After a 40-minute weather delay, the Mesa State football team tried to stay perfect at home. But CSU-Pueblo was too much to handle for the Mavs, who ended up losing 26-14.
With 10:13 left in the second quarter, the Thunderwolves were up 14-0. The Mavericks showed no signs of life on offense or defense. The offense punted on the first two drives and the defense allowed two long drives that both resulted in touchdowns.
The Mavs finally scored a touchdown on a 61-yard drive to respond to the Thunderwolves second TD. Michael Mankoff hit Robert Felberg for a 24 yard catch to put the Mavs on the one-yard line. Running back J.R. Hamm pounded it in for a one-yard touchdown just two plays later. On the Thunderwolves next drive, Sean Matheson picked off back up quarterback Sebastian Trujillo on the 41-yard line, which led to a six yard Mankoff TD pass to Nathan Neville to tie the game at 14-14.
At the half it looked promising for the Mavs, but on the first drive of the second half Michael Mankoff was picked off and Grant Crunkleton returned it for a touchdown. That put the Mavs down 20-14 and the Thunderwolves didn’t let up. The second half was a game of good field possession and long drives by CSU-Pueblo. The rain caused bad snap fumbles for both teams, killing drives in the second half. CSU-Pueblo added two more field goals to take a 26-14 lead, which was the final score.
“Disappointing. I am very disappointed. I thought we put together a solid first half and I was very proud of our start,” defensive end Domonique Lewis said. “The pick six to start the second half was a bad start and it really just went south from there. Pueblo did a good job of sustaining long drives and keeping the defense on the field and eating up the clock, which hurt us. We need to clean up our tackling as far as D goes. I am just disappointed about how the season has gone thus far. Luckily we have three games left to end this season on a high note.”
Lewis ended the day with three tackles and one sack. He is leading the team in sacks with five.
Hamm ran for 71 yards on 25 carries. Mankoff completed 12-19 passes for 110 yards and had two touchdowns and two interceptions. Jake Bruno led all players with 13 tackles. Trent deBraga and Tanner Whaley finished with 12 and 11 tackles respectively.
Mesa State will host Western State College Saturday at Stocker Stadium.
u
afix@mesastate.edu