It was only a matter of time before David Tann exploded into a human highlight reel. Tann ran for five touchdowns in a 35-22 rout of Dixie State on Saturday.
Before Saturday, the senior running back had only two 100-yard games under his belt along with six rushing touchdowns. Against Dixie State, Tann nearly doubled that number.
The Colorado Mesa University football team traveled to Utah to take on Dixie State in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) matchup in what would be a key game in the season. The Mavericks, before Saturday, possessed a 5-1 record and were second in the RMAC standings behind CSU-Pueblo. However, earlier on Saturday the Thunderwolves fell to Fort Lewis College 35-24. So a win for the Mavericks would put them in sole possession of first place in the RMAC.
Last season CMU fell victim to a very successful Dixie State running offense which put up 332 yards rushing and three touchdowns in the 38-31 win over the Mavericks. This year the tables were turned in a complete 180-degree angle in favor of CMU.
The Mavericks fell behind early with a pick-six by Dixie State’s Jaylen Moore in which put the Trailblazers up 6-0 after a missed PAT. A Dixie State field goal late in the first quarter would put the Mavericks down 9-0 heading into the second quarter.
After gaining significant field position at the start of the second, the high scoring Maverick offense eased their way down to the end zone in which ended in a four-yard touchdown run by David Tann.
CMU was just getting started from there.
The Mavericks would take their first lead of the game just five minutes later with another Tann touchdown to cap off a 74-yard drive in which only took one minute and 19 seconds.
Once again, the Mavericks scoring drives during the span of the game did not over succeed two minutes in time duration.
However, Dixie State would not go quietly as the Trailblazers scored on the following drive with a 78-yard drive of their own to regain the lead 15-14 heading into halftime.
Eystin Salum’s name did not make it into the scoring column for the first time this season, yet the quarterback made his name known on the ground. Salum ran for 193 yards off of 19 carries while completing only 8-21 passes for 106 yards, no touchdowns and one interception.
Despite Salum not scoring a single time on Saturday, in which he leads the Mavericks in scoring this season, David Tann picked up the slack adding three more touchdowns in the second half.
The most highlighted touchdown came in the form of a 67-yard run by Tann in the third quarter to regain the lead for the Mavericks.
They would not lose it again after that.
CMU’s defensive game was highlighted by Darian Turner’s interception along with his 10 total tackles. Defensive end Blake Nelson also threw his name in the hat with two sacks to add onto the 3.5 he had last week against Black Hills State.
The Mavericks immersed 542 yards of total offense and only allowed 326 yards in which allowed them to come away with the eventual 35-22 win.
CMU will continue their road trip when they take on Adams State on Oct. 21 from Alamosa, Colo.
