It appears as if breath-taking moments are already being made by the CMU football team in 2018.
The 2018 Colorado Mesa University football game ended in the most exciting way possible. Team Maroon ended up beating Team White with a walk-off touchdown on the very last play of the game to win 16-14.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Aaron Howard make his mark by completing the game-winning touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Corbin Covey, who elevated himself above the secondary to come down with the catch in the corner of the end zone.
“They knew it was the last play and last drive,” Head coach Russ Martin said. “It was just a great effort…it was so exciting.”
The Maroon team ended up finding themselves down 14-3 after the first touchdown of the game came via Rope Ruel who made a dart pass to give the White Team a second-half lead. A couple of minutes later, Daryl Hawkins punched in the one-yard touchdown run to bring the lead up to 11.
“I feel more confident back there,” quarterback Rope Rule said. “I’m just going out there and having fun.”
Regular starting quarterback Eystin Salum was on the sidelines and not dressed during the spring game in which Rule was able to take the first team reps and get his shot against the maroon defense while Aaron Howard commanded the opposing offense against the White Team.
It was anything and everything you could hope for out of a spring game as it appeared both teams were playing to their fullest potential and embraced the spirit of inner-team competition.
They portrayed that they wanted to beat their Maverick counterparts.
“I was really pleased today with the intensity,” coach Martin said. “We came out injury free…and that’s the biggest win.”
The biggest plays of the day were made in the most unexpected occurrences. Aaron Howard found himself down by 11 and was about to get sacked in the backfield on the third-to-last drive of the game. However, the Chandler High School graduate evaded the swarming defense after a bad snap and made an off-balance screen pass to tight end Andy Ritter who caught the ball an inch off the ground. Ritter would then find himself behind some helpful blocks to eventually stumble over the goal line after running 50+ yards for the touchdown.
“The defense was swarming [Howard] because the ball was on the ground,” coach Martin said. “Andy [Ritter] then takes the screen and goes and scores.”
The sidelines cleared in celebration to embrace Ritter because it is not very often one sees a 6’4” 270 pound tight end running almost 60 yards downfield off of an innovated screenplay.
The White Team would then get a chance to come back and attempt to seal the game, but the maroon defense caused the essential turnover to eventually seal the win with the Corbin Covey touchdown.
Both defenses and offenses were without leaders such as Eystin Salum, Tommy Saager and Antonio Clark. Saager and Clark had to take the spring semester off from contact practices in order for them to be eligible in the fall.
However, Head coach Russ Martin would then take the time to name new captains on both sides of the ball after the game. Players like defensive lineman Chance Drake and offensive lineman Christian Leui will now take the role of captain heading into the fall.
Martin would then give his closing speech and officially announce the end of spring ball and now all eyes are set towards the fall of 2018.
“It’s been an exciting season seeing these guys continue to grow and continue to grow throughout the summer,” Martin said. “August will be here before you know it.”
