Sports Editor
jdredmon@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
Mistakes and a flat offense was once again the story for the Mavericks on Saturday night against undefeated, No. 1 ranked CSU-Pueblo. The Thunderwolves took advantage of numerous three-and-outs and miscues by the Mavs’ offense, despite the Maverick-defense once again showing signs of improvement early on.
“You have to take care of the fundamentals on offense,” coach Russ Martin said. “When your defense makes a great stop and you fumble on the very next play, they’re having to run right back out after they’ve just had that big up-and-down and that’s one of those change-of-possession deals we have to fix.”
With the Mavs down 7-3 going into the second quarter and an impressive showing by the defense in the first quarter, the game was still very much up for grabs and Pueblo looked a little shaken.
However, the Mavericks were unable to conjure up much of anything offensively in the first half registering two fumbles on miscommunication errors, no third down conversions and gaining only 91 yards to Pueblo’s 227. In the second quarter alone, the Mavericks’ five possessions went for a combined 25 yards on 11 plays and took less than four minutes off of the clock.
Because of the offense’s struggles and turnovers that gave the Thunderwolves a short field, the defense was unable to rest on the sideline and showed signs of fatigue throughout the game. The score quickly ballooned to a 27-3 Pueblo advantage at the half.
“[The early struggles] just killed us,” Martin said. “It set them up in great field position and you can’t give that kind of football team extra possessions and a short field.”
The trend continued into the second half as CMU ended the game with four three-and-outs and their worst time-of-possession since Sept. 15 in the loss to Chadron State.
“That stuff just can’t happen,” running back Jake Cimolino said. “We need to play together and we can’t make those mistakes anymore.”
The Mavericks’ only touchdown in the game came after a 43-yard pass from quarterback Deke Cisco to D.J. Hubbard set up the team at the 5-yard line. Cisco would punch it in three plays later on a rush to make it a 41-10 game early in the fourth quarter. Pueblo would then add another touchdown later in the quarter to notch the 48-10 final.
Cimolino led the Mavericks in rushing yards with 106, once again breaking the 100-yard mark, his sixth time doing so this season and fifth time in the last six games. His 136.4 rushing yards a game in conference play, is the best in the RMAC this season.
Cisco started the game in place of Jason Haferman who injured his knee in last week’s loss to Colorado School of Mines. It was his first time starting a game at quarterback since he injured his knee over a month ago in the loss to Chadron. He threw for career-high 139 yards while completing 44 percent of his passes through the air and rushed for a touchdown.
“It was a little shaky at first, but it feels good to come back,” Cisco said. “We have a lot of good players on this team, it’s just a matter of getting them the ball at the right time. We just have to come together and we haven’t really been able to do that all year.”
The Mavericks (3-6, 3-4 RMAC) are at home again this weekend as they take on Western State (1-8, 1-6 RMAC) on Saturday.
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