GRAND JUNCTION, COLO- This Saturday October 26^th, the Colorado Mesa football team will host the Yellow Jackets of Black Hills State University for their annual Homecoming game at Ralph Stocker Stadium, at 1pm.  
 
Last Week
Last Saturday, October 19^th, Colorado Mesa football lost their first road game of the 2019 season to CSU-Pueblo 22-48. The Thunderwolves took an early 31-0 lead over Mesa in the first half. The first score for the Mavericks came by Isaac Maestas on a rushing touchdown. After a missed field goal, the teams went into the half with a score of 31-6 in favor of the Thunderwolves. CSU-Pueblo opened the second half with a touchdown, but Mesa soon cut the lead to 38-22 after scoring 16 unanswered points in the third quarter. Although the Mavericks held tough through the fourth, they were unable to make it into the end zone and fell to the Thunderwolves 22-48. CSU-Pueblo is now 6-1 overall and 5-1 in conference play and has moved up two spots in the national poll to No. 13.
 
Senior DB, Darian Turner led the Maverick defense with a total of 12 tackles. Mason Newton remained impressive, with 7 tackles, 2 TFL's, and had the sole Mesa sack of the game. Colorado Mesa is now 3-4 overall and 3-3 in RMAC play.
 
Hall of Honors New Additions
This weekend's matchup between Colorado Mesa and Black Hills will also feature two new inductees into the Colorado Mesa Hall of Honors. Bobby Coy, a former member of the Maverick football team will be joined by Jennee Studer (West) a CMU Softball alum, to formally be inducted into the Hall of Honors at halftime at this Saturday's homecoming game.
 
Scouting the Yellow Jackets
Black Hills State is headed to Grand Junction this weekend from, Spearfish, South Dakota. The Yellow Jackets are relatively new to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The school joined the RMAC in 2012 on a provisional basis and became an official member of the conference in 2013. The Black Hills football team first faced off against the Mavericks seven years ago. The Mavericks have dominated in their history against the Yellow Jackets, winning five of their seven games against BHSU. Colorado Mesa has been undefeated against Black Hills at home, their only two losses to the team both came on the road.
 
ALL- TIME SERIES: Colorado Mesa 5-2
AT COLORADO MESA: 3-0
AT BLACK HILLS: 2-2
 
The Mavericks are looking to keep their undefeated at home record against the Yellow Jackets, and to bounce back from last season's 26-31 loss. Black Hills State is 2-5 overall and in conference play and have not yet had their non-conference matchup. The Yellow Jackets sole wins of the 2019 season have been against Fort Lewis College (13-7) and South Dakota School of Mines (48-28).
 
Similarly, to the Mavericks, the Yellow Jackets have displayed some depth at the quarterback position. The Black Hills offense appears to be operating under a quarterback by committee situation, with three different quarterbacks seeing a decent amount of playing time throughout the season so far. Of the three quarterbacks, Chance Eben leads with 529 yards passing and four touchdowns, Andrew Tovar is next with 446 yards passing and three touchdowns, and Tyler Hammons has 220 yards passing with two touchdowns.
 
One of the biggest threats to the Maverick defense will be Kielar Harpham, a junior wide receiver for the Yellow Jackets. Harpham leads his team in receiving yards with 40 receptions for 522 yards. Harpham also leads his team in kick returns and punt returns.
 
Leading the Yellow Jackets on the ground is senior running back, Payten Gilmore who has 326 yards rushing and five touchdowns.
 
The Maverick offense will need to watch out for both Josh Gurnaby, and Bailey Rosenstrauch. Gurnaby leads the defense with 28 solo tackles, and 37 assisted tackles. Rosenstrauch is also a weapon on defense with 22 solo tackles, 22 assisted tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 1 sack.
 
Looking Ahead
The Mavericks have two consecutive road matchups before they conclude their season at home on Saturday, November 16th. Next week the Colorado Mesa football team takes on Dixie State University at Trailblazer stadium in St George, Utah at 1pm on Saturday, November 2nd. The following week the Mavericks will remain on the road, headed to Alamosa, Colorado to take on Adams State University at Rex Stadium on Saturday, November 9^th at Rex Stadium at 1pm.