Fresh off season-opening win, UMaine football prepares to face nation’s 3rd-ranked team

University of Maine third-year head football coach Jordan Stevens was pleased with his team’s performance in its season-opening 17-14 win over Colgate last Friday night at Morse Field in Alfond Stadium. The season-opening victory was UMaine’s first since 2019, snapping a four-game losing streak in openers. “I really like how our team played disciplined football. We didn’t beat ourselves. They played together and they really responded in the fourth quarter,” Stevens said during the weekly Coastal Athletic Association conference call. He is also fully aware there is a lot of work to be done this week in preparation for an 8 p.m. Saturday night game at Montana State, the third-ranked team in the most recent Football Championship Subdivision poll. “Our ability to play with mental toughness was really the key. That’s something we’ve been building and working towards,” Stevens said. “Playing through adversity was something we did a better job of in this game. That wasn’t always there in previous (seasons). It was good to see.” The last adversity the Black Bears faced came when they gifted the Raiders a lifeline that may have come back to bite them in the past. UMaine fumbled the ball with 57 seconds remaining and Colgate recovered at its own 33-yard line. Colgate was out of timeouts and it was a third-and-three play, so if UMaine had picked up the first down, that would have sewn up the win. Even if UMaine didn’t get the first down, it would have run valuable seconds off the clock and would have continued to do so if it ran a fourth-down play. However, the defense was stout and Alhaji Kamara’s interception with seven seconds left iced the game. “It was good to see our team come together and pick each other up. We turned the ball over on the last drive but the defense responded and got the [interception] to finish the game,” said Stevens. Transfer Carter Peevy, who led Mercer University to a FCS playoff berth last season and a victory over Gardner-Webb in the first round, completed 16 of 21 passes for 186 yards in his UMaine debut and also ran the ball eight times. He gained 18 yards but was sacked three times for a loss of 26 yards, resulting in a net yardage of minus-8. “He handled himself really well. It was good to see his athleticism. When things broke down, he was able to get some productive yards. The things he missed on, he will get cleaned up,” Stevens said. “He works really hard. He is a diligent guy.” Senior wide receiver Montigo Moss led UMaine with five receptions for a game-high 84 yards and it was his acrobatic 33-yard reception on a third-and-eight on UMaine’s last drive that — combined with graduate student running back Jaharie Martin’s 15-yard run two plays later — forced Colgate to burn its two remaining timeouts. “That was a big swing in the game. Montigo has really progressed in the past year. I’m really proud of him,” Stevens said. “With his leadership and his maturity, has developed into a vocal leader on this team.” Stevens also praised redshirt junior cornerback Kamara for his growth as a leader. “He is a really key person back there,” said Stevens, who added that it was great to see Kamara seal the deal with the interception. Stevens also noted that another redshirt junior cornerback, Dorian Blackwell, had the presence of mind to make sure he kept wide receiver Brady Hutchison inbounds when he tackled him on Colgate’s last drive to keep the clock running, “I’m really happy with how our secondary has improved and I expect them to continue to show growth from week one to week two,” Stevens said. On the injury front, graduate student center and UMass transfer Joe Horn, who started every game for UMaine last season, wasn’t expected to play but did wind up playing several series. “It was good to see him working off an injury and being back out there. He’s a tough guy. He does a great job,” Stevens said. Tight end and co-captain Cooper Heisey, who had two catches for 23 yards, suffered a shoulder injury in the game and will miss the Montana State game, according to Stevens. Wide receiver Joe Gillette missed the game with a minor injury but is expected back for Montana State, the UMaine coach said. Montana State is 2-0, erasing a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit to stun Football Bowl Subdivision team New Mexico 35-31 before beating Utah Tech 31-7. One thing the Black Bears have to improve is their tackling, Stevens said, and that will be crucial against a Montana State team that has the FCS’s top two rushers in Scottre Humphrey (247 yards on 39 carries) and Adam Jones (220 on 28). The team’s second-leading receiver is Rohan Jones (7 catches, team-high 91 yards), who caught 22 passes for 240 yards at UMaine last season. On the flip side, Martin, whose 66 rushing yards on 15 attempts was the game-high on Friday, played for Montana State last year. “Montana State is an outstanding team. They’re excellent in all three phases. They aren’t going to beat themselves,” Stevens said. “We need to go out there with a great game plan, which we will, and put our players in position to succeed.”