What a win!: UTEP beats Florida Atlantic on walk-off field goal
Facing the strangest hill of adversity imaginable, the UTEP football team went on a season-saving field-goal drive to beat Florida Atlantic 24-21 on Saturday at the Sun Bowl.
The winning 27-yard field goal as time expired came at the end of a 13-play, 65-yard drive and gave Gavin Baechle the school career record with his 51st make and his 15th consecutive.
Shortly before that, FAU tied the game 21-21 on one of the craziest plays in UTEP history.
The Miners blocked a potential game-tying extra point with 4:36 remaining and in the process Praise Amaewhule lost his helmet. He chased the loose ball for 30 yards before realizing that was illegal, held his hands up and quit participating on the play.
Shortly after that LaTrez Shelton scooped up the ball and took it in for an apparent two-point conversion. After much discussion the officials flagged Amaewhule, ruled it was before Shelton's recovery and awarded FAU another extra-point try, which it made.
The ending overshadowed a strong effort by the Miner defense.
Playing with desperation and exuberance that UTEP needs, the Miner defense held FAU to two offensive touchdowns and dominated big portions of the second half.
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That gave UTEP's offense time to sort itself out, and sparked by a 72-yard run from Deion Hankins to set up a tying touchdown in the third quarter, the Miners gained enough traction to improve their record to 4-4.
Reynaldo Flores scored a go-ahead touchdown on a 4-yard catch early in the fourth quarter. Earlier FAU had taken a 14-6 lead when an overthrown pass went off Flores' hand for a pick-6.
FAU leads at half
UTEP's familiar problem of being unable to finish red-zone drives cost it again, as two first-half trips inside the 20 led to two Gavin Baechle field goals and a 7-6 deficit at the intermission.
The Miners' defense forced a red-zone fumble to keep Florida Atlantic out of the end zone once, though the Owls later finished an 80-yard drive for the halftime lead.
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Hardison completed 9-of-11 passes in the first half, though two of those completions were on third down and well short of the line to gain.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP football beats FAU on walk-off field goal at Sun Bowl
