A deja vu kind of win filled with both positives and negatives.
The Mavericks, for the second week in a row, held onto an early lead and persevered through a tough second half in order to remain undefeated. On Saturday, CMU got ahead by 17 in the first half and fought off Western State’s comeback to seal the 24-20 win.
At the highest collegiate football stadium in the country at 7,771 feet in elevation, CMU came in looking to find some momentum and some balance that they have lacked in the first two games in the season. Both games against South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and Eastern New Mexico showed both promising and concerning football from the Mavericks.
Against Western State, it showed that some of the pieces are starting to come together…starting with quarterback Eystin Salum.
Salum put the Mavericks up early with his first touchdown of the game via a ten-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Tyler Vallin. Salum showed to hit his stride fast and easy as the touchdown came on the Mavericks third drive of the game.
Salum would get his first 100-yard rushing game of the year as he ended the day with 110 yards and one score off of 17 carries. He also went 14-32 for 193 yards and two touchdowns through the air.
In the second quarter, Salum would increase the Mavericks lead with a one-yard touchdown dive to cap the 74-yard drive that took 14 plays and took 4:27 off the clock. The lead would extend to 17-0 because of a Lucas Ruiz-Diaz field goal from 32 yards out with 10:43 left in the first half.
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So, like the week prior, CMU gets the lead early and shows signs of offensive comradery in the first half. The running attack continued to be positive with Salum and Lake Makakona splitting the yardage for the Mavericks. Passing wise, Salum stayed solid and managed to pull the CMU offense ahead of Western State with some ease. Defensively, there was a goose egg for the majority of the first half.
Makakona, who scored two touchdowns in each of his first two games, was left with none against Western State but would rush for a solid 77 yards off of 18 carries.
But in the latter part of the second quarter, all those positives would dimmer down a tad as Western State would start to play quality football.
The Mountaineers would mount a comeback and score 14 unanswered points before heading into the half. Western State running back Isaac Fuqua would light the fire with a 95-yard run with 5:46 remaining in half in what was the longest running play in Western State history. Fuqua’s run would get rid of the goose egg and be the highlight in his 196 yards rushing and one touchdown performance.
A touchdown pass from Dylan Jacobs with two seconds left before the half would cut the CMU lead down to three.
In the second half, the Maverick offense was silenced a tad but it would take only three drives again for Salum to find Peter Anderson in the end zone to cap a quick five-play drive and give CMU the 24-14 lead.
The Mountaineers would attempt to come back again in the fourth with a late touchdown pass from Dylan Jacob, but both the extra point and the onside kick attempt would fall short. CMU would hold the ball to run down the clock and hold on to their perfect record in the process from the 24-20 win.
So, the main positives? The Mavericks’ offense put up 433 yards of total offense and 240 of them coming on the ground. Salum rushed for 110 yards and was able to show some consistency in the air. Six different receivers caught passes and Peter Anderson led the charge with eight catches for 129 yards and a touchdown.
The defense also looked more consistent and was able to hold the Mountaineers offense to under 200 yards rushing and only six points in the second half.
Negatives? There were four fumbles in which two of them ended up in Mountaineer possession. The Maverick offense shined primarily in the first half and a tough time getting drives together against a lesser talented Western State defense.
However, CMU did still win the football game and are 3-0 heading into a key matchup against Chadron State this next week. The Eagles are 2-1 after their most recent win against Fort Lewis where they put up 31 points against the Skyhawks.
The next two games against Chadron State and Colorado School of Mines will really show what kind of football team CMU is. The contest against Chadron State will take place on Sept. 22 at Stocker Stadium at 1 p.m.
