ARLINGTON, Texas — Midwestern State's Quade Coward relished his first opportunity under the bright lights Saturday at AT&T Stadium.

The junior quarterback scampered in from 2 yards out with 21 seconds remaining to lift the Mustangs to a 28-24 win over Eastern New Mexico in the Lone Star Football Festival.

"We had our struggles early in the game," Coward said. "To have a drive come together at the last minute is what you dream of. It was even more special being in front of what was like home crowd."

Playing just 45 miles away from his home town of Cleburne, Coward came on in relief of starter Hagen Hutchinson to complete 12-of-29 passes for 132 yards and ran for 43 yards on nine carries including the game winning score.

"We had more penalties and gave up more big plays in the first half than we did the first two weeks combined," MSU coach Bill Maskill said. "We were hurting ourselves, but then the offense came out energized (in the second half) and the defense made plays when it counted."

Fueled by a pair of MSU turnovers in the opening half, the Greyhounds surged out to a 14-0 lead as Jakorius Willias scored on a 3-yard run early in the opening quarter and Jeremy Buurma hit D'maujeric Tucker on a 29-yard scoring strike on the first play of the second quarter to stake ENMU to a two-score lead.

True freshman running back Vincent Johnson, who finished with a team-high 83 yards on 15 carries, put the Mustangs on the board with a 9-yard run to cap an 11-play, 68-yard drive with just under 6 minutes left in the first half.

MSU continued to build momentum in the second half with the help of a couple of trick plays.

The Mustangs used Hutchinson as a decoy on a double reverse netting a 12-yard gain for senior wide receiver Terrence Smith. Then, after a quick snap, Coward swung the ball to Hutchinson on a lateral before he hit Arsenio Phillips in stride for a 49-yard touchdown to pull the Mustangs to within 17-14 just over five minutes into the third quarter.

MSU created its own break to take the lead for the first time after Tari Jones stripped Buurma on a keeper allowing redshirt-freshman defensive lineman Alec DiValario to scoop up the ball and race 32 yards for a touchdown for a 21-17 Midwestern State lead with 8:58 to play in the third quarter.

Eastern New Mexico used a four-play, 44-yard drive to regain the lead on a 4-yard run by Jeremy Doucette with 5:25 to play before Coward worked magic on a 13-play, 90-yard drive to account for the game winner.

"We came out flat," MSU senior safety Marqui Christian said. "It took time to get acclimated to the speed of the game. We took our eyes of of our keys and gave up some big plays."

Christian led MSU defensive effort with 13 tackles, while junior linebacker Calvin Stewart and junior defensive lineman Emerson Evans had nine tackles each.

Midwestern takes on Tarleton Saturday night at Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.