GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Colorado Mesa football coach Miles Kochevar donned his "Legends" polo shirt from the 2016 fundraising golf tournament to pay homage to legendary coaches Jack Perrin and Bob Cortese, who were in attendance at Saturday's homecoming game.
And the Mavericks dominated on their home field much like those coached by Perrin and Cortese, winning at Stocker Stadium for the first time this season, 42-7 over Adams State in front of 4,238 fans on a sun-splashed afternoon.
"Just having the support, the whole town here, everybody that came back for homecoming. If you're able to go out and perform and show what these guys have been working on, just let them kind of be showcased today, to go out and play some good football, it was good to see." Kochevar said of capping homecoming week with a victory.
Not only did the Mavericks dominate on the scoreboard to get back to .500 at 4-4 (3-3 in RMAC play), they dominated on the stat sheet. CMU amassed 452 yards of total offense to Adams State's 278, and rushed for a season-high 308 yards, 100 from redshirt freshman Marvin Jones, who scored the first touchdown.
"Those guys have taken ownership up front to be able to get it done. We continue to challenge them each and every week, we're going to get where we want to go in the caliber football we want to play week in and week out," Kochevar said. "We've got to dominate the line of scrimmage, to see that progression, and then with Marvin and Myles (Newble) doing a good job of setting the tone early in those games, those guys are hitting it hard and they keep their legs moving."
The Mavericks overcame four turnovers with the defense clamping down after three of those giveaways — the Grizzlies' only touchdown came after the first of three interceptions thrown by Gavin Herberg.
Adams had a short field, taking over at the 28-yard line and scoring in four plays to cut CMU's lead to 14-7 after Jones' 37-yard touchdown run and receiver Logan DeArment taking a reverse toss from Jones and scoring from 24 yards out.
Herberg made it 21-7 on a 15-yard keeper in the second quarter, and for the second game in a row, the Mavericks added a special teams TD by Charlie Smith.
Chad Gilman sacked ASU quarterback Montana Neustadter and forced a fumble, which was picked up by Smith at the 11 and run in for his second touchdown of the season. Last week he recovered a muffed onside kick for a special teams score against Fort Lewis.
Jack Horsford caught 15-yard touchdown pass from Herberg late in the third quarter, and Keyshawn Ashford, who missed much of the season with an injury, scored on a 3-yard run late in the fourth.
Ashford carried the ball six times for 58 yards in the eight-play, 80-yard drive.
Myles Newble had 79 rushing yards and Herberg 40 more. It was CMU's first 300-yard rushing game since 2021, when the Mavs ran for 338 yards against Fort Lewis.
The 100-yard rushing game by Jones was the first since last season, when Julen Ison and Karst Hunter also rushed for 100 or more yards in a double-overtime loss to Western Colorado.
Herberg completed 8 of 18 passes for 129 yards, missing on several deep throws, but with the solid running game picking up yardage in chunks, the Mavericks used shorter passes to keep the Grizzlies' defense honest.
Mesa's defense allowed 143 rushing and 135 passing yards, and time and time again, stopped the Grizzlies in their tracks in the red zone, allowing them to convert only one of four series inside the 20 and ASU was only 5 of 19 on third down. Conversely, the Mavs scored on all three red-zone chances.
Levi Krebs had nine total tackles and was in on one tackle for lost yardage for the defense, with Liban Shongolo recording eight tackles.
In all, the defense had 11 tackles behind the line of scrimmage for 51 yards, with six sacks totaling 40 more yards of lost yardage.
"It comes with each man doing his job, each guy independently and then each unit," Kochevar said. "That's been our challenge this year as we learn and grow and become a team. That was impressive to be able to see that today. I'm proud of these guys that are continuing to come together and grow each week."
On a two-game winning streak, the Mavericks are back on the road to face another in-state rival, CSU Pueblo, on Oct. 28. CMU will be looking to end a five-game losing streak to the ThunderWolves.
"Now we've gotta go beat a good football team in Pueblo," Kochevar said. "That's the challenge now. OK, we won the ones we're supposed to, now it's time to go out and put it on somebody that thinks they're better than you."
