GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa was able to seal their ninth-straight season opening win in their first-ever meeting against William Jewell that ended in a 40-3 route of the Cardinals at Stocker Stadium on Thursday night.
The Mavericks have not lost a season opener since 2012 and continued the streak tonight that saw 533 yards of total offense. William Jewell scored the first points of the game, a 23-yard field goal from Josh Click is where the score would stand at the end of the first quarter. In the remaining three quarters, the Mavericks outscored the Cardinals 40-0.
Lucas Ruiz Diaz tied up the game 3-3 with 14:13 remaining in the second quarter, then the Mavericks would take the lead with another field goal ten minutes later. The first touchdown of the night came with 26 seconds remaining in the half when
Avian Thomas dashed in from two yards out to cap a seven-play, 85-yard drive.
Redshirt freshman quarterback
Karst Hunter excelled in his Maverick debut, completing 22 passes for 302 yards, two touchdowns and added 65 yards on the ground.
Hunter completed passes to twelve different receivers, five of those completions went to
Elijah Lilly who led the way with 89 yards and a lone touchdown.
Lionell McConnell and
KJ Sapp each caught three passes for a combined 105 yards between the two while Dwight Blackey also caught three balls for 25 yards.
At halftime, CMU led 13-3. After the break, Hunter followed up another Ruiz Diaz field goal by throwing his first collegiate touchdown pass in the third quarter on a 65-yard strike to
Elijah Lilly to go up 22-3.
Ruiz Diaz made four total field goals on Thursday night, his longest coming from 41 yards out, he hit two additional 36-yarders.
Hunter's second touchdown score came in the fourth quarter with 6:43 left in the game when he found
Dagan Rienks in the back corner of the endzone. On the next CMU possession,
Gavin Herberg entered the game at quarterback and ran 82 yards downfield only to be forced out of bounds at the WJU four-yard line. Two plays later, he found the endzone on a five-yard touchdown run to put the Mavericks up 40-3.
The two quarterbacks led the way with a combined 152 yards off nine carries.
Avian Thomas dashed for 49 yards off his seven attempts and Morian Walker ran for 26 yards.
The CMU defense held the WJU offense to only 208 yards of total offense including 84 yards passing. The Cardinals averaged only 2.84 yards per play while the Mavericks averaged 7.10.
Remington Green had a game-high 12 tackles for CMU with a tackle for loss and a sack.
Brooklyn Hardiman added nine total tackles of his own, four of them being solo tackles. The Cardinals went 7-of-20 on third down attempts.
The Mavericks have a bye week next week and will wait to play their next game on the road Sept.18 against New Mexico Highlands down in Las Vegas, N.M.
