New Mexico
Bulldogs Sweep New Mexico 38-21
The late, great, F1 champion Niki Lauda once said that the goal of racing is to win going as slowly as possible. Fresno State apparently adopted that ethos against New Mexico this week, as they finished a 2 week sweep of the state 38-21 and shutting out NMSU 48-0. I believe that legally makes Mikey Keene governor, but I’ll have to check the state bylaws.
All 3 wins for the Bulldogs this year have featured incredibly fast starts, even though this game took all the way until the 2nd drive to get points on the board. New Mexico’s first drive was derailed on their 3rd play as Malachi Langley forced the ball free, and Jahzon Jacks fell on the ball at the Lobo 39yd line. Fresno would push it into the redzone before Mikey Keene found Josiah Freeman for a 5yd touchdown catch, his first of the season. As they did two weeks ago, the Dogs ran a trick 2pt play with Jayden Mandal threw a quick pass to Brock Lium to go ahead 8-0.
New Mexico responded with a 14 play drive down the field, but the Bulldog defense stood tall at the end, and forced the Lobos to settle for a field goal to narrow affairs to an 8-3 margin. In response, Fresno ran down an 11 play drive before local product Bryson Donelson punched in the first touchdown of his young career stretching the lead to 15-3. Malik Sherrod wasn’t able to play after testing a lower body tweak during warm-ups, which meant that Elijiah Gilliam and Donelson would shoulder the load for the Dogs Saturday night. The two would combine for 86 yards on 26 carries, but the Dogs did not need to rely on the running game too much.
The next Fresno State drive got all the way down to the New Mexico 18 aided by a targeting penalty on the Lobos before Dylan Lynch needed to come in and kick a 36 yard field goal moving the Bulldogs ahead by 15. New Mexico’s next drive looked to be moving well until Devin Dampier’s pass sailed over his receiver, and right into the hands of Alzillion Hamilton setting up another Fresno touchdown. This one would be a little bit different than usual, as the Dogs again went into their bag of tricks with a double pass, and Raylen Sharpe throwing a 26yd strike to Kamron Beachem in the side of the endzone. This now gives Sharpe a passing, receiving, and rushing touchdown so far this season, a great start for the transfer receiver from Missouri St.
As the clock ticked down towards halftime, New Mexico put together what looked like their best drive of the game, as they went no-huddle to move the ball down the field quickly and get a touchdown on the board to narrow the margin to 25-10. If the Lobos had stuck to that version of the offense, they might have made it a true game. Bronco Mendenhall’s squad might be young, but they are feisty and will win games this year as they put the pieces together.
After the half, the Lobos began with the ball but could not get moving and punted after 6 plays and 1 first down. The punt landed deep in Bulldog territory, forcing Fresno St to take a long drive over 15 plays including a 4th down conversion pass from Keene to Sharpe, but they ran out of gas at the New Mexico 23, and Dylan Lynch sent through another field goal to go ahead 28-10. Devin Dampier would try to engineer the next drive, but it ended with his 2nd INT of the game, this time Julian Neal coming down with the ball for the Bulldog defense on their 3rd turnover (see picture at top).
Unfortunately, the defense couldn’t turn this turnover into points, and sent the ball back to the Lobos. They would answer with points of their own, as an 11 play, 65yd drive resulted in a field goal kick by Luke Drzewiecki from 32yds out to open to the 4th quarter. The next New Mexico drive would go poorly for them, as they tried running on 4th and 1 from their own 12 yard line. Devin Dampier tried stretching the ball to the edge, but was pushed back and the Bulldogs took over deep in the redzone. 3 UNM penalties on this round of plays would move the Dogs to the 2 yard line, where Mac Dalena would take a jet sweep to the 1, and Elijah Gilliam would punch it in from 1 yard out to get ahead 35-13.
New Mexico would answer with a touchdown drive of their own similar to how they scored at the end of the half. This shows that UNM is capable leading quick touchdown drives and getting their offense moving, they just aren’t quite together enough yet to consistently do that. That will come with time, and they played better in the 2nd half against the Dogs than they have previously.
Fresno State would send through one more field goal after the Lobos’ attempt at an onside kick failed to set the final score of 38-21. New Mexico would have one more drive as the clock wound down to 0, but their final play was a failed 4th down conversion as Dampier was tackled for no gain at the 26yd line. The Bulldogs moved to 3-1 and won their first conference game of the season, while the Lobos fall to 0-4 and 0-1 in Mountain West play.
A massive contest now looms for the Bulldogs, as they travel next Saturday to Las Vegas for a noontime tilt against the undefeated Rebels in what very well could be an elimination game for both the conference title and the G5 representative in the College Football Playoff. The Rebels had a bye week to prepare, while Fresno will have their bye week after next Saturday’s game. We’ll have to hope for good health and a consistent offense against the Rebels if the Dogs want to maintain their spot atop the conference standings. Playing UNLV and Washington State, both undefeated, in back to back weeks will either derail the dreams of the Dogs, or put them in the driver’s seat in the Group of Five. New Mexico will make the short trip to Las Cruces for the huge in-state rivalry game with New Mexico St Saturday night. For coverage of both games, keep it here on MWC Connection.
El Paso police seek suspect in East Side robbery, burglary
An unidentified man is suspected in an East Side robbery and a restaurant burglary on Oct. 20, 2025, in Crime Stoppers of El Paso’s Crime of the Week.
Provided by Crime Stoppers of El Paso
An Anthony, New Mexico man was sentenced to nearly two decades in federal prison for selling methamphetamine from a trailer on his parents’ property, authorities said.
A federal judge sentenced David Amaya, 43, to 19 years and seven months in prison on one count of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, New Mexico federal court records show. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release after he serves his prison term.
U.S. District Judge Margaret I. Strickland handed down the sentence on Wednesday, Dec. 10, at the federal courthouse in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Williams prosecuted the case.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Ryan Ellison and FBI Albuquerque Field Office Special Agent in Charge Justin A. Garris announced Amaya’s sentencing in a joint news release.
Amaya pleaded guilty to the charge in September as part of a plea agreement that dismissed one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, court records show.
Anthony, New Mexico man sells meth on parents’ property
FBI agents began investigating Amaya after he sold methamphetamine to a “controlled buyer” in July and August 2024, the news release states. Controlled buys are when law enforcement uses an undercover agent or a witness to purchase drugs from a suspected drug dealer.
The agents obtained a search warrant on Aug. 22, 2024, for a “specific tow-behind type trailer that Amaya was known to be living in and conducting narcotics transfers out of,” a federal complaint affidavit states. The trailer was located on property owned by Amaya’s parents in Anthony, New Mexico, the news release states.
The trailer did not have a restroom, but agents found a small makeshift bathroom structure with a porta-potty inside next to the trailer. The agents then obtained a warrant to also search the small bathroom structure.
The agents found “a large quantity of white crystalline substance suspected to be methamphetamine” throughout the trailer and bathroom structure, the affidavit states. In the bathroom, agents found a clothing hamper with “a gallon zip lock bag full of suspected methamphetamine” hidden inside.
Agents found a black Ruger .357 caliber handgun containing five rounds of .357 caliber ammunition and a black Mossberg 500 E410 gauge shotgun on the bed inside the trailer, the affidavit states. The news release states agents found “hundreds of rounds of ammunition.”
They also found about 4.42 grams of methamphetamine on the bed and another 26 grams under the bed, the affidavit states. Agents found eight more grams of methamphetamine on a nightstand.
Amaya told agents during an interview that the methamphetamine was his, he had acquired it over a period of time, and did not realize how much it was, the affidavit states. He added he “needed the guns for protection, so people would know he has them, making him safer,” the affidavit states.
In total, the agents found 1,183 grams of methamphetamine.
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com.
GRANTS, N.M. – The City of Grants is canceling this year’s annual Christmas light parade, citing the safety of the public and their own officers.
Dozens of floats were supposed to roll down Santa Fe Avenue on Saturday night, but Grants police are holding off until next year after three incidents where someone shot at law enforcement officers.
“It was definitely a difficult decision, but due to the incident that took place on December 8, where law enforcement was shot at in the area of Santa Fe Avenue, we made that decision to protect the citizens of Grants,” says Grants Police Chief Maxine Monte.
She says a New Mexico State Police officer was shot at while making a traffic stop. The officer walked away uninjured, but this was too much for the chief.
“We’ve had three different incidents where law enforcement was shot at. One was May of 2025, the other one was August of 2025, and then the recent event of December 8 of 2025,” says Monte.
It’s not a risk the chief wants to take, and points out people would be standing exactly where the last shooting happened.
“We have a lot of citizens that attend our parade, and our main concern was that they were out in the open in the middle of the night, and in the same area that our latest shooting took place.”
Grant residents will be able to see the floats during the day on Saturday. But even some daylight isn’t convincing some residents.
“I’ll be staying home,” said Amy Brigdon. “There’s too many people in the world that want to see bad things happen to other people. I’m not one of them.”
Police still don’t have a suspect for this week’s attempted shooting. Anyone with information is asked to get in touch with the Grants Police Department.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife rereleased a wolf into Grand County this week after it had traveled into New Mexico, according to a news release.
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish captured gray wolf 2403 and returned the animal to Colorado.
Colorado wildlife officials decided to release the wolf in Grand County yesterday because of the proximity to “an unpaired female gray wolf,” nearby prey populations and distance from livestock, according to the release.
“Gray wolf 2403 has been returned to Colorado and released in a location where it can best contribute to CPW’s efforts to establish a self-sustaining wolf population while concurrently attempting to minimize potential wolf-related livestock conflicts,” said acting director of CPW Laura Clellan, according to the release.
The wolf was once a member of the Copper Creek pack but departed from it this fall.
A memorandum of understanding between Colorado and Arizona, New Mexico and Utah requires that any gray wolves that leave Colorado and enter those states be returned. That was created in part to maintain the integrity of a Mexican wolf recovery program.
“We recognized during the planning process that we would need to have consideration and plans to protect the genetic integrity of the Mexican wolf recovery program, while also establishing a gray wolf population in Colorado,” said CPW’s Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell, according to the release.
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