GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Once Aiden Taylor got to the second level of Eastern New Mexico's defense, there was no stopping him Saturday night.
And when Taylor got going, all of the Mavericks followed suit in a 28-7 victory in Colorado Mesa's home opener at Stocker Stadium.
The senior running back took a handoff at the ENMU 30, shrugged off a would-be tackler about the 25 and headed down the sideline. Just inside the 5, a Greyhound defender looked like he had an angle to save the touchdown, but Taylor wasn't having that.
"I think it goes down to how much you want it. And I mean, at the end of day, it was me and him, and I think I wanted it more," Taylor said.
He bulled over the defender and plunged into the end zone to tie the game at 7-7 at the 9:55 mark of the second quarter.
Still tied at the half, the Mavericks came out and controlled the second half, scoring 21 points by establishing the running game behind Taylor's 113 yards. Myles Newble, who did plenty of blocking early, had 37 tough yards and caught a TD pass from 23 yards out, Noah Greer broke off a 53-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and Marvin Jones picked up 32 of his 38 rushing yards on a big second-half run.
Perhaps the biggest stat of the game was only seven negative rushing yards — four of those when quarterback Liu Aumavae took a knee on three plays in victory formation. CMU did not commit a turnover and only three of 12 series failed to produce a first down, not including a one-play series after George Soppe's interception with five seconds left in the first half.
"I think he kind of fell into that same category as these other guys, there's high expectation to be able to come out and have success," CMU head coach Miles Kochevar said of his junior quarterback. "And you know, you're waiting for that to happen and looking for that breaking point. He played tense last week … I said, just go out and have some fun. Cut the thing loose. And when he does that, he's really on point, and did a good job of finding his guys tonight."
Aumavae let his running backs churn out the yardage, and he completed nine of 14 passes for 103 yards and one touchdown. The Mavs dropped a couple of passes, something they'll address during the bye week — CMU (1-1) is off next weekend, opening Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play on Sept. 20 at home against CSU Pueblo (1-1).
"By halfway through the first quarter, I looked at our the running backs, Myles, and I said, this is going to be a second-half game for us. We just got to keep going," Taylor said. "Let's keep going at them, and then we'll go in, we'll talk real quick and come back out, and let's just go out shooting at them. And I think that's what we did. We were able to pop a couple here in the first first half, but then I think we got it really rolling in the second."
Along with an improved running game came an improved performance on defense.
The Mavericks held the Greyhounds' run-first offense to 194 yards on the ground and 269 yards of total offense.
CMU gave up a few big runs, but forced three turnovers, one of which led to a touchdown. Soppe and Kendrick Jones each intercepted a pass and Andre Lopez-Green recovered a fumble that was knocked out of quarterback Chad Ragle's hands by Noah Williams.
"I was seeing the play, and then I saw the quarterback cut in, so I thought I could get in there," Williams said. "I threw a fist out, and then got on the ball, so it just flew out."
CMU controlled the line of scrimmage in the second half on both sides of the ball. Defensively, they got pressure on Ragle, who was able to break off a handful of big runs and completed a 14-yard TD in the first quarter.
A big part of the Mavs' defensive success was freshman lineman Tavery Chappell, fresh out of Wray High School. He found out Thursday he'd be suiting up, and ended up playing a big role, with nine tackles, three solo, in his first college game.
"It was just ... it was an experience. I got thrown out there, and I'm expected to make some plays regardless of, you know, if I'm a freshman, sophomore or whatever," Chappell said. "And I just try my best to do that and trust my brothers and just do my job the way that I think is the best I could."
The coaches liked what Chappell has shown in practice, and he's played against similar offenses to the Greyhounds, so they elevated him to the active squad.
"Well, he's a competitor, and he's seen the option before. He's not scared to get cut (blocked). Some of our guys haven't played that style football in a long time, so when you see that, it does something to your mindset," Kochevar said. "And knowing that, he's just going to come in and compete, he's a state champion wrestler, he's a grinder, he's tough, he's physical, and we knew it would be a good fit for him. ... I don't know if the plan was playing as much as we did, but he was able to go in and control the middle. And in order to stop that offense, you've got to stop the dive."
The Greyhounds scored on their second possession, but crossed midfield only three more times. Two of those drives ended with Maverick interceptions and the third in a missed field goal.
Offensively, the Mavericks scored 28 unanswered points after Eastern New Mexico got on the board. They took the lead on Newble's reception that capped a six-play, 58-yard drive, then added Taylor's 11-yard scoring run on the next series, which covered 44 yards in only three plays. Greer's 53-yard scoring scamper that sealed the win with 5:13 to play ended a four-play, 80-yard drive.
Eastern New Mexico had the ball second and goal from the CMU 1 early in the fourth quarter, down 21-7, but Hunter Hamilton and Lane Branstetter stuffed Ragle at the line of scrimmage. On third down, Kade Street and Gibson Leafgreen threw Elias Santana for a 2-yard loss, and on fourth down, Ragle found Gerry Gomez in the end zone. Gomez, though, was called for offensive pass interference, moving ENMU back to the 18, and they missed a 35-yard field goal.
Having two weeks before their next game should allow the Mavericks to heal up and sharpen up.
"Playing a Zero Week (game) has its benefits, and then having the bye here, sometimes it might be a little bit early, but I think the way that we went through camp and then having a tough week one opponent, tough week two opponent, it comes at the right time. It's been a long August as as these guys have come in and gone to work, and now to be able to get a little bit of time, not only for football and physically, but mentally, and then kind of getting the swing of school. You know, we missed a whole week, really, last week (with the long road trip to Central Washington for a Thursday game), so this will be good for them to just kind of get their bearings and get ready to go on a tough conference schedule."
