On a rainy day in Durango, the dark clouds weren’t able to cover the Mavericks as they shine in their 31-24 win over the Fort Lewis College (FLC) Skyhawks.
The Colorado Mesa Univesity football team finally was able to pick up a win after two heartbreaking weeks that ended in two consecutive losses. After giving up 72 points against Colorado School of Mines the week before, which was the second most in program history, the Mavericks were able to limit the Skyhawks offense and come away with the win.
Four different quarterbacks saw the field on Saturday for CMU. Eystin Salum played the entire first half and was able to get the Maverick offense running. After the Skyhawks got an early 7-0 lead, Salum capped off a 72-yard drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Alex Powell.
Salum had another touchdown pass in the second quarter to tight end Andy Ritter and ended the day throwing 13-24 for 184 yards and two touchdowns while throwing one interception.
Besides the two touchdown passes in the first half, the Mavericks’ first-half highlight reel featured a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown by freshman KJ Sapp. After a Luis Ruiz-Diaz field goal, CMU went into halftime with a 24-7 lead.
The second half saw Rope Ruel and Brevinn Tyler get the reps under center for the majority of the time. Both Ruel and Tyler had five completions while Aaron Howard got some reps in as well and completed two passes on three attempts.
The running game was the offensive engine in the second half as Jonathan Beverly was able to bring the lead back to 17 points after Fort Lewis quarterback Nick McNamee hit Parker Strahler on a 78-yard bomb.
Beverly finished the game with 128 yards and the one touchdown off of 33 attempts. Brevinn Tyler also got 42 yards on the ground off of eight rushes.
The rushing attack was not as effective for the Skyhawks. The Mavericks defense was able to hold Fort Lewis to only 28 yards on the ground. CMU was also able to pick off McNamee three times on Saturday–Tommy Saager, Kevin Clark and Damar’ren Mitchell were on the receiving end of those takeaways.
Saager, along with Antonio Clark and Isaiah Scott all tied for a game-high six tackles.
The Skyhawks went on to score another ten points to bring the game within seven points but the Mavericks were able to hold on for the remainder of the fourth quarter to come away with the eventual 31-24 win.
It was a much-needed win for Russ Martin and his team because now they have to get ready for the Thunderwolves of CSU-Pueblo for the nationally broadcasted game on ESPN 3.
CSU-Pueblo also suffered a defeat to Colorado School of Mines earlier this season on Sept. 15 but is currently riding a three-game winning streak.
Last year the Mavericks suffered their first loss of the season against the Thunderwolves, but also won the last time a game was played between the two at Stocker Stadium.
The game will take place on Oct. 13 starting at 2:00 p.m.
