jdredmon@mavs.coloradomesa.edu

Mistakes proved to be too much for the Mavericks’ football team as it opened up their season against No. 21 Humboldt State University for the second year in a row on Thursday and once again found themselves on the losing end, leaving Arcata, Calif., with a 38-19 loss.

Sophomore running back Jake Cimolino, who led the team last Thursday with 189 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, pointed out that while the game didn’t end up the way they had hoped, the team was still able to remain composed during the game despite the mistakes.

“I feel like everybody is more on the same page,” Cimolino said. “As far as the offense, we’re more together and we know what everyone is doing. (Last year) when we got down, it looked like everybody was starting to give up, but this year I feel like we have a more competitive edge and we’re not quitting at all. We battled that entire game.”

The Mavericks were able to hang with Humboldt for much of the game. However, four turnovers, coming off of two fumbles and a pair of interceptions split by Cisco and junior Austen Fales, and problems kicking, with a botched extra point and two missed field goals by sophomore kicker Alex Zemezonak, proved too much for the team to overcome.

The Mavs found themselves down 14-0 in the first five minutes of the game after a fumble on their opening kick return of the season followed a Jacks’ touchdown on their opening drive.

“We were in it the entire time,” Cimolino said. “It’s just the little mistakes that we’re working on fixing and we’ll have to go from there.”

After winning the starting job late in the week leading up to Thursday’s matchup, Cisco completed 10 of 21 passes for 96 yards and a touchdown, but was able to bring an added running dimension to the game with 76 yards rushing and a touchdown on the ground.

“We feel comfortable moving forward with (Cisco) as our guy,” Martin said. “He made strides and played much better in the second half.”

This Saturday, the Mavs will face D1 Northern Colorado, who, despite losing 41-0 last week to Utah, are used to playing teams with a very high level of talent.

“(Northern Colorado) is gonna be a very, very good football team,” Martin said. “They’re playing a whole different caliber of competition than we are. Physically they’re gonna be bigger and they’re gonna be faster. And that’s gonna be the biggest key for us: how good and how smart can we play? That’s all we gotta focus on.”