On the road for the third straight week, the New Mexico Military Institute Bronco football team came close to an upset of the NJCAA's fourth-ranked team in the nation, Kilgore College, 40-30.
NMMI boasted 438 total yards of offense against the Rangers, with sophomore quarterback Elliot Paskett-Bell completing 23 passes for 349 yards and three touchdowns to seven different Institute receievers, including seven catches by Diego Nunez for 139 yards.
The Bronco defense gave up slightly over 350 total yards, but picked off three Kilgore passing attempts: two by Daylan Chichester and one by Rayden Aphayvong.
Aphayvong also blocked a Kilgore FG attempt which Sampson Alofipo scooped up and scampered 64 yards for the defensive TD.
The Institute struck first in both halves: a 35-yard FG by Jack Nelson at the 7:35 mark in the first, then knotted up the game, 23-23, after an Aphayvong INT gave NMMI the ball on at midfield. Paskell-Bell hit Javion McKay on a cross for the score, capping a 7-play drive.
Despite scoring first, however, the Broncos were outscored in each of those periods: 13-3 in the first and 10-7 in the third.
A 57-yard kick return after NMMI's game-opening FG set up Kilgore's initial TD in the first; the second occured after NMMI came up short on a fourth-and-one, giving the Rangers a first-and-ten from the Bronco 34.
A 58-yard kick return led to Kilgore's touchdown in the third.
The Rangers also had a 76-yard kickoff return for a TD in between those, back in the second quarter, following a five-play 81 yard score by the Broncos - Kendall Jones got the TD on a 43-yard catch-and-carry from Paskett-Bell.
Chris Harbin had the other TD reception for the Broncos, right before the end of the second quarter, to make it 23-16 going into the locker rooms at halftime.
"Big plays cost us on both sides of the ball," said NMMI head coach Oliver Soukup. "We'd do some really good things and score, and then we'd give up a kick-off return. We'd get an interception, and then we'd throw an interception. You just can't do that against a team like Kilgore - upper-echelon in the confernce and No. 4 in the country - and expect to get away with it."
"I think all of our wide receivers did an excellent job today, especially Diego," continued Soukup. "He had some acrobatic catches - it was really fun to watch. I told him after the game: 'I hope that continues.'"
Soukup also liked the tenacity and resilience of his defense. "We got three turnovers. If we can win that turnover margin, that's a pretty good indicator of how good we're going to be. I think we're plus six, now on the year. We have to continue that trend."
"But we have to make plays on special teams. We didn't make enough and they made more: that was really the difference in this game," finished coach Soukup.
Next up for the Broncos, who move to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in conference, will be their first home game of the season, versus Blinn College at 6:00 pm MDT on Saturday, Sept. 21 at the Wool Bowl stadium.