FIRST AND TEN
Colorado Mesa will host the Fort Lewis Skyhawks at 6:00 PM at Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction on Saturday evening in Youth Football and Community Night. The Mavericks enter the contest 1-4 on the season as they have dropped four straight since the season-opening win at William Jewell. Fort Lewis comes into the contest winless with their closest contest coming against Adams State where they scored a season-high 17 points.
The Mavericks are 1-1 in night games this season having won at William Jewell before falling to Western Colorado in overtime in their last game at Stocker Stadium.
Maverick fans, head over to Stocker Stadium early as there are plenty of opportunities to tailgate prior to this weekend's kickoff.
WEEKLY REWIND
Colorado Mesa traveled to Golden to do battle with the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers in the 12th edition of the Battle for the Nyikos Cup. After hanging tough for nearly 30 minutes of the game, the No. 21 Orediggers claimed a 48-21 win over the Mavericks in their homecoming.
The offense continued its momentum from the previous week into the first half against Colorado School of Mines as they scored 21 points and racked up 230 yards of total offense in the first half. They cooled off in the second half but proved they can score on any foe at any time. Quarterback Karst Hunter continued to distribute the wealth to his receivers as he found eight different receivers against Mines. Jacob Whitmer and Booda Ison both caught four passes while Dagan Rienks led the receivers with 71 yards.
Defensive back Michael Chavez made the most of his first time on the field with the Mavericks. He finished with 17 tackles which is the most by any Maverick since October 13, 2018 when Tommy Saager had 17 tackles against CSU Pueblo.
Punter Ben Sargent had a solid day of punting the football against Colorado School of Mines. The Palisade, Colo. native had six punts for 268 yards, an average of 44.7 yards per punt. He had a long of 53 yards and was able to pin the Orediggers inside-the-20 twice.dium.
THE MATCHUP
This weekend's matchup between Colorado Mesa and Fort Lewis will be Youth Football and Community Night as the University welcomes in all Youth Football teams into the game along with appreciating the Grand Junction Community.
Colorado Mesa has won 14 of the past 15 games against Fort Lewis. The lone loss in the stretch came in 2014 when the Skyhawks downed the Mavericks 28-20 at Stocker Stadium. The two most lopsided wins in the stretch came last season when Colroado Mesa won 55-3 in Durango and in 2013 when the Mavericks won 42-0 in Durango.
Colorado Mesa and Fort Lewis are meeting for the 48th time and is one of the Mavericks longest standing, four-year matchups. Colorado Mesa leads the all-time series 35-11-1 including a 16-6 record in Grand Junction.
The Mavericks average 32.3 points per game in the 47 previous matchups with the largest margin of victory coming in 1989 when Colorado Mesa defeated Fort Lewis 59-0 at Stocker Stadium.
Fort Lewis won the first two matchups of the all-time series before the tie occurred in 1977 in Durango 14-14. They defeated Colorado Mesa (then Mesa College) 57-7 in 1975 in Durango.
Last Five Matchups
Oct. 16, 2021: in Durango, W 55-3
Oct. 12, 2019: in Grand Jct., W 17-10
Oct. 6, 2018: in Durango, W 31-24
Sept. 23, 2017: in Grand Jct., W 40-14
Sept. 24, 2016: in Durango, W 34-28
KNOW YOUR FOE
There is no hiding that Fort Lewis has struggled this season as they are winless in five games this season. They reached double-digits in their season opener against Arizona Christian (L, 52-12) and against Adams State (L, 52-17).
The Skyhawks are averaging 187.8 yards per game (10th in the RMAC) and are scoring just 7.6 points per game (10th in the RMAC). Despite the offensive numbers, Drake Cortez is one of the top pass catchers in the league as he has 21 catches for 141 yards. He has yet to find paydirt as teammate Zach Russell has two touchdown catches on 12 catches.
Defensively, the Skyhawks have one of the better pass defenses in not only the conference but in NCAA Division II as they allow just over 209 yards of passing offense that ranks No. 3 in the RMAC. Carter Cameron leads the Skyhawks with 42 tackles while Max Hyson has been able to rush the passer on a consistent basis with 3.5 sacks and three hurries.
NOSE FOR THE FOOTBALL
The Maverick defense has had three guys that seem to have that nose for the football and have factored into a majority of the tackles for the Mavericks. Siaosi Finau, Liban Shongolo, and Hadyn Steffens all have 30 or more tackles on the season to lead the defensive unit.
Finau's greatest contribution to the defense is in the run stopping business. He currently has 35 total tackles and is approaching the 100 tackle milestone for his career as he sits at 92 total tackles in his two-year career with Colorado Mesa.
Safety Liban 'Swae' Shongolo has been a force in stopping the run from the defensive backfield. He has totaled 35 tackles to tie with Finau for the team lead in tackles. He has added two pass break-ups and a fumble recovery in his redshirt sophomore season.
Redshirt junior Hadyn Steffens has been a welcome addition to the linebacking corps as he came over from Northern Colorado. Steffens has 31 total tackles with two of those coming for a loss. He has one sack on the season which came against William Jewell in the season opener.
THE KICKING GAME
The Mavericks have one of the most recognizable and best kickers in the RMAC in Lucas Ruiz Diaz. Now, they have one of the best but maybe not recognizable punters in Ben Sargent.
Local Palisade product Ben Sargent has taken control of the punting duties and has done an outstanding job at it. He currently has a 43.5 yard per punt average which leads the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and ranks fifth in NCAA Division II. Sargent has connected on a 50+ yard punt in 4-of-5 games this season including a season-long 67 yarder against Black Hills State a little over three weeks ago.
Ruiz Diaz has been perfect on his field goal attempts this season going a perfect 6-for-6 and a perfect 17-for-17 on his PATs. He connected on a season-long 46 yarder against South Dakota Mines.
EYES ON THE LONG BALL
The Mavericks have had 32 'BIG' plays this season that have resulted in gains of 20 or more yards. 24 of the 32 big plays have come via the pass and two of those targets include Dagan Rienks and Keenan Brown.
Brown not only is one of the Mavericks top deep threat targets but one of the top deep threat targets in all of NCAA Division II football. He ranked No. 6 in all of Division II football in yards per reception at 23.91 yards per catch. He currently has 12 catches for 277 yards and three touchdowns. Brown's longest catch of the season was for 63 yards and a touchdown against South Dakota Mines back on September 17. It is also the second longest play of the season for Colorado Mesa.
ON THE HORIZON
The Mavericks will head back out on the road next weekend as they travel to Alamosa for a matchup with Adams State. The game will also be the second straight night game for the Mavericks as they are scheduled to begin at 6:00pm from Rex Stadium. The Grizzlies are scheduled to take on Chadron State this weekend in Nebraska.
Colorado Mesa's next home game will be their homecoming game on October 29. The Mavericks are set to take on CSU Pueblo at 1:00 PM at Stocker Stadium. The ThunderWolves take on New Mexico Highlands this week and Chadron State next week prior to their trip to Grand Junction.
