It was a successful day all around. Women's basketball student-athlete Ashley Vigil was named homecoming queen, football student-athlete Dennis Havrilla (North Concord, CA, Mt. Diablo High School, University of Nebraska - Kearney) was named king, and the Mustangs earned their first conference win of the season. The mighty purple and gold defeated rivals New Mexico Highlands, 50-30. The Warrior's Helmet, a trophy contested for at each WNMU-Highlands football meeting, will now be housed in the Brancheau PE Complex for the next year.

Highlands continues to struggle and search for their first win of the 2009 season. WNMU now is 2-6 overall and 1-6 in RMAC play.

In a game littered with penalties, Highlands was the first team to score a touchdown. This was the only time the Mustangs trailed in the game, but WNMU quickly responded with back-to-back touchdowns of their own at the 7:40 and 6:27 marks of the first quarter. On the first touchdown, Havrilla connected with Cory Ramos (Concord, CA, Ygnacio Valley High School, Tusculum College) on a 26 yard pass. Kevin Breaker (Stockton, CA, Lincoln High School, Delta College) posted the second score with a 29-yard rush. Breaker finished the day with 145 yards rushing, averaging 9.1 yards per carry.

The score remained at 14-7 when the two teams headed into the second quarter. At the beginning of the second, Highlands had the ball on their own one-yard line. The Mustang defense made a huge stop. Joseph Faifili (Laie, HI, Kahuku High School, Eastern Arizona College) pounded Brandon Torres in the backfield to score a safety.

WNMU could not produce anything on their next drive, but the Cowboys could. Narcisco Diaz completed a pass to Travis Lee for 66 yards to put the Cowboys within two, 16-14.

The Mustangs could not produce anything offensively in the second quarter, but the defense and special teams stepped up instead. With Highlands attempting a field goal, Derrick Perrault (San Diego, CA, Helix High School, Grossmont College) put his hand up and blocked the attempt. He then scooped up the ball and ran it to the other end of the field for a 53-yard blocked field goal return.

In a hurry offense, the Cowboys tacked on a field goal as time expired in the first half to make the score 22-17 at intermission.

In the second half, the Mustangs outscored Highlands, 28-13, despite having the ball less than eight of the 30 minutes. WNMU made the most of it and went 4-for-6 on third down conversions.

Havrilla finished the day with seven completions on 18 attempts, 98 yards, and two touchdowns. Salvador Garcia (Anthony, TX, Anthony High School) posted 173 all-purpose yards. He had 25 yards on the run, 61 yards in kick returns, and 87 yards on punt returns.

Defensively, Faifili finished the day with seven tackles. Four of those were solo and 2.5 of them were tackles for a loss of five yards. Perrault had six tackles and one tackle for a loss.

Overall, there were 22 penalties called in the game. Highlands was penalized for 118 yards. The Mustangs were slightly less at 62 yards.

Click here for complete statistics.