In 2018, it was an interception by Antonio Clark with three seconds remaining that sealed the victory after being down 20-3 in the second quarter. On Saturday, it was an interception by Greyson Matalus with six seconds remaining in the game that sealed the win…oh and once again it was after being down 20-3 in the second quarter.
The irony is uncanny as the Colorado Mesa University football team almost duplicated what was done at the beginning of last season in the very first game and against the exact same team. The Mavericks were able to battle back from being down 17 points and continue battling until the very last play where they eventually sealed the 37-33 victory over South Dakota School of Mines.
“We just felt like we had a chance to win the game and we just had to play it a play at a time,” Head Coach Russ Martin said. “We knew in our minds the standpoint of our mistakes more so than just getting beat. So once we eliminated some of those mistakes and put ourselves back into the game.”
One of the main differences from 2018 to 2019 was the number of quarterbacks used in each game. Russ Martin used three quarterbacks this time around. Rope Ruel started the game, Hayden Bollinger entered in the second quarter and then Aaron Howard finished off the comeback in the fourth quarter.
Bollinger led the trio throwing 12-26 for 294 yards, one TD and one INT. He also ran the ball six times. Ruel completed three passes for 48 yards along with the one pick, then Howard ended the game going 5-7 for 33 yards and the one game-winning touchdown.
“Rope started and struggled in the game..and I think he was just forcing a couple of things,” Martin said. “We puy Hayden in he kinda brought us back to life and got us out of a tight situation.”
Rope Ruel was the one who got the start but it wasn’t the ideal start the senior dreamt of. In the first quarter, Ruel was sacked at his own 24-yard line and fumbled the ball that was picked up by the Hardrockers and returned for a touchdown. Then on the very next CMU possession, Ruel threw a pass that was intercepted by the SDMT defense and returned for a pick-six.
At this point, the Hardrocker defense had scored two touchdowns and the Mavericks were down 20-3. The Hayden Bollinger entered the game,
The redshirt sophomore, who was playing in his first game for the Mavericks, entered after the pick-six and led the offense on a four-play, 76-yard drive that was capped by a 28-yard touchdown run by Isaac Maestas.
After SDMT went three-and-out on the next possession, Bollinger got the ball back and made it a ball game again via an 82-yard time across the middle to Peter Anderson who had beaten every member of the Hardrockers secondary. At this point, the score was 17-20 and another field goal by Lucas Ruiz-Diaz tied the game up at 20-20.
It would be too good to say that SDMT was going to lay down for anyone because Hardrocker quarterback Spencer Zur led his offense on a 72-yard drive and got the lead back with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Ahmad Lewis.
Ruiz-Diaz would then knock down his third field goal of the day on the last drive of the first half to cut the lead down to 23-27 heading into halftime.
In the third, the Hardrockers would open it up with a quick field goal but Bollinger would complete five passes the very next drive to allow Maestas to walk into the endzone with a one-yard run to tie it back up again at 30 apiece.
Nick Ciccio, who played in all 11 games last year as a freshman for the Mavericks, got the start yet again in the secondary and got two picks against Zur on Saturday. The second one came at third and goal at the CMU nine-yard line and stopped the potential game-winning touchdown drive.
SDMT would eventually get a field goal to go up 33-30 heading into the fourth.
In the final quarter, Bollinger would complete a 20-yard pass to Andy Ritter but would take an absolute shot on the play that would keep him out for the rest of the game. That is when the third quarterback of the day, redshirt sophomore Aaron Howard would enter and lead CMU on the game-winning drive.
“We were down in the endzone and Hayden could’ve come back into the game but Aaron was already playing well so I just stayed with [him],” Martin said.
Howard would finish the 62-yard drive that Bollinger started and cap it off with a six-yard touchdown pass to Peter Anderson with 9:28 remaining in the game.
Anderson had a fantastic game catching six receptions for 193 yards and the two touchdowns. Other receivers like KJ Sapp and tight end Dagan Reinks played the supporting roles as Sapp caught six passes for 83 yards and Reinks grabbed three balls for 49 yards.
The next couple of drives would consist of a fumble recovered by the Maverick defense at the CMU 29-yard line with 3:49 remaining. SDMT would get the ball back one more time after a punt and drive the ball down to the CMU 12-yard line. On second and seven, Greyson Matalus intercepted the ball at the nine-yard line to seal the 37-33 victory.
