The Mavericks dominate in their home opener as they cruised to a 40-3 win over William Jewell College (WJC).
Redshirt freshman quarterback Karst Hunter started in his first game for the Mavericks and finished the game with 302 passing yards. He went 22 of 43 passing and he threw two touchdowns. Hunter was the second-leading rusher for Colorado Mesa University (CMU) with 65 rushing yards.
“It felt like they had 85 people in the box, it looked like they had every gap covered twice, and for us to still run the ball as we did, I thought was impressive. Anytime somebody loads the box on us, we’ve got to throw the ball down the field. We’ve got to loosen that box up so we can run the ball, and we were able to do that,” Head Coach Tremaine Jackson said.
“Karst threw his first touchdown tonight as a college quarterback, Avian [Thomas] scored his first college touchdown tonight. We had a lot of firsts tonight. We’ve got talented guys, but they are still young. That’s what is so exciting about this program now, we’ve got young, talented guys.”
The Cardinals were first to get the ball in the game, and they put together an impressive drive for their only score of the night. They were able to put together a 19-play drive that was driven by their rushing attack.
WJC ran for 56 yards in their opening drive which got them to the six-yard line before they were forced to kick a field goal.
The Mavericks were slow to get started offensively, but they got their first scoring drive going with 39 seconds left in the first quarter. CMU started with a great field position starting on the WJC 48-yard line.
Hunter picked up an eight-yard run on the first play of the drive. CMU was then rewarded with a 16-yard pass interference penalty that put them near midfield. The drive stalled at the WJC 29-yard line, and redshirt junior kicker Lucas Ruiz-Diaz hit a 41-yard field goal to tie the game at three.
CMU’s offense started to kick into gear as they put together a 15-play drive that ended in a field goal. Freshman running back Avian Thomas scored the first touchdown of his career and the 2021 season on a two-yard run.
Thomas’s touchdown got the offense going, and they were nearly unstoppable in the second half. CMU scored on five of their six possessions in the second half to run away from the game.
Ruiz-Diaz capped off the opening possession with a 36-yard field goal to put CMU up 16-3.
The Cardinals put together a drive with three first downs, but they stalled at the CMU 45-yard line before they were forced to punt the football.
The Mavericks started the drive on their own 20-yard line, and they got one first down to extend the drive.
Hunter and graduate student wide receiver Elijah Lilly had different ideas. Hunter found Lilly wide open, and Lilly outran everyone to his first CMU touchdown on a 65-yard score.
“It felt good, all glory to god. Coming out here, it was a very emotional game with it being suicide awareness month. A few years ago, I lost my best friend to suicide, I lost another teammate and friend to suicide this coming year. So, scoring that first touchdown, I really did it for them. It’s just bigger than me because there are other people out there who want me to go out and play hard,” Lilly said.
Hunter wasn’t done yet.
CMU took back over with 11:09 left in the fourth quarter that started on their own 30-yard line. The Maverick’s offense put together another long drive, but redshirt junior tight end Dagan Rienks ended it in style.
Rienks caught a nine-yard touchdown with one hand to put the Mavericks up 33-3.
The Mavericks put in backup quarterback freshman Gavin Herberg. Herberg came into the game and ripped an 82-yard run on his first play in the game. He scored CMU’s final touchdown a play later with a five-yard rushing attempt.
Senior linebacker Remington Green finished with a game-high 12 total tackles and one sack. Green also recorded one tackle for loss in the Mavericks win. Junior Brooklyn Hardiman finished the game with nine total tackles which earned him the second-best mark for CMU.
“It was a slow start, but once we got our feet, our feet rolling we were just getting the job done. We were just doing what coach BA expects us to do. 212 degrees is the boiling point of water, and once you get the water to boil, it produces steam. Steam has the power to fuel a locomotive and that is how we drive ourselves, and we must push every day to make sure we are playing at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.” Green said.
The Maverick’s dominated on the ground as they finished the game with 231 rushing yards on 32 attempts. CMU had three different people finish the game with an average of 6.5 yards per carry or better.
The Mavericks have a bye week next week, but they travel to New Mexico Highlands University on Sept. 18 in Las Vegas, NM.
