RAPID CITY, S.D. — Colorado Mesa's six-game winning streak, and its playoff hopes, ended Saturday in a 17-14 road loss to South Dakota Mines.
The Mavericks (7-3, 6-2 RMAC) couldn't control the line of scrimmage on either side, but still had a chance in the final minutes.
Leslie Richardson came in off the bench with the Mavericks down 17-7 with just more than six minutes to play. The redshirt junior quarterback immediately engineered a 6-play, 80-yard touchdown drive in less than two minutes to make it a three-point game 17-14, with 1:56 remaining. Richardson completed passes of 37, 18, 10 and 2 yards on the drive, with one of his incompletions drawing a pass interference call at the goal line.
The touchdown came on a pass over the middle to Sam Horneck, but the opening play of the drive was a big one to Trevin Edwards, which was followed by an 18-yard completion to Jack Burke.
Down 17-14, the Mavs recovered Coby May's onside kick, but were called for illegal procedure, putting the ball back at the 30. May's second onside attempt bounced off the hands of receiver Hayden Shawcroft's hands and into those of Lex Leany. His recovery gave the Mavs one more chance from their own 36 with 1:49 remaining.
After two incomplete passes, Richardson scrambled up the middle for 15 yards, but his pass to Burke at the 10 was picked off by a diving Lane Thomas, allowing the Hardrockers (5-5, 4-4) to run out the clock.
Despite the late comeback, the Mavericks struggled the entire game. In fact, both teams had trouble moving the ball in a game played in a steady rain.
The teams combined for eight first downs and 240 yards of total offense in the first half — four first downs each, with CMU mustering only 101 total yards, 86 on the ground and 15 in the air on 2-of-4 passing by Liu Aumavae.
The Hardrockers got the one big play of the first half, with only 40 seconds left on the clock. Holden Gilbert found a hole on the right side of the line and ran 38 yards for a touchdown.
Aiden Taylor capped a 13-play, 97-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to tie it at 7-7 with 2:45 left in the third quarter. Aumavae found Trek Keyworth for a 38-yard gain early in the possession. Later in the drive, the Mavs' QB was sacked for a 10-yard loss, but Adedokun Alarape was called for a horsecollar tackle, throwing Aumavae to the ground by the back of his jersey. That set CMU up with a first down at the 20. Horneck caught a third-down pass for a 19-yard gain to the 1 and Taylor bulled over from there.
The Hardrockers took advantage of a pass broken up by Kash Bradley, who couldn't hold on for the interception, to kick a go-ahead field goal and then added a 21-yard touchdown run by Gilbert with 6:13 to play.
The late rally helped CMU finish with 288 yards — South Dakota Mines had 266 — and 158 passing yards. Richardson completed 4 of 8 passes for 67 yards and the touchdown, with Aumavae completing 6 of 15 for 91 yards. Both quarterbacks were intercepted once.
Taylor had 55 tough yards rushing and Brandon Belgrave 40 more. Burke caught three passes for 38 yards, Edwards' two catches netted 49 yards and Horneck caught two more for 21 yards and the score.
Chuck Smith had 10 tackles, Liban Shongolo 9 and Levi Krebs, Colin Stuhr and Eli Keith 8 apiece.
Other than the two scoring drives, the longest CMU drive went for 38 yards, but ended in a lost fumble.
Colorado Mesa closes out the regular season at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, at Stocker Stadium against rival Western Colorado.
