Mistakes make football games. That is moral of the 30-28 contest between Colorado Mesa University and Western Colorado University that saw the Mountaineers win the game on a last-second tipped field goal that still went through.
10 penalties and three turnovers by the Mavericks ended up costing them throughout the game, moreover, two fourth-down stops, a blocked field goal, six sacks, a fumble and an interception was still not enough to overcome the Mountaineers. Western escaped Stocker with the win while the Mavericks trudged off with heads held even lower than last week’s overtime loss.
“It was kind of those things where there were some really good things and some really bad things,” Head Coach Russ Martin said. “We gave up another touchdown again while we were on offense. We can’t do that…that’s terrible.”
The lead was exchanged five times on Saturday night, but it wasn’t pretty for either team.
“We’re not as experienced as what we have been in the past,” Martin said. “Our guys are playing hard and I think we will find ways to get those wins…when we do I think our guys will find out just how good we can be. Right now I don’t think we are playing consistent enough.”
After a three-and-out to start the night, safety Darian Turner would get the ball back for the Mavericks after diving to the turf to snatch the ball away from James Bryant. However, the drive would once again result in a CMU punt after Aaron Howard would get sacked for the first time.
Western would strike first after making the CMU offense punt in their first three offensive possessions. The Mountaineers started the drive on the CMU 42 and drove the remainder of the way in only 46 seconds. On the second play of the drive, Connor Desch nailed a 35-yard bomb to Zach Manchester.
“Defensively I think we are on track to being great,” Darian Turner said. “It came down to some critical calls, a couple of missed keys on both ends of the ball.”
The Mavericks would continue to struggle for the remainder of the first quarter attaining only 36 yards of total offense while Western had 105. The start of the second would mirror the first as Howard would continue to struggle to throw outside the pocket because of the constant pressure by Western. The redshirt sophomore got sacked three times in the first half alone.
Eventually, the Maverick defense would get off the field and the offense got a chance to construct a methodical but impressive 19-play, 83-yard drive that was capped by a one-yard touchdown run by Isaac Maestas. Howard found three different receivers on the drive.
Maestas would have his best game of the season so far. The sophomore would run for 139 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.
With 1:21 remaining in the first half, Western would attempt to drive down the field and score to go into halftime with a lead, however, they could only accomplish the prior. The Mountaineers would get down to the CMU 20 before attempting a 40-yard field goal that was blocked by Justin White.
It was the second field goal block CMU has had in the last two weeks.
The Maverick defense indeed has its highs and lows. Piss poor penalties by the whole squad, mixed some immaculate work from Mason Newton who had 3.5 sacks and four tackles for loss, really leaves you scratching your head because it was obvious they played hard, but still made some really abysmal mistakes.
To start the third, CMU would force Western to punt on the first drive before Maestas would break a 62-yard dash. The run would set up Aaron Howard’s 10-yard touchdown pass to KJ Sapp to give the Mavericks the 14-7 lead.
After it appeared the Mavericks had control of the game, Western would capitalize off a muffed punt and score on the very next play via a 23-yard touchdown pass from Connor Desch. Then on CMU’s first play of their next drive, Rope Ruel would enter the game only to throw his second pick-six of the year giving Western the lead back.
“Those are the things that are killing us,” Martin said. “Our guys played hard and we played well. We knew it was going to be a tough game and it’s just a standpoint that our guys have got to play smarter. I’m not gonna say harder; I think they’re giving great heart and giving great effort. But we just gotta be smarter in some of the things that we do.”
After it seemed as if all the momentum had been sucked out of the lungs of CMU, Howard would convert on a 3rd and 17 via a 52-yard bomb to Peter Anderson. The very next play, Howard would strike again, this time to tight end Dagan Reinks for a 23-yard sideline tiptoe to the goal line to the tie it up 21 apiece.
Howard ended the night going 20-31 for 223 yards and the two touchdown tosses. Anderson racked up 123 yards off of his nine receptions.
The Mavericks would then regain the lead for a second time after the Mountaineers dropped the ball attempting to punt it away and CMU would coordinate a seven-yard touchdown drive. One would think this is where CMU should boil down and secure the lead with their defense that has been much more effective in the second half…right?
Not so likely, a few plays later and Western is back in the endzone after an 11-play, 69-yard drive. A missed extra point by Chandler Davis would allow CMU to hold onto a 28-27 lead. They would keep the lead for an additional ten minutes…until the final play where Davis would get a second chance, and win the game with the 29-yard field goal. The game-winning drive was kept alive by a pair of pass interference calls and some crucial missed tackles by the Maverick defense.
“We just gotta keep encouraging our offense and get them going,” Turner said. “We gotta make sure we keep it positive on the sidelines with everybody so we should be good.”
With the loss, CMU drops to 1-2 and will have to look towards a tough bulk in their schedule when they travel to Chadron State next week and then return home to face the undefeated Colorado School of Mines the following Saturday.
