Cougars Win One For LaVell in Home Finale

PROVO -- In the final home game for BYU head coach LaVell Edwards, the Cougars defeated New Mexico, 37-13, Saturday in the newly named LaVell Edwards Stadium. The win improves BYU to 5-6 overall and 3-3 in the Mountain West Conference, while New Mexico falls to 5-7 and 3-4.

The stadium's name was changed from Cougar Stadium to LaVell Edwards Staedium, Home of the BYU Cougars, in a pregame ceremony conducted by President Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. BYU President Merrill J. Bateman also announced plans to build a multi-million dollar indoor practice facility on campus.

Prior to the game, President Hinckley met with the team in the locker room. President Hinckley told the players, "You have one more chance to win one for Coach LaVell Edwards - don't blow it."

Taking his words to hear, the Cougars jumped on the scoreboard first with a 93-yard touchdown drive in the first quarter, capped by a two-yard touchdown run by sophomore Luke Staley to give BYU the 7-0 lead. The Cougars took a 17-10 lead into halftime after senior Owen Pochman kicked a career-long 56-yard field goal on the last play of the half. The 56-yarder is the longest ever by a BYU kicker and is the second longest ever kicked in Provo.

Luke Staley stretches for one of his two TD's on the day (Mark Philbrick/BYU Photo)

BYU scored two more touchdowns and two field goals in the second half, while holding the Lobos to one third-quarter field goal to take the game, 37-13.

"I'm so proud of the way the players played tonight because they played together," Edwards, who is now 256-101-3 overall, said. "The kids played hard and I knew they would."

Junior quarterback Brandon Doman, in his first career start for the Cougars, finished the night with 349 yards passing and a team-high 51 rushing yards. He also had an 8-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Doman had four receivers end with more than 50 yards. Senior Margin Hooks led the Cougars with four catches and 69 yards.

The BYU offensive line protected Doman all night, marking the second straight game without a sack.

Staley finished with two touchdown runs, while Doman and junior Brian McDonald each added one.

"They ran a few new things at us that we weren't prepared for," New Mexico head coach Rocky Long said. "We had trouble tackling, even though we had people in position to make plays. We knew Doman was a good scrambler, but he also proved to be tough to tackle."

Senior Jared Lee led the strong Cougar defense with nine tackles, seven of which were unassisted. Junior defensive end Ryan Denney finished with four tackles, three of which were for a loss. The BYU defense held New Mexico to just 90 yards rushing, including just 42 yards in the first half.

BYU will finish its season Friday at Utah at 4 p.m. Friday's game will mark the last game in Edwards' career.

Box Score (Final)
  Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
  -----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
  New Mexico..........  0 10  3  0  - 13       Record: (5-7,3-4)
  Brigham Young.......  7 10 17  3  - 37       Record: (5-6,3-3)
  Scoring Summary:
  1st 04:17 BYU - STALEY, Luke 2 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick),
                  8 plays, 93 yards, TOP 3:28, UNM 0 - BYU 7
  2nd 13:46 UNM - BOROMBOZIN, Vla 24 yd field goal, 
                  5 plays, 11 yards, TOP 1:25, UNM 3 - BYU 7
      11:31 BYU - MCDONALD, Brian 1 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick), 
                  6 plays, 65 yards, TOP 2:15, UNM 3 - BYU 14
      09:00 UNM - HANSON, Javier 48 yd pass from CAAMANO, Rudy (BOROMBOZIN, Vla kick), 
                  7 plays, 81 yards, TOP 2:31, UNM 10 - BYU 14
      00:01 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 56 yd field goal, 
                  3 plays, 11 yards, TOP 0:19, UNM 10 - BYU 17
  3rd 10:11 BYU - STALEY, Luke 2 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick), 
                  8 plays, 60 yards, TOP 3:12, UNM 10 - BYU 24
      07:16 UNM - BOROMBOZIN, Vla 27 yd field goal, 
                  7 plays, 60 yards, TOP 2:55, UNM 13 - BYU 24
      04:35 BYU - DOMAN, Brandon 8 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick), 
                  2 plays, 20 yards, TOP 0:31, UNM 13 - BYU 31
      02:40 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 32 yd field goal, 
                  6 plays, 21 yards, TOP 1:55, UNM 13 - BYU 34
  4th 09:38 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 33 yd field goal, 
                  7 plays, 58 yards, TOP 2:15, UNM 13 - BYU 37
                                      UNM      BYU
  FIRST DOWNS...................       14       22
  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............    33-90   44-149
  PASSING YDS (NET).............      178      349
  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  28-11-0  35-21-1
  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   61-268   79-498
  Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0
  Punt Returns-Yards............     4-22     5-20
  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........    6-151     3-86
  Interception Returns-Yards....      1-4      0-0
  Punts (Number-Avg)............   9-38.3   6-37.2
  Fumbles-Lost..................      4-2      1-1
  Penalties-Yards...............     8-65     5-52
  Possession Time...............    29:12    30:48
  Sacks By: Number-Yards........      0-0      1-6
  RUSHING: New Mexico-WIGGINS, Holmon 12-65; HANSON, Javier 6-21; BAXTER,
  Jarrod 7-7; CAAMANO, Rudy 8-minus 3. Brigham Young-DOMAN, Brandon 9-51;
  STALEY, Luke 13-36; MCDONALD, Brian 9-19; SITAKE, Kalani 5-14; SNOWDEN, Will
  2-13; WHALEN, Marcus 4-13; STEARNS, Ned 1-3; SKINNER, Ryan 1-0.
  PASSING: New Mexico-CAAMANO, Rudy 11-25-0-178; KELLY, Casey 0-2-0-0;
  WIGGINS, Holmon 0-1-0-0. Brigham Young-DOMAN, Brandon 21-35-1-349.
  RECEIVING: New Mexico-CASTON, Rob 4-46; HANSON, Javier 2-96; IACENDA, Ted
  2-minus 1; DAVIS, Larry 1-17; FARREL, Jake 1-14; ROBBINS, Kirk 1-6. Brigham
  Young-HOOKS, Margin 4-69; PITTMAN, Jonath 3-63; OFAHENGAUE, Tev 3-56;
  HORTON, Ben 3-54; STALEY, Luke 3-35; HALLADAY, Soren 2-51; REID, Gabriel
  1-21; RIGELL, Mike 1-4; MCDONALD, Brian 1-minus 4.
  INTERCEPTIONS: New Mexico-HARPER, Rantie 1-4. Brigham Young-None.
  Stadium: LaVell Edwards Stad.  Attendance: 62308
  Kickoff time: 4:07      End of Game: 7:35      Total elapsed time: 3:28
  Officials: Referee: Ken Flaherty; Umpire: Wes White; Linesman: Tom Keeling;
  Line judge: Bob Bahne; Back judge: Gordon Birk; Field judge: Bill Agopian;
  Side judge: Bill Vinovich; Scorer: Media Relations;
  Temperature: 36        Wind: S 5-10    Weather: Clear and Cold
  First-ever game in LaVell Edwards Stadium.
  Final game in Provo for BYU head coach LaVell Edwards.
  SACKS (UA-A): New Mexico-None. Brigham Young-GALI, Setema 1-0.
  TACKLES (UA-A): New Mexico-MAUER, David 5-3; RATCLIFF, Brand 4-4; PERSLEY,
  Steve 6-1; ORDENSTEIN, Jac 4-2; HARPER, Rantie 4-2; MOSS, Charles 2-3;
  JOHNSON, Brian 3-1; DAVIS, Gary 3-1; MAZOTTI, Tony 2-1; HANSON, Javier 2-1;
  BARNETT, Mike 2-1; RICHARDSON, De 2-1; BERNARD, Walter 2-0; WRIGHT, Quincy
  1-1; IACENDA, Ted 1-1; GERHARDT, Scott 1-1; KONTE, Mohammed 0-2; GOLDEN,
  Terrell 1-0; DAVIS, Ricky 1-0; DENSON, Jeremy 0-1; TERRY, Adrian 0-1;
  RENTERIA, D.J. 0-1; STEPHENS, Henry 0-1. Brigham Young-LEE, Jared 7-2; ENA,
  Justin 3-3; KELLEY, Isaac 4-1; SMITH, Tyson 4-0; DENNEY, Ryan 3-1;
  WALKENHORST, Pa 2-2; HOKE, Chris 1-2; BOCKWOLDT, Colb 2-0; KEISEL, Brett
  2-0; GALI, Setema 1-1; ELLIOTT, Kurt 1-1; LAFITTE, Michae 1-1; WARD, Anthony
  1-1; OLSEN, Hans 0-2; REID, Gabriel 1-0; CARLSON, Brent 1-0; WILSON, Derrus
  1-0; 53 1-0; COWART, Jeff 1-0; POCHMAN, Owen 1-0; STALEY, Dustin 1-0;
  RAMAGE, Corey 0-1.