Colorado Mesa will take on their arch-rival, the Western Colorado Mountaineers, on Saturday at 6:00 PM at Stocker Stadium in the first home night game of the year. This will be the 48th matchup in the all-time series that began back in 1975. Colorado Mesa leads the all-time series 24-23.
The Mavericks are now 1-2 on the campaign for the first time since 2019 where they beat South Dakota mines before falling to Eastern New Mexico and Western Colorado. In a bit of a bright spot looking to the future, the Mavericks won their fourth game that season.
For fans of the game, head over to Lincoln Park prior to kickoff for the annual Bank of Colorado Steak and Crab Fest and help support the Maverick Wrestling Programs.
WEEKLY REWIND
Colorado Mesa traveled to Black Hills State in Spearfish, S.D. and dropped a heartbreaker 31-28 to the Yellowjackets. Black Hills State scored the go-ahead touchdown with just 43 seconds left in the game.
The Mavericks churned up 336 yards of total offense with 209 of those coming in the second half of action. They rushed for a season-high 155 yards in Spearfish while gaining 181 through the air.
The Mavericks defense gave up 424 yards of total offense to the Yellowjackets with 296 of those coming through the air. The Black Hills State offense possessed the ball for over 34 minutes in the game with over 11 minutes coming in the first quarter.
THE MATCHUP
The Mavericks and Mountaineers have met on a regular basis since Colorado Mesa became a four-year institution in the early 1970s and had a few matchups prior when Mesa was a junior college. The two teams have met 47 times over the years with the Mavericks owning a 24-23 advantage over the Mountaineers. Western Colorado has won the past two matchups with one coming in Grand Junction and the other in Gunnison. The Mountaineers claimed a 23-9 win in last season's matchup in Gunnison.
Prior to the Mountaineers two game winning streak, Colorado Mesa won the past five in a row from 2014 to 2018.
Last Five Matchups
Oct. 30, 2021: in Gunnison, L 23-9
Sept. 21, 2019: in Grand Jct., L 30-28
Sept. 15, 2018: in Gunnison, W 24-20
Aug. 31, 2017: in Grand Jct., W 49-23
Sept. 3, 2016: in Gunnison, W 34-14
KNOW YOUR FOE
The Mountaineers opened the season with two losses to Lone Star Conference foes. They were blown out in their opener against West Texas A&M in Canyon before a narrow 34-31 overtime loss to Texas Permian Basin in Midland.
For the first two weeks of the season, Western Colorado played without one of the top running backs in the region in Josh Cummings. Since his return, the Mountaineers are 2-0 in RMAC play with wins over CSU Pueblo on the road and then boat raced Chadron State 56-28 in their home opener last week. Cummings has 180 yards on the ground and a touchdown.
Defensively, Carson Mandrell leads the Mountaineers in tackles with 27 while last week's RMAC Defensive Player of the Week Ethan Maxwell-Sanchez has 25 tackles and three interceptions on the season.
SWISS ARMY KNIFE
Gavin Herberg has been a valuable asset in all facets of the game during his sophomore season. He has seen action as a quarterback, receiver, and as a defensive back. Herberg made his first career start at safety last weekend at Black Hills State and could see time in the defensive backfield this weekend against Western Colorado. He finished with just one tackle in the matchup.
The sophomore has now made at least one career start on both sides of the ball as he made two starts at quarterback in the 2020 COVID-19 shortened season.
QUARTERBACK PLAY
During the game with Black Hills State, quarterback Karst Hunter surpassed 3,000 passing yards in his career at Colorado Mesa. The sophomore signal caller now has 3,148 yards passing in 13 games played with the Mavericks.
This season, Hunter is 46-of-87 passing for 648 yards and seven touchdowns against three interceptions. On the ground, he has 35 attempts for 98 yards.
Hunter rushed for a career-high 73 yards in last week's matchup with Black Hills State. The ground game was one of the strong suits in the Miller, S.D. native's game a year ago and could boost the offense heading into the fourth game of the season.
THE BIG PLAY
One theme that has been prevalent this season for the Mavericks has been the big play or a play that goes for 20 yards or more. They have 20 such plays on the season with eight coming last week at Black Hills State. Keenan Brown and Dagan Rienks each have three big plays this year to lead the team.
Receiver David O'Connell made his presence known in his first appearance with the Mavericks. The converted NAIA quarterback caught four passes for 58 yards and a touchdown. He had a big play which came on a 25-yard touchdown catch.
The longest play of the year was the 71-yard fumble return from Hudson Metcalf.
MAKING METCALF
Redshirt freshman Hudson Metcalf had the trifecta on one play in the matchup against Black Hills State. Metcalf made the tackle, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble, and returned it for a touchdown to help the Mavericks jump out to a 14-0 lead in the second quarter.
Metcalf became the first Maverick to return a fumble for a touchdown since October 28, 2017 when Uriah Vigil scooped up a fumble and returned it for a touchdown against New Mexico Highlands.
The Soldotna, Alaska native has now accounted for two of the Mavericks turnovers this season as he intercepted a pass against South Dakota Mines in the lone home gae of the season thus far.
THIS AND THAT
The Mavericks attempted three separate 'trick' or fake plays against Black Hills State. They attempted an onside kick early in the second quarter that they failed to recover after bouncing around for waht seemed like an eternity. They attempted two fake punts which were unsuccessful. One on an attempted pass from Trevin Edwards to Siaosi Finau that was dropped and the other on a run by punter Ben Sargent that fell about a yard short.
The Mavericks have held halftime leads in every game this season. They led 28-7 against William Jewell before a 10-7 halftime lead against South Dakota Mines. Last week, they led 21-14 at the break.
ON THE HORIZON
The Mavericks will head back out on the road next weekend when they head over the mountains to face off with nationally ranked Colorado School of Mines. It will be homecoming for the Orediggers and they will be looking for a little payback after the Mavericks upset Mines last season in Grand Junction.
Colorado Mesa's next home matchup will be on Saturday October 15 when they host Fort Lewis at 6pm at Stocker Stadium in the second home night game of the season.
