GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Nyikos Cup is coming back to the Grand Valley.
 
The Colorado Mesa football team claimed the win in the Battle for the Nyikos Cup with a 26-21 win over the No. 3 ranked Colorado School of Mines on Saturday (Oct. 23) at Stocker Stadium in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action.
 
The win is the first time the Mavericks have defeated a top-5 opponent since they have been an NCAA Division II school. Prior to 1994, they were in the ranks of NAIA and archives of those rankings aren't available prior to 1990.
 
The win was also the first time since 2016 that they beat a ranked opponent. Their opponent that day…the No. 10 ranked Colorado School of Mines Orediggers, a double overtime win on September 17 in Golden.
 
Mines opened the scoring in the first quarter with a Michael Zeman 16-yard run that capped an 8-play, 35-yard drive to make it 7-0. The drive was setup by a botched punt by Blake Moore, but Moore would come back in a big way later in the game.
 
On the ensuing possession, Colorado Mesa would get even as Karst Hunter would find Elijah Lilly on a 24-yard touchdown pass with 3:58 to play in the first quarter. Hunter was 4-for-5 on the nine play drive finding Lilly twice and Dwight Blakey for a 24-yard gain also.
 
The Orediggers would take a two-possession lead in the second quarter after back-to-back John Matocha to Tristan Smith touchdown passes with the final one coming with 5:22 to play in the half. Both drives were over 10-plays long with both combining for 176 yards.
 
After the next Colorado Mesa drive sputtered around midfield, Blake Moore entered the field and delivered a punt, and it was a beauty. He pinned Mines at the 1-yardline after his previous punt landed inside the 3-yardline.
 
Nest Oredigger play from scrimmage, defensive lineman Brian Rattery stuffed Michael Zeman in the backfield for a safety cutting the Mines lead to 21-9 with 2:36 to play in the half. It was the first safety the Orediggers have surrendered since 2010 and the first for the Mavericks since 2018.
 
Colorado Mesa took the next possession, just before the half, and used it. Hunter led the offense 70-yards down the field in eight plays for a touchdown with 50 seconds left to cut the lead to 21-16 just before halftime. Hunter found Dwight Blakey on the side of the endzone for a 27-yard touchdown. Blakey leaped into the air and came down on his side, just in bounds for the score.
 
Midway through the third quarter, Lucas Ruiz Diaz drilled a 38-yard field goal to cut the Mines lead to 21-19 with 5:46 to play in the quarter.
The Mavericks got the ball back late in the third quarter and put together a drive that reached Oredigger territory and lasted into the fourth quarter. After 11 plays on the drive, the Mavericks were faced with a 4^th-and-5 from the Mines 39-yardline. Head coach Tremaine Jackson decided to go for it, just wanting to gain a first down.
 
They got all that and more.
 
Hunter found Dagan Rienks on a little tight end arrow route which Rienks turned into a 39-yard catch-and-run for the go-ahead touchdown in the game. Rienks broke one tackle and stiff armed another on his way for the score to make it 26-21.
 
That was all the Mavericks would need as the defense pitched a shutout in the second half. The end of the game did have its nervous moments though.
 
Mines final drive of the game began with 3:12 left in the game after a Maverick fumble. The Orediggers drove all the way down to the Maverick 7-yardline. After a sack and a pass break-up by Justin Allmond, theywere faced with a 4^th-and-goal from the 13-yard line.
 
Mines quarterback John Matocha found Josh Johnston in the back of the endzone for a touchdown but was nullified by a holding penalty that sent them back to the Maverick 23-yardline for the final play. This time Matocha would be picked off on in the endzone by Creighton Sanders to end the threat and the game.
 
The Mavericks limited the Orediggers to just 243 yards of offense including a season-low of 109 yards rushing. They had four sacks and held the Orediggers to just 4-of-14 on third down.
 
Sanders led the way with nine total tackles while Brian Rattery not only had the big stop for the safety, he also finished with one and a half sacks.
 
Hunter finished 20-for-31 passing for 288 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He was also the leading rusher in the game with 58 yards. Lionel McConnell was his favorite target as he finished with six catches for 72 yards while Blakey had four catches for 103 yards.
 
Colorado Mesa moves to 6-1 on the season and 5-1 in the RMAC. It is the first time since 2015 that they have been 6-1 during the season.
 
The Mavericks will head to Gunnison for a battle with their Western Slope rivals. They will take on the nationally ranked Western Colorado Mountaineers at 1pm at the Mountaineer Bowl. Western upended South Dakota Mines 42-21 in South Dakota on Saturday.