WEEKLY REWIND
Colorado Mesa snapped their 10-game season-opening winning streak last Saturday as they fell 30-10 to the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas at Stocker Stadium in front of nearly 4,000 fans.
After trailing 3-0 early in the first quarter, Colorado Mesa seized the lead on a Gavin Herberg 2-yard run but was setup by a long pass to Keenan Brown who made an acrobatic catch t the 2-yardline. The lead was later extended on a Henry Katleman 22-yard field goal to make it 10-3 near the end of the half.
The Javelinas went on to scored 27 unanswered points that included a kick return for a touchdown, a blocked punt for a touchdown, and a pick-6. Kingsville passed for just 161 yards in the game and were held under 300 yards of total offense.
The Colorado Mesa defense allowed just nine offensive points in the game and forced an interception and had three sacks in the game. They also held the Javelinas to just over 30 percent on thrid down.
The Mavericks will get a shot at redemption as they will travel to Kingsville, Texas to take on the Javelinas to open the 2024 season, currently slated for September 7.
THE MATCHUP
Colorado Mesa and the University of San Diego will face-off against each other for the first time in program history. The last time the Mavericks matched up with another program for the first-time was in 2021 when they welcomed William Jewell to Grand Junction.
This will be the first matchup for the Mavericks against a Division I FCS program since they faced Montana State on September 14, 2013. Colorado Mesa fell in that matchup 26-0 in Bozeman.
The game in San Diego will be the first contest for Maverick football in California since November 11, 2017 when they fell 56-35 to Azusa Pacific in Azusa, Calif. The Mavericks have played sparingly in California over the years with the last five matchups in the Golden State listed below:
Last Five Matchups in California
Nov. 11, 2017: L, at Azusa Pacific, 56-35
Aug. 30, 2012: L, at Humboldt, 38-19
Sept. 3, 2005: L, at Humboldt, 28-9
Nov. 25, 2000: L, at UC Davis, 62-18
Sept. 16, 1995: W, at Chico State, 23-22
KNOW YOUR FOE
The Toreros opened the season last weekend as they traveled to San Luis Obispo to take on Cal Poly. They fell 27-10 in a rather tightly contested battle. San Diego cut the lead to 17-10 early in the second quarter before surrendering the final 10 points unanswered.
While the matchup with San Diego is new to the two programs, Torero head coach Brandon Moore is very familiar with the Mavericks. Moore is in his first season as the head coach with San Diego but spent the past six seasons as part of the coaching staff at Colorado School of Mines including last season as head coach for the Division II national runners-up. Defense is in his blood as he was a linebacker for Bob Stoops at Oklahoma before starting his coaching career at Scottsdale Community College.
Dom Nakil led the Torero offense from the quarterback position with 145 yards passing while Isaiah Williams rushed for 82 yards on 22 carries. San Diego could only muster 227 yards of offense in the loss.
The Torero defense was the star of the game as they had a pick-6 for the only touchdown of the game which came from Ruben Lopez. Josh Hong led the San Diego defense with 11 tackles and two TFLs.
GETTING IT GOING
The Mavericks played two quarterbacks in the game with each commanding the offense for a half. Gavin Herberg played in the first half and finished the game 6-of-21 passing for 91 yards but added a team-high 20 yards rushing and the lone score of the game. CSU Pueblo transfer Leslie Richardson played in the second half and was 11-for-21 passing for 111 yards and added five yards on the ground. The one thing they did do was find 10 different receivers in their 17 total completions.
The ground game didnt factor a lot in last weekend's game and will need to get going moving forward. Gianni Hurd led the way with six carries.
Keenan Brown led the Maverick receiving group with four catches for 85 yards including a long acrobatic catch that setup the lone touchdown of the game. Brown earned RMAC Offensive Player of the Week honorable mention status for his play in week one.
One of the glaring spots the Mavericks know they will have to improve on is on third-down. They were just 1-of-14 on third down and need to extend drives as the season progresses.
STRONG DEFENSE
Colorado Mesa got a strong effort from their defense as they limited the Javelinas to just 288 yards of total offense and nine offensive points in the season opener.
Junior Levi Krebs led the defense with 11 tackles including a tackle for loss to earn RMAC Defensive Player of the Week honorable mention accolades. The Pennsylvania native made five solo tackles and assisted on six others and earned a quarterback hurry in the season opener.
Junior Hudson Metcalf almost had his second sack, forced fumble, fumble recovery, touchdown in the season opener. Late in the first half, Javelina quarterback Kannon Williams dropped back lost the ball just before Metcalf hit him and the junior rolled over and recovered the ball while he was still on the ground to get credit for the sack, fumble, and recovery. He finished the deed at Black Hills State last season with the sack, fumble, recovery, touchdown.
Liban Shongolo and Kash Bradley anchored the secondary with eight tackles each. Bradley picked off his first career pass against Texas A&M-Kingsville and helped the secondary limit the Kingsville passing attack to just 161 yards.
THE NEW KICKER
The Mavericks introduced a new kicker over the weekend in Henry Katleman who handled the place kicking and kickoff duties. He connected on his lone PAT and field goal attempts.
Katleman has previously kicked at the University of Oregon and Colorado State prior to coming to Colorado Mesa.
ON THE HORIZON
The Mavericks will continue their longest road swing of the season as they will travel to Rapid City, S.D. next week to take on South Dakota Mines to open the RMAC portion of their schedule. The Hardrockers are scheduled to take on Truman State this week.
CMU will return home for their first home conference matchup on September 23 when they play host to Black Hills State at Stocker Stadium at 1pm. The Yellow Jackets fell to Division I FCS St. Thomas 36-26 in week one and take on Southwest Baptist this weekend in Missouri.
