STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton's attempt at back-to-back wins came up short as Eastern New Mexico defeated the Texans 49-44 on homecoming night at Memorial Stadium.
 
Despite never having a lead, Tarleton (1-5, 1-4 in the Lone Star Conference) gave the Greyhounds all they could handle by putting up a season-best 572 yards on the game.
 
ENMU (5-2, 2-2) led 14-0 with 7:20 left in the first quarter on quarterback Jeremy Buurma's 24-yard touchdown run and a 35-yard pass to Cameron Mikell for another score.
 
Jabari Anderson's career night started with a 21-yard touchdown run in the first quarter to make it a 14-7 ENMU lead. Anderson ran for a career-high 118 yards – his first-career 100-yard game – on just 16 carries for a 7.4 average.
 
Buurma fumbled at the Tarleton 22 yard line with 10:41 left in the first half and was recovered by Brandon Moore. Quarterback Zed Woerner, who returned to Tarleton's lineup after missing a game because of an injury, took advantage of the ENMU turnover and connected with Le'Nard Meyers for a 60-yard touchdown on 3^rd-and-7 to tie the game at 14.
 
ENMU responded with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by Kamal Cass' 1-yard run.  That was the start of another 14-0 run for the Greyhounds when Buurma ran in his second touchdown of the half from 4 yards out that gave them a  28-14 lead with 1:02 left in the half.
 
Facing little time left on the clock and needing momentum heading into halftime, Tarleton went 85 yards on nine plays in 56 seconds and scored on an 11-yard pass from Woerner to Joseph Sadler with three second left in the half to trail 28-21 through two quarters. The score was set up by Meyers hauling in three passes for 32 yards and Bubba Tandy catching two passes for 35 yards.
 
After each team traded punts to start the second half, Anderson bolted untouched down the Tarleton sideline for a 69-yard touchdown run – his second of the game – that tied the score at 28 with 11:22 left in the third quarter.
 
ENMU went for it on 4^th-and-1 from the Tarleton 18 when Chase Varnado brought down Cass from a 3-yard loss and gave the ball back to the Texans with 7:31 left in the third quarter. However, De'Aundre Sanders had a 51-yard interception return for a touchdown on the following drive that padded the Greyhounds' lead to 35-28 in the third quarter.
 
The biggest play of the game came on special teams, when Tarleton punter Isaac Arellano launched a punt that was muffed by Eastern New Mexico and was recovered by Jamarquis Durst of Tarleton. Unfortunately for the Texans, the referee blew an inadvertent whistle, making Tarleton re-punt and gave the ball back to the Greyhounds that led to another Buurma touchdown run and a 42-28 lead in the fourth quarter. Buurma finished with a game-high 147 yards on the ground and three scores.
 
Woerner, who threw for a season-high 382 yards on 30-of-50 passing and four touchdowns in his return, kept the Texans in the game in the fourth quarter by throwing a pair of touchdown passes. It's Woerner's fifth career 300-yard passing game and his second this season.
 
Meyers won a jump ball in the corner of the end zone for his second touchdown of the game and finished with 11 receptions for 154 yards. It is Meyer's ninth career 100-yard receiving game, tying him with Clifton Rhodes III for second all time. Devin Guinn holds the record with 10.
 
Woerner's fourth touchdown was the Kason Fornes from 5 yards out that made it a 49-44 game with 48 seconds left. Tarleton couldn't convert on the 2-point conversion attempt and ENMU recovered the onside kick that ended Tarleton's bid for back-to-back games with fourth-quarter comebacks.
 
Bubba Tandy had 10 receptions for 113 yards, giving Tarleton two receivers over 100 yards for the first time since Meyers and Tandy did so against A&M-Commerce in 2014.
 
Dominique Martin was three yards shy of giving Tarleton three 100-yard receivers, finishing with five catches for 97 yards.
 
Defensively for the Texans, Dakota Hesskew had a career-high 15 tackles and a forced fumble. Cody Burtscher and Varnado both had 11 tackles.
 
Tarleton will take on Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m.