The Colorado Mesa football team heads back out on the road this weekend to take on their neighbors to the South, the Fort Lewis Skyhawks. The Mavericks are looking to improve to 5-1 on the year while the Skyhawks are still in search of their first win of the season.
 
SECONDS?
While last week featured the first football contest between two black head coaches, this week features the second. Colorado Mesa head coach Tremaine Jackson will square off with Fort Lewis head coach Darrius Smith on Saturday at Dennison Field in Durango.
 
The two coaches were hired nearly two weeks apart from each other in December 2019 and January 2020.
 
JACK OF ALL TRADES
University of Arizona transfer Darick Holmes came to the Mavericks as a wide receiver this summer just looking for an opportunity to continue playing football. Through five games this season, he has gotten plenty of opportunities and has performed very well.
 
Holmes has six catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns on the season as a pass catching running back and a slot receiver. He caught his first touchdown as a Maverick in the win over New Mexico Highlands.
 
Two weeks ago, he was inserted into the backfield and received his first load of carries as a running back after the myriad of injuries to the position. In those last two weeks, he has 22 carries for 139 yards and two touchdowns.
 
FRESHMAN UP FRONT
Last week, the Colorado Mesa offensive line had a new man at left guard after Demetrius Cooley went down with an injury in the CSU Pueblo game. Enter true freshman Alex Bruns, a 6-3, 285-pound offensive lineman from Parker, Colo.
 
The practice week leading up to the game with Adams State, Bruns emerged from a bevy of players as the winner for the job. After one week, he will get his second start of the season this week against Fort Lewis.
 
212
You may hear or have heard the defense chanting "212" during the game or in practices last season and this season. This refers to the motto of the defense and we will try to give you a brief explanation where that comes from.
 
Water boils at 212 degrees and creates steam. Steam is extremely powerful and can power a locomotive which doesn't stop for anything in its path.
 
MAKING THE MOST OF AN OPPORTUNITY
Kaden Stewart was listed as the starter at the Sam Linebacker position to open the season against William Jewell. While he played against the Cardinals in week one, the immergence of a couple of other teammates and a couple others coming back from injury, Stewart found himself relegated to Special Teams.
 
Despite the shuffling at his position, Stewart has made the most of his opportunities. He had two tackles and a sack against Chadron State then this past week against Adams State, he turned some heads. The Parker, Colo. native finished with seven tackles with four of those going for a loss and a sack.
 
UNSUNG HERO
Defensive back Darrien Young may be the played in the secondary that gets overlooked the most, but he may produce some of the biggest stats out of the group. Young currently leads the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in passes defended per game at 1.8. That mark also ranks him fourth in the country and his season total of eight has him moving up the single season records chart.
 
Young has started every game opposite of Devante Loggins, and recently Eugene Bowman, and has received a majority of the targets of the opponent but those targets may be dwindling soon with the numbers he has produced.
 
SERIES HISTORY WITH FORT LEWIS
Colorado Mesa has dominated the all-time series with Fort Lewis as they own a 34-11-1 all-time mark. The Mavericks are winners of the last five matchups which includes three wins in Durango in that stretch. They have also won 12 of the past 13 matchups dating back to the 2007 season.
 
The Mavericks largest margin of victory over the Skyhawks came in 1989, a 59-0 win in Grand Junction while the smallest margin of victory came in a 22-21 win in 1978 in Grand Junction.
 
Fort Lewis' largest victory came in the very first meeting between the two schools as four-year institutions in 1975, 57-7.
 
SCOUTING THE SKYHAWKS
There is no denying that Fort Lewis has struggled this season as they are 0-6 and averaging just 6.33 points per game. They have two non-conference games on the schedule and fell to Tarleton State in the first one 54-7 and will play Dixie State in the final game of the season in St. George. They do have Adams State left on the schedule and will meet up on November 6 in the 55^th annual Musket Game in Alamosa.
 
Offensively, they have played two quarterbacks in Brayden Miller and Jack Hanenburg. Both of those guys target their biggest offensive weapon in 6-3 receiver Dylan Holt. The junior has 11 catches for 169 yards and two touchdowns on the season. Last week against South Dakota Mines, he had three catches for 66 yards and the lone Skyhawk touchdown of the game.
 
On defense, the Mavericks will have to account for No. 25 Jayden Helms as he has 75 tackles on the season which ranks him second nationally in both total tackles and tackles per game at 12.8. He has reached double digit tackles in five of the six games Fort Lewis has played this year including a season-high 18 against Black Hills State two weeks ago.
 
THE COACH
Head coach Tremaine Jackson enters his second season at the helm of the Maverick football team. He guided Colorado Mesa to a 2-1 mark during the COVID shortened 2020 season.
 
He was hired in December 2019 just prior to the COVID pandemic and thus has had to wait almost 19 months to compete in his first game that could go towards a championship.
 
Coach Jackson has made several stops along his coaching path that ranges from all levels. Most recently he made stops at Texas State as the defensive line coach and at Abilene Christian as the defensive coordinator.
 
RMAC PRESEASON POLL
Colorado Mesa was picked to finish in fourth place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference as voted on by the coaches. The Mavericks finished last season's abbreviated schedule with a 2-1 mark with wins over both Chadron State and Black Hills State. Their lone setback came to South Dakota Mines at home in what turned out to be the final game of the season.
 
Colorado School of Mines was selected to win the conference with seven first place votes and 76 points. Mines finished the 2019 season with a 12-1 mark and a perfect 10-0 mark in the RMAC.
 
CSU Pueblo was second in the poll followed by Chadron State to round out the top four.
 
ON THE HORIZON
Colorado Mesa will return home for homecoming on October 23 at Stocker Stadium. They will have a huge matchup regardless of the outcome this weekend as they are set to take on nationally ranked Colorado School of Mines at 1pm. They will be seeking their first win over the Orediggers since 2017 and would get them back into the RMAC Championship race.