Fort Bliss Monitor

UTEP wins in double OT on Military night

Master Sgt. Steve Miller
Public Affairs Chief

Fort Bliss Soldiers played a prominent role during pre-game festivities Saturday night in what turned into the most exciting night of football the Sun Bowl has seen in a long time.

It was the annual Military Night at the Sun Bowl in which the University of Texas at El Paso honors America’s veterans, active-duty military members and National Guard and Reserve personnel from all services. And after four quarters and two extra periods, the 23rd-ranked UTEP Miners had just enough defense to escape with a 35-28 double-overtime victory over Rice University in front of 43,507 fans who braved the cold, wind and rain to see UTEP win their sixth straight (7-2 overall) and run their Western Athletic Conference mark to 5-1, one game behind Boise State. The Broncos also won in double overtime Saturday, winning at San Jose State 56-49.

Hours before all the excitement began, Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery, 2nd Bn, 6th ADA Bde, and 72nd Military Police Detachment set up static equipment displays at both ends of the stadium. Soldiers from HHB, 2nd Bn, 43rd ADA, and the 555th Maint Co combined with two UTEP ROTC cadets to form the color guard, which led the Bagpipers of the 62nd Army Band – and the band itself – onto the field for the national anthem.

Maj. Gen. Michael Vane, commander of the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery Center and Fort Bliss, did the honors with his commander’s coin during the coin-toss ceremony and provided a coin to each team captain and the official’s crew.

As for the game, UTEP led 21-17 late in the fourth quarter and seemingly had the game won. Rice, however, forced overtime by getting two safeties – something unheard of in pigskin annals – in the last 5:20 to tie the game. The first 2-pointer came when Rice blocked a Bryce Benekos punt through the end zone, and the second came with only 17 seconds left when Benekos, standing in the back of his own end zone, had a punt snap go through his wet fingers and roll through the back of the end zone, setting up the first overtime game in Sun Bowl stadium history.

Both teams scored in the first overtime to end that period tied at 28. UTEP tallied on the first play of the second overtime when Jordan Palmer lofted a 25-yard touchdown pass to Johnny Lee Higgins.
Thanks in part to pass interference and facemask penalties, which put Rice at the UTEP 1, the Owls were poised to send the game to a third overtime. However, Rice running back Ed Bailey was smacked at the UTEP 1-yard-line by Miner freshman safety Quintin Demps. The wet ball popped into the air, and linebacker Robert Rodriquez recovered and curled himself up around the ball at the 8-yard-line as the Miners and their crowd went crazy.

And it was that defense that saved the day in the first half, when an anemic UTEP offense totaled only 59 yards and turned the ball over twice. The Miner defense scored the lone first-half TD on a 56-yard punt return by Jahmal Fenner, blocked one field and hurried Rice kickers Luke Juist and Brennan Landry into missing two others en route to a 7-3 halftime lead.



www.bliss.army.mil	Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso, Texas Community	November 18 , 2004

<map name="boxmap-b4"> <area shape="rect" coords="0, 589, 120, 600" href="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" > <area coords="0,0,10000,10000" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=&creative=92501&camp=8117&link_code=dl1&path=subst/misc/amazon-cobrand-cc/v3/marketing-from-associates-step1.html/ref%3Db1_assoc_29" > </map>	UTEP wins in double OT on Military night Master Sgt. Steve Miller Public Affairs Chief Fort Bliss Soldiers played a prominent role during pre-game festivities Saturday night in what turned into the most exciting night of football the Sun Bowl has seen in a long time. It was the annual Military Night at the Sun Bowl in which the University of Texas at El Paso honors America’s veterans, active-duty military members and National Guard and Reserve personnel from all services. And after four quarters and two extra periods, the 23rd-ranked UTEP Miners had just enough defense to escape with a 35-28 double-overtime victory over Rice University in front of 43,507 fans who braved the cold, wind and rain to see UTEP win their sixth straight (7-2 overall) and run their Western Athletic Conference mark to 5-1, one game behind Boise State. The Broncos also won in double overtime Saturday, winning at San Jose State 56-49. Hours before all the excitement began, Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery, 2nd Bn, 6th ADA Bde, and 72nd Military Police Detachment set up static equipment displays at both ends of the stadium. Soldiers from HHB, 2nd Bn, 43rd ADA, and the 555th Maint Co combined with two UTEP ROTC cadets to form the color guard, which led the Bagpipers of the 62nd Army Band – and the band itself – onto the field for the national anthem. Maj. Gen. Michael Vane, commander of the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery Center and Fort Bliss, did the honors with his commander’s coin during the coin-toss ceremony and provided a coin to each team captain and the official’s crew. As for the game, UTEP led 21-17 late in the fourth quarter and seemingly had the game won. Rice, however, forced overtime by getting two safeties – something unheard of in pigskin annals – in the last 5:20 to tie the game. The first 2-pointer came when Rice blocked a Bryce Benekos punt through the end zone, and the second came with only 17 seconds left when Benekos, standing in the back of his own end zone, had a punt snap go through his wet fingers and roll through the back of the end zone, setting up the first overtime game in Sun Bowl stadium history. Both teams scored in the first overtime to end that period tied at 28. UTEP tallied on the first play of the second overtime when Jordan Palmer lofted a 25-yard touchdown pass to Johnny Lee Higgins. Thanks in part to pass interference and facemask penalties, which put Rice at the UTEP 1, the Owls were poised to send the game to a third overtime. However, Rice running back Ed Bailey was smacked at the UTEP 1-yard-line by Miner freshman safety Quintin Demps. The wet ball popped into the air, and linebacker Robert Rodriquez recovered and curled himself up around the ball at the 8-yard-line as the Miners and their crowd went crazy. And it was that defense that saved the day in the first half, when an anemic UTEP offense totaled only 59 yards and turned the ball over twice. The Miner defense scored the lone first-half TD on a 56-yard punt return by Jahmal Fenner, blocked one field and hurried Rice kickers Luke Juist and Brennan Landry into missing two others en route to a 7-3 halftime lead.