Miner Kicker Gavin Baechle kick his way into the UTEP record book going 3 for 3 with field goals of 29, 32, and 28. The last field goal that put him at 51 for his career was the game winner as UTEP defeated Florida Atlantic 24-21.
The Miners where the 1st to brake through and score after stalling in the red zone to take an early 3-0 lead. The Miner Defense held FAU scoreless until the 2:33 mark when running back Larry MaCammon would tear off a 25 yard touchdown run.
The Miners would drive into FAU territory but their red zone woes continued and Gavin Baechle would be true on a 32 yarder to cut the lead to 7-6 at the half.
The second half would start out with the Miners unable to move the ball and Quarterback Gavin Hardison would see his pass bounce of of Reynaldo Flores hands into the waiting arms of FAU Safety TJ Young who would take it to the end zone and give the Owls a 14-6 deflating the crowd.
Miner Running Back Dion Hankins would then prove to be the spark UTEP needed breaking out a 74 yard run stoped just short of the goal line. Hankins Miner Quarterback Gavin Hardison would punch in his 1st career rushing touchdown on the next play and after a beautifully executed two-point conversion the game would be tied at 14-14 with 3:57 left in the 3rd Quarter.
After the Miners got a defensive stop, and the Miners would drive into the red zone and find the end zone on a well executed bootleg where Hardison would find Reynaldo Flores for a touchdown giving UTEP a 21-14 lead. FAU would answer the score driving the ball 90 yards where Quarterback K’noun Perry would find Austin Evans for a touchdown leading to one of the craziest extra point sequences in college football, the Miner’s Praise Amaewhule would block the point after try, loosing his helmet in the process. The Miners would pick the blocked PAT up and run it back for 2 points and what seemed to be a 23-20 lead and huge momentum swing, however after a conference by the officials, Amaewhule would be get a personal foul giving FAU another attempt at the extra point and allowing them to tie the game at 21-21 with 4:36 to play.
With Florida Atlantic seeming to snatch the game flow from the Miners the UTEP offense would go on a 15 play drive converting 2 big 3rd downs and running the clock down to :04 to play. FAU coach Willie Targget would use his final timeout to ice Gavin Baechle but to no avail, the Miner Kicker would mail the most memorable kick of his UTEP career which happened to make him the all time career leader in field goals and giving the Miners the 24-21 win.
For the 3rd time on the roller coaster of the 2022 season the Miners are back at :500 with a 4-4 record with Middle Tennessee coming to the Sun Bowl On Halloween weekend.
Story by Chris Gomez