GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa fell to Eastern New Mexico 44-37 in overtime in a non-conference matchup between Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and Lone Star Conference foes. The win for the Greyhounds was their first-ever over the Mavericks in three tries.
 
Eastern New Mexico led 10-7 in a relatively quiet first half. The Mavericks touchdown came on a 3-yard grab by KJ Sapp from Aaron Howard who made his first career start behind center.
 
The third quarter saw 44 points scored combined with the Greyhounds scoring 27 points and leading by as many as 23 points in the quarter.
 
Each side benefited from a non-offensive score in the quarter. Eastern New Mexico had a 56-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown while Colorado Mesa's Naijiel Hale scored on a 26-yard blocked punt return for a score.
 
Redshirt freshman Jesse Rodriquez scored the lone offensive touchdown in the quarter for the Mavericks. Rodriquez scored his first collegiate touchdown on a 14-yard run with three seconds left in the quarter to make it 37-24.
 
Rodriquez finished with 16 carries for 93 yards with a 5.8 yards per carry average.
 
Like they did so many times a year ago, the Mavericks made a fourth quarter surge and outscored the Greyhounds 13-0 in the quarter to tie the game at 37-37.
 
Sophomore Dagan Rienks scored on a 4-yard touchdown catch from Aaron Howard. Lucas Ruiz-Diaz would miss the extra point after the try was moved back five yards due to a delay of game penalty. It was the first PAT miss of his career.
 
Senior Peter Anderson would finally get in on the action with a 20-yard game tying touchdown grab from Howard, his third touchdown pass of the game. The Greyhounds held Anderson in check for a majority of the game as he finished with four catches for 51 yards.
 
The game-tying drive started at their own 1-yardline as Eastern New Mexico downed a 54-yard punt. The drive went 12 plays and chewed up nearly four minutes of clock and ended with just 3:22 remaining.
 
In the overtime, Eastern New Mexico scored on their drive to open up the extra quarter while the Mavericks failed to gain a first down.
 
Colorado Mesa finished the game with 381 yards of total offense with 221 coming through the air and 160 on the ground while Eastern New Mexico churned up 561 yards of offense with 434 yards coming from their triple option rushing attack.
 
Howard finished 21-of-33 for 188 yards and three scores with one interception.
 
The Colorado Mesa special teams had quite the game. Aside from blocking three kicks in the game, they averaged 27.3 yards per kick return. Isaac Salazar had four returns for 133 yards while the short man, Rienks, ended with three returns for 58 yards including a long of 38 yards.
 
Nick Ciccio, the reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Week, finished with a game-high 14 tackles.

The Mavericks will host Western Colorado next week at Stocker Stadium with kickoff set for 7pm. Saturday's game will also be a Blackout with fans encouraged to wear black at the game. The Mountaineers defeated South Dakota Mines in their RMAC and home opener.