Sports Editor
jdredmon@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
The Mavs found themselves down early for the sixth straight game this Saturday against Western New Mexico, who continued the trend of opponents scoring first. With a touchdown pass less than nine minutes into the 1st quarter, the Mustangs were up 14-7 at the half.
WNMU was unable to continue its early success, however, and was outscored 24-0 in the second half by the Mavericks.
The 31-14 win was the largest of the season for the Mavs (2-4, 2-2 RMAC) and was their first against the Mustangs since 2009. CMU now holds a 24-9 overall record against the perennial RMAC opponent.
“I give tremendous credit to our coaches and players in staying focused,” coach Russ Martin said. “We are getting some guys to step up and make some great plays. We have to have guys do that moving forward to keep being successful.”
The only first-half score for the Mavs came off of a 10-yard touchdown run by running back Jake Cimolino that tied the game at 7-7 with 11:33 to go in the second quarter. The run followed a fumble recovery by cornerback Jordan Price, who returned the ball to WNMU’s 10-yard line.
The Mustangs were able to regain the lead later in the quarter off of another touchdown pass by quarterback Mitch Glassman, his 19th of the season, that put WNMU up by seven at the half.
“We came out flat in the first half, honestly,” Cimolino said. “We didn’t switch much up at all in the locker room, though. We just got after it in the second with more intensity.”
The Mavericks’ second-half dominance was established early on, with two-consecutive 11-play drives by the offense. Both drives were capped off by touchdown passes by quarterback Jason Haferman to running back D.J. Hubbard of 14 yards and 19 yards, respectively. CMU’s third drive of the half would only take four plays, ending with a 31-yard touchdown run by Cimolino (his seventh of the season) to extend the lead to 28-14.
The Mavericks would add a field goal on their next drive to go up by 17, their largest lead of the season.
“It’s very good to see drives like that,” Martin said. “That’s the kind of consistency we’re trying to get from the offense. We only punted once in the second half and we decided to do that so we could pin them deep and make them go the length of the field.”
Much of the Mavericks’ offensive success can be attributed to the Cimolino-led rushing attack, which is ranked second overall in the conference behind CSU-Pueblo averaging 205.5 yards a game. Cimolino himself is averaging a conference-high 152.2 yards a game against RMAC opponents.
“Running the ball well forced them to play up, and we were able to execute the play-action because of that,” Martin said. “It’s great having Jake [Cimolino] running like he is. He can make guys miss and take those tough hits, and he’d be the first to say that our offensive line is doing a great job.”
Cimolino logged his fourth 100-yard game of the season with 113 yards and ran for two touchdowns, while D.J. Hubbard grabbed a career-high 57 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Mavericks in receiving. Price led the defense in takeaways with both an interception and a fumble recovery.
Haferman continued his success at quarterback after stepping in for Deke Cisco three weeks ago when an injury against Chadron State sidelined the former starter. Haferman threw for two touchdowns and added 82 yards rushing to go with 147 in the air. His performance in the past couple of weeks has raised questions as to who the starter should be for the Mavs moving forward.
Martin addressed the issue, but said that he is “not at all ready” to make a decision as to who the starter will be next week. Martin then shed some light on Cisco’s injury status and shared that the QB could have played Saturday if needed.
The Mavericks will look to grab their first winning record in RMAC play since 2009 when they take on Fort Lewis College (0-5, 0-4 RMAC) at Stocker Stadium on Saturday.
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