New Mexico St. Laughs Last Against Fullerton

New Mexico State players took a victory lap around the turf of Aggie Memorial Stadium Saturday night. Forgive them if they looked as if they didn’t know the way.

Until the final seconds ticked away in the Aggies’ 24-21 Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. victory over Cal State Fullerton, New Mexico State hadn’t won a home game in nine attempts.

And when it came to PCAA games, it didn’t matter where the Aggies played. They had played 13 since joining the conference in 1984. They had lost every one.

And, for a few moments, it looked as if both streaks of ineptitude would continue. Fullerton, reaching at arm’s length into Coach Gene Murphy’s bag of tricks, had rallied from a 17-6 deficit to take a 21-17 lead with 7:03 to play.

But Jim Miller, New Mexico State’s junior quarterback, brought the Aggies back, hitting Sadao Langfeldt in the left corner of the end zone with a 20-yard touchdown pass with 4:25 to play.

New Mexico State held off Fullerton’s desperate comeback attempt in the final minutes, and 12,896 spectators watched the Aggies break their victory celebration out of mothballs.

And Fullerton players, embarrassed last Saturday in a 49-3 loss to Nevada Reno, began sharing another dose of humility. New Mexico State was nearly everyone’s preseason pick to finish last in the PCAA.

“It’s bitter for everybody, because this is a team that we not only could have beaten but should have beaten,” Murphy said.

Making matters worse for the Titans was that their punter, Jim Sirois, accounted for more passing yards than either of their quarterbacks. Tony Dill completed 2 of 13 passes for 57 yards, and Ronnie Barber was 2 of 10 for 30 yards.

Sirois, meanwhile, had 60 yards passing, all on a fake punt. Sirois lofted a wobbly pass to Tom Phillips, normally a safety, that fooled the Aggies and went for a 60-yard touchdown. Dill then threw a two-point conversion pass to Bill Brennan that cut New Mexico State’s lead to 17-14 with 11:11 remaining.

The Aggies had taken a 14-6 lead with 1:10 left in the third quarter when Gene Egan wrestled an apparent interception away from Phillips in the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown reception.

New Mexico State made it 17-6 with 13:09 left in the fourth quarter on Jim Gill’s 21-yard field goal, which came after Todd Parker recovered a loose ball that the Fullerton kick return unit somehow forgot to return. The unreceived ball had the affect of an onside kick that gave the Aggies the ball on the Titan 27.

Barber replaced starter Dill at quarterback on Fullerton’s next possession but didn’t have any more success moving the ball, so on came Sirois to try throwing the ball.

On New Mexico State’s next possession, Bryan Riggs and Ron McLean combined to stop Aggie running back Marvin Goudeau for a short gain on third-and-three to give the Fullerton offense another chance.

After a New Mexico State punt, Barber pitched the ball to Todd White, who threw to John Gibbs for a 42-yard gain to the Aggie 15. A pass interference penalty on Aggie cornerback Ernest Hollowell moved the ball to the two, and Fullerton running back Rick Calhoun took it in from there to give the Titans a 21-17 lead with 7:03 to play.

Fullerton was penalized for a penalty on the ensuing kickoff, enabling the Aggies to start a comeback attempt at their 37. Miller threw for a 12-yard gain to Bennie Thomas, then scrambled for a 25-yard gain to the Fullerton 21 to set up the winning score.