GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa University rallied from a 17 point deficit to defeat Western State 31-23 in the series finale for both schools Saturday (Nov. 15). CMU scored 25 of its 31 points on special teams.
Western State scored on its first play of the game when Brett Arrivey threw an 81-yard touchdown pass to Darren Brady.
Ryan Winke extended the Mountaineer lead with a 27-yard field goal at 6:38 of the first.
Austin Ekeler, who would finish with a game-high 155 rushing yards, ran for a four yard touchdown to extend the WSCU lead to 17-0 with 7:15 remaining.
Ryan Sheehan would get the Mavericks on the scoreboard with a 24-yard field goal with five seconds remaining.
Duran would complete a 47-yard touchdown pass to
Ricky Trinidad to cut the Western lead to seven at 3:24 of the third quarter.
The Mavericks would march 57 yards on nine plays to set-up a 25 yard field goal. Punter
Austin Pitchford would pick up the bad snap and roll to out to his right. Unable to find a receiver, he threw the ball to the middle of the endzone where
Bryan Bunner caught the pass for the touchdown to tie the game at 17.
Tony White would force and recover a fumble on the ensuing kickoff to give the Mavericks their first lead of the game 24-17 with 12:52 remaining in the game.
The Mountaineers would manufacture a seven play, 65 yard touchdown that culminated in a 38-yard touchdown pass from Arrivey to Kyle Adkins with 10:18 remaining.
Teddy Silano would block the extra point attempt to preserve a 24-23 lead for CMU.
Western State lost its second fumble of the game, this one on a fumble that was recovered by
David Tann in the endzone with four minutes remaining to complete the scoring.
Western finished with 482 yards of total offense, including 289 yards of passing offense.
Colorado Mesa tallied 278 yards of total offense with a 173 yards rushing.
Austin Pitchford broke the RMAC record with 12 punts for 560 yards. He had four punts over 50 yards, including a long of 57 yards.
Ricky Trinidad finished with a team-high 88 yards receiving and 54 yards rushing.
Tom Saager finished with a team-high 12 tackles.
Taylor Schultz and
Blake Nelson each finished with 10.
Marcus Cross finished with seven tackles and was involved in three of the Mavericks seven tackles for loss.
With the win, the Mavericks finish the season 6-5 overall and 5-4 in the RMAC. This is the first winning season for CMU football since 2008.
