Photo Courtesy Ashley Swanson, The Eagle, CSC

The Mavericks took an early two-score lead in the first five minutes of their second straight matchup against a ranked opponent.

The Mavs upped the score to 15-0 with another short touchdown run early in the second quarter by quarterback Kyle Duran, making his second start of the season.

After a couple back-and-forth scores, the Mavericks started to give when the Eagles outscored CMU 20-3 in a 11-minute period and held on to a 30-24 lead for the last 12 minutes and change. Questionable calls and blown assignments plagued the Mavericks throughout the game, especially in the redzone where they scored only two touchdowns in seven attempts, settling for field goals on four others.

“It was frustrating to say the least,” coach Russ Martin said Sunday while reviewing game tape. “If we convert on some of those redzone attempts we had, we win the game. It would have been a huge accomplishment. This team has a chance to be really good, we just need to make a full mental commitment.”

Duran completed 15 of 27 passes and made no grave errors in throwing a Mavs’ season-high 157 yards and rushing for a touchdown in the heartbreaker. The performance leaves little doubt as to whether he will retain his job for CMU’s rush-heavy offense and its home game against 0-3 Black Hills State University on Saturday.

“Black Hills State may be 0-3, but they’ve also been hurting themselves with mistakes,” Martin said. He then brought up last year’s game against the Yellowjackets, in which Black Hills scored the go-ahead touchdown with a little over three minutes in the game to give them a 29-28 lead.

“Last year, they took the lead and we were able to go down and get in position to kick the field goal and grab the win,” Martin said. “So as we get ready, it’s going to be the same as the last few weeks: we’re going to focus on us to eliminate the mental mistakes. We aren’t playing smart every time.”

Saturday’s game is at Stocker Stadium and kickoff is slated for 1 p.m.

jdredmon@mavs.coloradomesa.edu