GOLDEN, COLO. – Colorado Mesa University All-American defensive back Dustin Rivas blocked an extra point in double overtime to give No. 23 Colorado Mesa its second straight Nykios Cup win with a 41-40 double overtime victory over No. 10 Colorado Mines Saturday (Sept. 17).

Mesa enjoyed a 6-0 lead at the end of the first quarter compliments of two field goals from Ryan Sheehan from 22- and 44-yards.

Mines tied the game at 6-6 with the first of four touchdown passes from Justin Dvorak with 12:00 left in the second but missed the extra point.

David Tann gave the Mavs a 13-6 halftime lead after a one-yard rushing touchdown to cap a seven-play, 64-yard drive with 8:10 left in the second.

Josh Brown caught a pair of touchdown passes (21- and 39-yards) for CMU, and Zac Guy ran two-yards for a touchdown for CSM, but the Mavericks led 27-13 heading into the fourth quarter.

Mines tied the game at 27 with back-to-back scoring drives of more than 75 yards.

Mesa struggled offensively in the fourth quarter punting on all four of its possessions, but the CMU defense came up with three big stops.

The Mavs recovered a fumble on its own 13-yard line and intercepted a Mines pass to stop two potential scoring drives.

The Orediggers missed a 42-yard field goal with three seconds remaining to send the game to overtime. Mines missed two field goals and two extra points in the game.

Mines went on offense first in the opening overtime period and scored a touchdown on a 19-yard pass.

David Tann responded with a 14-yard touchdown reception for CMU.

The Mavs led off the second overtime with a 19-yard touchdown strike from Sean Rubalcaba to Virnel Moon to lead 41-34.

Justin Dvorak answered for Mines with a 13-yard touchdown run on fourth down, but Dustin Rivas blocked the extra point to give Mesa the one-point win, 41-40.

Rivas also recorded the last block for CMU on a point after attempt against CSU-Pueblo last year.

Mines racked up 588 yards of total offense, including 485 through the air from the arm of Justin Dvorak who became the all-time passing leader in school history for the Orediggers. He also threw two interceptions.

Mesa tallied 300 of its 334 yards of total offense through the air. Sean Rubalcaba finished 18-of-28 for 241 yards and three touchdowns. Eystin Salum completed both of his passes for a total of 59 yards and one touchdown.

Colorado Mines led 31-20 in first downs.

Marcus Cross led the Mavericks with 11 tackles. Blake Nelson, Taylor Schultz and Sam Mabany each recorded a sack. Carlos Aviles and Antonio Clark each intercepted
passes for CMU.

Colorado Mesa (3-0, 3-0) joins Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines as the only undefeated teams in the RMAC.

Colorado Mines was the last ranked team that Colorado Mesa beat when they defeated the No. 12 Orediggers 31-17 last season.

Colorado Mesa will play at Fort Lewis (1-2, 1-2) Sept. 24.