GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Colin Stuhr is quick to tell you his only goal on Saturdays is to win.
He'll do whatever he can to help the Colorado Mesa football team achieve that goal, but even the redshirt junior linebacker had to admit Saturday he had a pretty good day in the Mavericks' 23-13 victory over Black Hills State.
Eight total tackles, 3.5 sacks, 4.5 tackles for lost yardage and two forced fumbles.
The second forced fumble pretty much secured the victory, on a strip sack in the fourth quarter. Stuhr came from the blind side and laid out Kaid Weber, knocking the ball loose at the CMU 35. Kade Street recovered the fumble with 4:33 left in the game and the Mavericks up 23-7.
It might not have been the prettiest game, but the Mavs again played complementary football, wearing down Black Hills with their running game and not giving up any big plays defensively.
"As long as we're playing good team football is all that matters," CMU coach Miles Kochevar said. "We've just got to have one more point than them at the end of the day, you know?"
The Mavericks (7-2, 6-1 RMAC) ran their winning streak to six, their longest since winning five in a row in 2017. The 2015 team won seven in a row on its way to a share of the RMAC title.
This team is still in the hunt, tied for second place with Western Colorado, the team the Mavs play in two weeks in the regular-season finale. The Mountaineers lost to CSU Pueblo 44-34 on Saturday, their first loss of the season, leaving the ThunderWolves as the lone undefeated team in the conference.
Saturday's game at Stocker Stadium was a grind, with the Mavericks working to establish the run against the Yellow Jackets' big defensive front.
Black Hills has the No. 2 defense against the run in the RMAC, allowing only 82.1 yards per game. With a steady dose of Brandon Belgrave, the Mavericks just kept pounding away on the ground, finishing with 139 rushing yards, and complementing that with the short passing game for 116 more.
Belgrave was the workhorse, with 21 carries for 92 yards and one touchdown. Quarterback Liu Aumavae completed 18 of 28 passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns, finding seven different receivers.
Aumavae's first TD was on a 1-yard swing pass to Trevin Edwards late in the first quarter, and added a 2-yarder to Sam Horneck in the third. The first TD capped a 10-play, 62-yard drive, with Edwards setting the tone with a 15-yard pickup on a jet sweep on the first play. Belgrave ran the ball five times on that drive and caught a short pass on the flat and turned upfield, spinning for a 23-yard gain to get the ball to the Black Hills 21.
"He just had a great week of practice as he went through it, so being able to get him the bulk of those carries, we thought he fit for what we were trying to do today," Kochevar said of Belgrave. "He was able to get one of them (big plays), I know he wanted a couple of them back where we bent a little bit too early, went to the wrong side, but I thought he did a great job."
Belgrave's touchdown was the big play the Mavs were waiting to hit, and it finally came in the fourth quarter.
A personal foul against Black Hills State after a punt gave the Mavericks the ball near midfield. Noah Greer picked up eight yards on first down and then it was back to Belgrave.
He took the handoff and found a hole on the left side, got past the line and took off. He stumbled once, regained his footing and raced to the goal line for a 46-yard touchdown.
"Brandon did a good job just staying the course and got one to pop, like he's capable of on every run that he gets, just with his explosion and what he can do," Kochevar said. "That team is stout in the middle, they do a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage so to see our guys match that a little bit (was good). We had just over 100 yards (rushing), not a huge day, but to be able to do that where they gave up what, two yards last week (to Chadron State) and they've had some single-digit games, so that was good to see."
The Mavs were up 21-7 after that, and on the first play after the ensuing kickoff, they cashed in again.
The snap sailed over Weber's head into the end zone. He scooped up the loose ball as the defense was bearing down, and as he was being hit, he threw a pass to no one and was called for intentional grounding, resulting in a CMU safety.
The defense gave up only 173 total yards, 68 rushing, allowing the offense to continue to pound away and wear down the Black Hills defense.
A short field led to the Yellow Jackets' first touchdown when Kash Bradley fumbled on a punt return at the 7.
A pair of runs and an unsportsmanlike conduct call against the CMU band put the ball at the 1, and Weber ran it in from there. The band was warned for playing while Black Hills was at the line of scrimmage, and on the next play, the band again was playing when the Yellow Jackets were ready to snap the ball, resulting in the flag.
The touchdown ended a streak of six straight scoreless quarters by the defense. Black Hills scored again with 12 seconds left in the game, but this time, a late score didn't mean a loss.
The past two years, the Mavericks have lost to Black Hills late in the game, including last season, when the Yellow Jackets kicked a 50-yard field goal with one second remaining for a 25-23 victory.
And yes, the Mavericks were reminded of that all week.
"They've been a thorn in our side the past two years," Kochevar said. … "I think we started every meeting with the score from last year, just to remember what happened there."
If the Mavericks win their final two games, at South Dakota Mines on Saturday (Nov. 9) and then at home against Western Colorado to wrap up the regular season on Nov. 16, they'll be all but assured a playoff spot. CMU is one of 10 teams in consideration for seven playoff berths in Super Region 4. The players know what's at stake, but it's the last thing on their minds.
"There's been zero," Kochevar said of discussing playoff scenarios. "It's just about being 1-0. I think they know where we're at, they know that we've got to handle our business and control that from within. It's been 100% about being 1-0; how can we win? Now we move on to Sunday, how can we get better?"
