GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa football team opened the season Thursday evening (Aug. 27) at Stocker Stadium as they took on returning Super Region III finalist Minnesota State. The Mavericks trailed throughout and could never catch up in a 38-14 loss to Minnesota State.
Minnesota State struck quickly, taking a 14-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. Colorado Mesa's opening drive stalled on downs at the Minnesota State 39 after a 10-play march, and the Mavericks' next two possessions ended in punts.
Colorado Mesa's response came on a signature second-quarter drive. Facing a 14-0 deficit, Aumavae led the offense on a 13-play, 90-yard march, the Mavericks' longest of the night, mixing runs from
Jalen Hankins and
Exander Carroll with short completions before connecting with
Trek Keyworth on a 23-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 14-7. Minnesota State answered just before the half to make it 21-7, but Colorado Mesa had shown it could move the ball when it stayed patient.
The third quarter was a defensive battle for Colorado Mesa. The Mavericks forced three straight punts and a Minnesota State field goal, and their own drives were undone by penalties, including back-to-back false starts that pushed a fourth-and-1 into a fourth-and-11 and forced a punt, part of a night in which Colorado Mesa was flagged seven times for 59 yards. A promising fourth-quarter drive later reached midfield before an interception ended the threat.
Colorado Mesa refused to fold. Trailing 38-7 with just over four minutes left, the offense put together its best answer of the night, a 14-play, 75-yard drive that chewed up 4:16 off the clock and ended with Hankins punching in a 1-yard touchdown to make it 38-14. Along the way, Aumavae connected with five different receivers, including a 20-yard gain to Keyworth and a third-down conversion to
Bryson Brown, showing the kind of balance Colorado Mesa will look to build on.
For the game, Aumavae finished 27-of-38 passing for 196 yards and a touchdown, spreading the ball to nine different receivers.
Bryson Brown led the Mavericks with six catches for 48 yards, while Keyworth added five grabs for a team-high 63 yards and the lone passing score. Hankins paced the ground game with a rushing touchdown to go with 23 yards on nine carries, and
Bronco Hartson added 61 yards on 15 carries. Colorado Mesa out-possessed Minnesota State for the game, holding the ball for 32:36 to the visitors' 27:24, and converted 7 of 15 third downs and 2 of 3 fourth downs.
Defensively, linebacker
La'Markus Reed led all Colorado Mesa tacklers with 14 total stops, followed by
Larry Preston with 10 tackles and two pass breakups.
AJ Adams,
Gibson Leafgreen,
Dante Vigil, and
Ian Hafey each chipped in with steady contributions against a Minnesota State offense that finished with 426 total yards. Punter
Kale Purvis was a workhorse in the field-position battle, booming five punts for a 44.8-yard average and pinning Minnesota State deep multiple times.
The two turnovers proved costly, as Minnesota State converted them into 14 points, ultimately the difference in the final margin.
The Mavericks hit the road again next Saturday, September 5, for a 2:00 p.m. kickoff against Eastern New Mexico in Portales, N.M., looking for their first win of the young season.
