By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

Forget Da'Tara's upset of Big Brown in the Belmont or Hillary Clinton officially admitting she's lost to Barak Obama. Saturday's biggest upset was right here in Rio Rancho.

Under the guidance of new quarterback B.J. Hall, New Mexico rallied in the second half to defeat the playoff-bound Adrenaline 42-38, the first victory over a team with a winning record in Wildcat franchise history.

Management of the Santa Ana Star Center had trouble getting their lights turned back on after introducing the New Mexico Wildcats before Saturday’s game with the Arizona Adrenaline.

Perhaps Arizona wishes the lights would have stayed off.

Hall, playing his first game after previous quarterback Ronnie Simpson was traded to the Adrenaline earlier this month, guided New Mexico to two one-play drives in the final period and threw a game-winning s the Wildcats overcame a 10-point second quarter deficit. His 8-yard touchdown pass Lawrence Pullen with 19.8 seconds left in the game broke a 36-36 tie and gave New Mexico the victory.

New Mexico had taken its first lead of the second half on a 43-yard -yard TD and a subsequent scramble and completed conversion pass to his cousin, Clarence Davis, to go ahead 36-28 with 6:32 left in the game.

Arizona responded to tie the game on a controversial touchdown with 1:39 left on a two-yard touchdown and following conversion run by Simpson. The touchdown was so vehemently argued by New Mexico head coach Floyd Johnson that he was ejected from the game and the conversion was moved half the distance to the goal.

It appeared Simpson, who threw for 107 yards and scored two rushing touchdowns in relief of starter Keith Poole, was stopped short of the goal line on a jarring hit by defensive back D.B. White and then fumbled, but Simpson was given the tying score.

Even with his coach and the lead gone, Hall stayed cool. After his first pass of the series was incomplete, Hall scrambled for 32 yards to the Arizona 8. On the next play he found a diving Pullen, who made the catch to make up for an earlier goal line fumble that could have proved decisive.

The final margin ended up four points because Hall fumbled the snap on the conversion attempt and after several battles for possession along the boards, including at least two attempts where the ball appeared to advance by a forward pass or kick, Paitaka Miyahira crossed the Arizona goal line with the ball for a two-point defensive conversion. Arizona got the ball back and moved to the New Mexico 10 on one completion from Simpson to Maurice Bryant, but Simpson’s desperation lob under duress on the last play of the game was knocked away by Wildcat defender Tyson Ditmore.

New Mexico scored on the opening possession of the game. Hall’s  25-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Jones gave the Wildcats a 6-0 lead.

Arizona responded with a scoring drive of its own, with the 34-year-old Poole, playing just his second indoor football league game at quarterback after injuries knocked out Arizona’s first two quarterbacks, hitting Maurice Bryant on a 13-yard scoring pass. A two-point conversion run by running back Robert Jones gave the visitors the 8-6 lead.

New Mexico squandered a great chance to retain the lead in the second quarter and instead fell 10 points behind before five minutes were gone in the period. Stopped deep in its own end of the field after ending a New Mexico drive with an interception, Arizona attempted a field goal from its own end zone on the 50-yard field, more of an attempt to secure field position. But Pullen foiled that plan, returning the line-drive kick from his goal line to the Arizona 5 on the first play of the second quarter to put New Mexico in great field position.

New Mexico couldn’t capitalize, however, as Hall was intercepted on the second play from scrimmage by Antar Brame, giving Arizona the ball at its own 20. The Adrenaline, 8-2, then scored on a five-play drive, with Poole finding Quincy Jackson on a 19-yard scoring pass with 10:17 left in the period.  A Poole to David Penland conversion pass made the score 16-6.

New Mexico responded with a scoring drive of its own before the half, with Hall capping the nine-play drive with a one-yard run. The big play in the series was a 27-yard pass from Hall to Darren Haliburton, who returned to wide receiver this week after playing quarterback in a 40-38 New Mexico loss at Utah on Saturday.

A New Mexico goal-line stand, including stopping three plays from inside the five yard line in the final minute, kept the margin at four points at halftime.

The two teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, with New Mexico closing the margin to two points by capitalizing on its conversion attempt while Arizona did not. But New Mexico should have had more, failing to score on its second drive when Pullen fumbled at the goal line and gave possession Arizona. The Adrenaline capitalized, with Simpson breaking away on a 31-yard run to set up a one-yard score by Jones. Simpson couldn’t scramble in on the conversion attempt, leaving New Mexico within striking distance at 28-20 with more than 12 minutes left.

It took one play for New Mexico to get even, with Hall hitting Pullen on a 30-yard strike for a touchdown. Pullen’s two-point run evened the game with 10:42 left.

STORY WILL BE UPDATED WITH QUOTES, STATISTICS