by John Cusick
In the first home game since the death of teammate Austin Worbington, the Mavs knew they were playing for more than just another notch in the win column.
“We dedicated the whole the season to Worby. We know he’s with us. He’s fueling us moving forward every game,” safety Dustin Rivas said.
Running back David Tann added, “We knew we were playing for Worby so we wanted to go out and get the win for him and his family.”
Rivas’ play was certainly memorable as he recorded a career high three interceptions, and would have had four in the game were it not for a penalty on his first interception. The defense was only one part of the dominance that the Mavs showed on Saturday afternoon.
The Mavs came out on their first drive and asserted themselves by taking the ball down the field in a 10 play drive that covered 86 yards ending with a touchdown giving CMU a 7-0 lead.
After three and outs by both teams, Rubalcaba was able to find Moon for another big play. The Maverick defensive unit was able to send Chadron State back to the sideline after a quick three and out bringing Sean Rubalcaba and the offense back out onto the field. After a handoff for two yards to David Tann, Rubalcaba hit Virnel Moon who ended up behind the secondary for a 51-yard strike and his first touchdown that put the Mavs up 14-0.
“I think our offensive line is actually playing pretty dang well. They’re giving Sean time to throw the football for the most part. He’s doing a great job of stepping up in the pocket and then escaping out of the inside of the pocket,” head Coach Russ Martin said of his offensive line and quarterback.
After Chadron State drove down the field with their own 11 play and 68-yard drive, quarterback TD Stein threw a ball to the back of the end zone and it turned into Rivas’ first pick of the afternoon. The ensuing drive ended with a punt that sent the ball back to the Eagles.
Stein wound up finding his senior wide receiver Marcus Brown on the second play of the drive for 76-yards cutting the Mavs lead to 14-7.
After battling injuries all week, Moon was able to find a way onto the field this weekend and was the favorite target of Rubalcaba. Moon ended the day with five receptions for 161 yards and two touchdowns.
“We are a very talented group. If it wasn’t for the other receivers having the game they had last week I wouldn’t have been open this week. They took a lot of pressure off of me where I could have a one on one and I just win my matchup,” Moon said of his play on Saturday.
Moon was able to find his way behind the secondary once again for another touchdown of 81 yards.
“I know if he’s mismatched outside I can pretty much lay it out there and that’s what happened today,” Rubalcaba said.
The Mavericks went into halftime up 24-13 after a blocked punt by Chadron State and a Ryan Sheehan field goal rounded out the scoring.
Midway through the third quarter, Rivas was able to pick up his second interception of the afternoon after great coverage downfield and was able to slide underneath and pick off the Stein pass. That wasn’t all for Rivas however, as during the fourth quarter he was able to get his hands on a tipped pass and return it 22-yards for a touchdown.
After the interception the Eagles were able to put together a drive of 10 plays and 52 yards that resulted in a touchdown. Their defense came out and held the Mavs to a field goal. The offense came out again and were able to score again with a quick drive.
Even after a recovered onside kick, the Eagles did not have enough gas to score again as the Mavericks defense held them and caused them to turn the ball over on downs sealing the victory at 47-33.
The Mavs are headed to Golden, Colo. next weekend for a top 25 matchup with the Colorado School of Mines who won their last game against New Mexico Highlands by a score of 54-14.
“Giant game. It’s a playoff game for us. We’re all excited as a team because of how well we are flowing chemistry wise and I think we have a good shot to take the RMAC this year,” offensive captain Aaron Simons said.
