Mavs Close To Victory, But Lose in Fourth Quarter

Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades.

The Colorado Mesa University team traveled to Chadron, NE, for Saturday’s conference opener and came close to upsetting Chadron State College, ranked No. 21 in the country.

The Mavericks jumped out to a 15-0 lead on The Eagles and took an 18-10 lead into halftime. But Chadron’s experience in big games proved to be too much, as the Eagles opened the second half with a pair of touchdown passes and held on to beat the Mavs 30-24.

The Mavs fall to 1-2 overall, 0-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Chadron is 2-1 and 1-0 in the RMAC.

The two teams always seem to play close games, despite Chadron being a perennial power in the RMAC while CMU finds itself trying to build up to where the Eagles are – competing for RMAC titles each year. In their second year under head coach Russ Martin, the Mavs showed they’re on the right track.

As usual, the Mavericks were led on offense by junior running back Jake Cimilino, who rushed for 147 yards and a touchdown. And, as usual, the Mavs were led on defense by senior linebacker Jake Edmiston, who finished with 12 tackles.

For the first time this season, however, the Mavericks had a balanced offensive attack, with redshirt freshman quarterback Kyle Duran completing 15 of 27 passes for 157 yards. Duran added a rushing touchdown.

The Mavs head back to Grand Junction and will host Black Hills State next week at Stocker Stadium.