RAPID CITY, S.D. – Maverick Greyson Matalus intercepted a Spencer Zur pass in the endzone with six seconds left in the game to seal the 37-33 win over South Dakota School of Mines in the season and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener on Saturday afternoon at O'Harra Stadium.
 
The Hardrockers, trailing 37-33, faced a 4^th-and-18 from their own 34-yard line converted on a hook-and-ladder play to continue the comeback drive. With 14 seconds left, the Hardrockers made it down to the Maverick 12-yard line before Matalus' interception.
 
The game started off with South Dakota Mines owning the first quarter after scoring on their first possession of the season.
 
The Mavericks (1-0) answered when sophomore kicker Lucas Ruiz Diaz put the Mavericks on the board with a 30-yard field goal on the team's second drive of the game. The big play on the drive came on a Rope Ruel 36-yard pass to Peter Anderson on the second play of the drive.
 
South Dakota Mines ended the first quarter with a defensive touchdown. Hardrocker Gavin Chaddock sacked and forced a fumble of Ruel while his teammate Marwin Alapati scooped up the loose ball and found his way into the endzone.
 
On the next possession, just inside the second quarter, Mines' Dominick Jackson intercepted a pass and took it 42-yards for a touchdown and a 20-3 lead.
 
Hayden Bollinger took over at quarterback and led the Mavericks to a pair of second quarter touchdown drives. The first one ended on a 28-yard scamper by Isaac Maestas, his first touchdown of his career. On the drive, Bollinger hit Anderson on a 39-yard strike, his first collegiate completion.
 
On the first play of the next possession, the sophomore hit Anderson for an 82-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 20-17 with 11:50 to play in the second quarter.
 
Ruiz-Diaz booted his third field goal of the first half, this one came from 48-yards as time expired to cut the Hardrocker lead to 27-23 at the break. The Montrose product finished the day 3-for-3 on his field goal attempts and a perfect 4-for-4 on his PATs.
 
South Dakota Mines opened the half with a field goal for a 30-23 lead.
 
The Mavericks first possession of the second half resulted with an 11 play, 87-yard drive that ended in an Isaac Maestas 1-yard touchdown plunge to tie the score at 30-30. A pair of big completions to KJ Sapp, one for 35 yards and one that went for 23 yards, highlighted the drive.
  
Maestas finished the game with 98 yards on 22 carries and a pair of scores.

The Hardrockers tacked on a field goal to reclaim the 33-30 lead just before the end of the third quarter of action. The drive went for nine plays and 59 yards that chewed up just over three minutes of clock time.
 
Early in the fourth quarter, Hayden Bollinger completed a pass to Andy Ritter for a 20-yard gain down to the Hardrocker 39-yard line. On the play, Bollinger took a shot and had to leave the game.
 
Sophomore Aaron Howard entered the game and finished off the drive with a go-ahead touchdown pass to Peter Anderson from 6-yards out. Howard was 4-for-5 passing on the drive and gave the Mavericks their first lead of the day with 9:28 to play in the game.
 
Anderson, who is on the Harlon Hill Award watch list, finished the game with six catches for 193 yards and two touchdowns. The 82-yard touchdown catch was the longest of his career.
 
Senior Mason Newton and Matalus each tallied 10 tackles for the defense. Newton had one sack for a 9-yard loss while Matalus ended the game with his interception.
 
Not to be outdone, Nick Ciccio had a welcome back game with six tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, four pass breakups and two interceptions.
 
The defense allowed 417 yards with 278 of that coming through the air. They caused four turnovers, three interceptions and a fumble.
 
The win gives Colorado Mesa seven in a row in season openers dating back to the 2013 season opening win over Menlo College at Stocker Stadium. Russ Martin is now 7-1 in season openers as the Maverick head coach.
 
Colorado Mesa will host Eastern New Mexico next week for their home opener. Kickoff is set for 7pm at Stocker Stadium with Tailgate at the Barn scheduled to begin at 2pm. The Greyhounds open the season later on Saturday evening against Missouri S&T in Portales.