GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - The Mavericks pulled out their first home win of the 2019 season with a 17-10 victory over the Fort Lewis Skyhawks on Saturday in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference matchup at Ralph Stocker Stadium.
 
Fort Lewis College won the coin toss and opted to receive. On their first drive of the game the Maverick defense forced a three and out by the Hawks and held them to under nine yards. But Mesa struggled to convert on their drives and the first quarter passed without a score on either side.
 
The big play of the second quarter came after a punt by Maestas put the Skyhawks in scoring position. Beau McCannon came in for the Skyhawks to put up the first score of the game, connecting on a 44-yard field goal for the lone score of the half by either team.
 
Colorado Mesa started the second half with the ball, but were unable to convert for a first down, after a punt by Isaac Maestas Fort Lewis took over on their 20. After a gain of six by the Skyhawks, Reed Rowan came up with the sack on Fort Lewis's Erik Ornduff forcing a punt.
 
On their next drive the Mavericks brought in Hayden Bollinger at the quarterback position. Bollinger completed a 23 yarder to Dagan Rienks for a huge first down that came on third down for the Mavericks. A pair of Fort Lewis penalties put the Mavericks down on the 2-yard line. Bollinger ran it in resulting in the first touchdown of the game for Colorado Mesa to make it 7-3 in favor of the Mavericks.
 
Fort Lewis began their next drive ready to answer for the Mavericks' score and started with a 24-yard pass from Ornduff to Markez Boykin for a Hawks first down. Ornduff found Zach Russell for the Fort Lewis touchdown, and Beau McCannon punched in the extra point to take the lead over the Mavericks 10-7.
 
After a short drive by the Mavericks, a Bollinger pass was intercepted by Shane Wetzel at the Fort Lewis College 15-yard line, where he returned it for 13 yards. Nick Ciccio and Reed Rowan added to the list with two more quarterback hurries, resulting in incomplete passes. The Maverick defense forced another three and out, holding the Hawks to only 2 yards.
 
To start the fourth quarter Bollinger completed a pass to Peter Anderson for an 18-yard gain, and a CMU first down. Bollinger handed it off to Jesse Rodriguez for an eight-yard gain, to set the Mavericks up for a field goal. Ruiz-Diaz tied it up at 10-10 with a 37-yard kick.
 
After a short three and out by the Fort Lewis offense, Colorado Mesa took over on their own 31-yard line. Maestas rushed for a Maverick first down, and then Bollinger threw it to Dagan Rienks for a 13-yard gain and another Maverick first down. Bollinger handed it off to Maestas for a 48-yard touchdown for Mesa. After another good kick by Ruiz Diaz, the Mavericks took the lead 17-10.
 
The sophomore from Palisade finished the game with 110 yards on just 11 carries and the score.
 
After an uneventful drive by Fort Lewis, Mesa took over on the CMU 35. Maestas accounted for back to back first downs.  Later the Maverick drive came to a halt, when a Bollinger pass was intercepted by Dakota Helms who returned it 20 yards. An Ornduff pass to Zach Russell resulted in a gain of 13 and a Hawks first down. Another completion by Ornduff to Boykin resulted in a four-yard gain. Then Reed Rowan teamed up with Ricky Hayes for a sack for a loss of five. On the next play, Greyson Matalus iced the game with an interception giving Mesa the ball on the CMU 28-yard line with 44 seconds remaining in the game.
 
Hayes finished the game with two and a half sacks while Matalus had a game-high 13 tackles.
 
Colorado Mesa ran down the clock and finished the day with a 17-10 win over Fort Lewis College. The victory by the Mavericks puts them at 3-3 overall and 3-2 in conference play, leaving the Hawks also at 3-3 and 3-3 overall.
 
Next week the Colorado Mesa football team will be back on the road to take Colorado State University - Pueblo, in Pueblo at the Neta and Eddie DeRose Thunderbowl stadium. The game will take place Saturday, October 19^th at 2pm.