GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Until the final seconds, the Colorado Mesa football team had a chance to upend the No. 12 team in the nation.
In the end, CSU Pueblo took advantage of the Mavericks' mistakes, namely four turnovers, including an interception in the end zone with five seconds remaining to claim a 31-24 victory at Stocker Stadium.
It was the first Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference game of the season for the Mavs (1-2, 0-1), who were looking to end a seven-game losing streak against the ThunderWolves.
A lost fumble and two interceptions earlier in the game cost the Mavericks dearly.
The offense caught CSU Pueblo (3-1, 2-0) off-guard early, mixing a controlled short passing game with the run game to grab a 7-0 lead on the first series of the game.
"We knew we're going to be able to do some things that would cause them some confusion, get the matchups that we wanted, create some holes, open up the pass game and the run game," CMU head coach Miles Kochevar said. "I thought we did a good job taking advantage of that early, go and get that momentum.
"I guess we're still on that verge of understanding how we've got to be able to take that next step. That was unfortunate that we kind of let our foot off the gas. Early in the game it was going to be a shootout the first three or four possessions. We got to find a way to keep going, match their scoring, put points on the board. We were in it, we were right where we wanted to be, really, going into halftime. We knew it was going to be a war."
A 45-yard return on the opening kickoff by Jackson Hansen set the Mavs up in great field position, and Liu Aumavae completed four of five passes for 43 yards. A 3-yard slant pass to Noah Greer turned into a 13-yard touchdown when the speedy receiver raced to the end zone.
CSU Pueblo answered with a 9-yard TD pass to Reggie Retzlaff, and the battle was on.
Sullivan Moon booted a 47-yard field goal on the Mavs' second drive, his first made field goal of the season. Moon helped the Mavs make the ThunderWolves work for their points, booming kickoffs through the end zone — CSU Pueblo had only two return yards on kickoffs — and averaging 34 yards on three punts.
"We know they have good returners, so our game plan this week was to kick it away from them, don't give them any chance," Moon said. "And then when I had to kick into the wind, I was just trying to put it as high as I can to give our guys the best shot to get down there and lay a hit down. And they did that, so I'm proud of them for that."
The offense bogged down in the middle quarters, with CSU Pueblo outscoring the Mavs 21-7, with an interception halting one drive and a lost fumble deep in the Mavs' territory setting up the Pack with their third TD of the game.
The first interception came with the Mavs holding a 17-14 lead. Dre'Monti Jackson read Aumavae's eyes and jumped in front of his pass and returned it nine yards, setting the ThunderWolves up at the Mavs' 26.
That led to CSU Pueblo's go-ahead touchdown, and from there, the Mavs were playing catch-up.
The defense came up with a key stop late in the second quarter, forcing a missed field goal, then forcing a punt on the first series of the third quarter.
CMU was pinned deep, and Aiden Taylor fumbled the ball at the 8, leading to another TD pass from Roman Fuller to Retzlaff and a 28-17 lead.
It was 31-17 in the fourth quarter when the Mavs got themselves back in the game.
The offense again went to the short passing game, and one of those short passes turned into a big play.
Aumavae, who finished 24 of 28 for 248 yards and three TDs, but also had the three interceptions, faced third and 6 from the 31. He found a wide-open Bryson Brown at the 44, and the freshman turned his first collegiate reception into his first collegiate touchdown. He outran everyone for a 69-yard TD with 5:49 remaining in the game, pulling CMU within seven, 31-24.
"I kind of saw the field before, it was a one-high safety, so I knew I had space, and it was just the fact of who's coming behind me. And as soon as I turned around, I saw nobody," Brown said.
"It was honestly basically a dream. It was like, how many players want to go into a collegiate game and score? It's like, dream come true. I know how many players just dream of that."
Again the defense held, but Aumavae was intercepted, and with 2:07 remaining, the ThunderWolves had a chance to run out the clock.
The defense, however, allowed only six yards, and the Mavs got the ball back at their own 4 with 1:02 remaining. A pair of penalties, one for a facemask and another for pass interference helped CMU move into Pueblo territory, and Brown caught another pass for 11 yards to get the ball to the 35 with 12 seconds left.
Aumavae escaped pressure but overthrew his receiver in the end zone, with Jackson snaring his second interception of the game.
CMU welcomed a couple of key players who missed the first two games with injury. Running back Brandon Belgrave carried the ball 10 times for 43 yards and had three catches for 24 more. Senior cornerback Kash Bradley also made his season debut, making five tackles and providing more experience in the young secondary. Lex Leany finished with 12 tackles and George Soppe 10 for CMU.
The final numbers were as close as the final score, with the Mavericks finishing with 410 yards of total offense to CSU Pueblo's 396. Colorado Mesa won the ground game 162-147 yards, and the ThunderWolves had one more passing yard than CMU, 249-248. The difference were the turnovers, 4-1 — Gibson Leafgreen picked off Fuller in the end zone for the Mavs' only takeaway.
"I love this group. I know we're driven in everything that we do," Kochevar said. "So it's never a question of the effort, but we've got to be able to control the controllables. We put ourselves in some bad situations, and unfortunately, we weren't able to dig out of them."
The Mavs will look for their first conference win of the season on Sept. 27, going on the road to play Chadron State, which is coming off an upset win of Colorado School of Mines.
"We know that's gonna be a dog fight. Coach (Jay) Long does a great job," Kochevar said of the Eagles. "They play hard, they're gonna be a physical team, so we're gonna have to recover quick and get our mind right to be able to go down there and find a way to win."
