GUNNISON, Colo. – The No. 19 Colorado Mesa football team took an early lead and held on late to defeat the Western State Mountaineers 24-20 at the Mountaineer Bowl in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action. The win was the fifth in a row for Colorado Mesa in the series with their Western Slope rival.
The Mavericks scored on their third drive of the game when
Eystin Salum hooked up with
Tyler Vallin for a 10-yard touchdown. The scoring strike capped off a 9-play, 63-yard drive that took 3:38 off the clock.
Colorado Mesa made it 14-0 after a 1-yard plunge from Salum.
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Lucas Ruiz-Diaz 32-yard field goal made it 17-0 before the Mountaineers scored 14 unanswered points to close out the half.
The Mavericks pushed their lead to 10 after the break after Salum found
Peter Anderson from 14-yards out for a score to make it 24-14. Anderson finished with a pair of career-highs with eight catches for 129 yards.
Western State would get a touchdown late and failed on the on-side kick attempt and Colorado Mesa was able to bleed the clock out.
The offense was able to gain 433 yards of total offense with 240 yards of it coming on the ground. Salum led the rushing attack with 110 yards on 17 carries and a score while freshman
Pailate Makakona finished with 77 yards.
Western State's Isaac Fuqua led all rushers with 196 yards on 27 carries and a score. Fuqua picked 95 of those yards on a touchdown run in the second quarter.
Senior defensive lineman
Chance Drake had a day he will not forget. Drake finished with five tackles with three sacks for a total loss of 17 yards. In all, the defense finished with six sacks for a 30 yards loss.
Marco Garcia led the team in tackles with nine.
The Mavericks improve to 3-0 for the third straight season and remain undefeated in RMAC
play at 2-0. They are one of three teams currently unbeaten in the conference along with Colorado School of Mines and New Mexico Highlands.
Colorado Mesa will return home for a bout with the Chadron State Eagles next Saturday (Sept. 22) at Stocker Stadium with kickoff set for 1pm. Chadron State is coming off a 31-21 victory over Fort Lewis in Nebraska.
