses the 100-yard barrier for the first time in their Tarleton careers, and it was the first time two Texan backs rushed for 100 yards or more in the same game since Sept. 12, 2009 (Roderick Smith, 204; Evan Robertson, 115). That same night was the last time a Tarleton team rushed for more than 300 yards in a game as the Texans netted 324 yards on the ground tonight.
 
Aaron Doyle (QB, Jr, Evant) threw for 240 yards as he completed 19 of his 34 passes with a pair of touchdowns and Clifton Rhodes III (WR, So, Fort Worth) netted 111 yards receiving on 10 catches against the Greyhound defense.
 
The Texans had the ball for just 5:02 in the first quarter as neither team found the end zone in the first 15 minutes of play. Tarleton drove the field 35 yards in its first two plays from scrimmage, but the drive stalled with an ENMU interception, which gave the Greyhounds the ball deep in its own territory.
 
Both teams then traded possessions two more times in the quarter, but it wasn't until Smith hit pay-dirt in the second quarter with a 13-yard touchdown run with 11:51 remaining in the second quarter. His score capped off a 13-play, 77-yard drive for the Texans and Blake Barnes (K, Fr, Stephenville) kicked the extra-point to give the Texans a 7-0 lead.
 
The Greyhounds finally got on the board with 7:59 left to play in the first half as Wesley Wood connected with Dillon Metzger on an 80-yard pass on the very first play of the possession. Dylan Baca's extra-point was good and the game was all tied up at 7-7.
 
Rhodes quickly put the Texans back on top on Tarleton's ensuing possession with his 31-yard receiving touchdown from Doyle. Barnes' PAT was good and Tarleton's lead swelled to seven points up 14-7 with 4:14 left to play in the second quarter.
 
ENMU's Baca nailed a 33-yard field goal with 1:13 left in the half to pull the Greyhounds back to within four points, but Tarleton's Jamal Mays (WR, Sr, Pflugerville) made it a 21-10 game on his 50-yard touchdown strike from Doyle with :48 seconds still left on the clock. Barnes' extra-point came after a three-play, 70-yard drive that took just 20 seconds off the clock.
 
It turned out to be another slow quarter for both teams coming out of the halftime break, but ENMU finally got on the board in the third with a 21-yard touchdown run from Wood. Baca connected on the PAT and Tarleton led 21-17 with 1:15 remaining.
 
Henshaw put the Texans back up by two scores with his first career touchdown, a three-yard scamper into the end zone, with 11:21 remaining in the game. Barnes nailed the PAT and the Texans led 28-17.
 
ENMU found the end zone one more time on the evening when Wood found De'Coreyon Thomas from eight yards out at the 7:56 mark. Wood failed to make the rush on the two-point conversion to make it a three-point game, and Tarleton led 28-23 with less than eight minutes to play.
 
Tarleton came right back to score on its next possession as Smith carried the ball into the end zone for his second touchdown of the evening, a 69-yard scamper to put the Texans on top 34-23. Barnes hit the PAT and Tarleton took an 12-point lead into the final five minutes to play.
 
ENMU completed its first pass on the next possession, but were forced to punt and Tarleton managed to run out the clock on the final possession of the game to take the double-digit win, 35-23.
 
The Texans tallied 30 first downs on the night, while collecting a season-high 564 yards of offense. Tarleton gained 324 rushing yards on 48 carries and passed for 240 yards through the air. ENMU gained 386 yards of offense on the night, but most of it came through the air (247 yds), despite the Greyhounds running a predominately wishbone style offense.
 
Mays had 108 yards in kick-returns and finished the evening with 164 all-purpose yards.
 
Marc Martinez (LB, So, Waco) recorded a team-high nine tackles in the contest with Marquis Wadley (LB, Jr, Dallas) right behind him with seven tackles. Wadley also had a forced fumble and one pass break-up on the evening.
 
Tarleton improved to 2-1 overall on the season with the win and collected its second Lone Star Conference win of the season as well, moving to 2-1 in 2012.
 
The Texans will hit the road next Saturday, Sept. 29, for its first official away game of the season. Tarleton will travel to Canyon to face West Texas A&M, who improved to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play with a 24-0 defeat over Incarnate Word on Saturday. Next Saturday's kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium.