GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa football team snapped a two-game skid in a 45-24 homecoming game win over Dixie State on Saturday (Oct. 27) evening at Stocker Stadium in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action.
 
Dixie State took the early lead after Sei-J Lauago took a handoff and went 62-yards for a touchdown on the first play of the drive to give the Trailblazers the early 6-0 lead, as the extra point sailed wide right.
 
Senior Eystin Salum hooked up with true freshman Davick Clark for a 69-yard touchdown pass later in the first quarter to give the Mavericks a 7-6 lead. The touchdown was Clark's first touchdown of his collegiate career.
 
The two teams traded field goals to open the second quarter of action.
 
With 1:50 to play in the half, Salum threw his second touchdown pass of the game when he found his favorite target, Peter Anderson, on a 44-yard touchdown strike. The touchdown gave Anderson eight on the season and gave Colorado Mesa a 17-9 halftime lead.
 
Anderson ended up with eight catches for 126 yards and the score. It was his seventh straight game with 100-yards receiving and is now just 92 yards shy of tying the single season receiving yard mark set by Drew Bohanan in 2005. He is also just seven catches away from tying the single season reception mark also held by Bohanan.
 
Dixie State scored the first of two third quarter touchdowns to open the third quarter. The Trailblazers converted on the two-point conversion to knot the game at 17-17 with 12:35 to play in the third quarter.
 
Salum threw his third touchdown of the game with 9:40 to play in the third. He found redshirt freshman KJ Sapp on an 18-yard pass to pay dirt and a 24-17 lead.
 
Salum finished the game 18-for-30 for 303 yards. It was the second 300-yard passing game of the season and career for the Denver native. He also had 32 yards rushing on 14 attempts including a fumble.
 
The Trailblazers answered with a touchdown of their own to once again tie the game at 24-24 with 5:37 to play in the third.
 
Senior Jonathon Beverly gave the Mavericks their final lead of the game and saved his best for now. Beverly scored on a scamper from 28-yards out to give Colorado Mesa a 31-24 lead, on his longest run of the season, with 1:44 to play in the third quarter.
 
Less than 40 seconds later, senior Antonio Clark intercepted a Michael Sanders pass and took it 62-yards to the house to widen the Maverick lead to 38-24. Clark finished with a game-high 10 tackles and added a forced fumble and two pass deflections.
 
After another defensive stop, the Maverick offense found some insurance. On the third play of the drive, freshman Pailate Makakona took a handoff and went 85-yards for a touchdown. The touchdown run was the longest in at least the last 10 years and gave Colorado Mesa the final 45-28 win.
 
Makakona ended up with 131 yards on 12 carries (10.9 average) and the touchdown. It was his second 100-yard rushing game of the season, first since the 108 yards he had against Eastern New Mexico on Week 2.
 
The 45 points scored and the 558 yards of total offense are the most by Colorado Mesa this season.
 
Colorado Mesa improved its record to 5-4 on the season and evened their mark in the RMAC to 4-4 while Dixie State drops to 5-4 and 5-3 in the conference.
 
The Mavericks will host Adams State next weekend at Stocker Stadium at 7pm in the final home game of the season. The Grizzlies lost 52-20 in their non-conference matchup with Angelo State in Texas on Saturday.