<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1uoUlt_0vw7LUEV00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1uoUlt_0vw7LUEV00" width="1200" height="600" >GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - A dramatic Colorado Mesa Mavericks Football fourth quarter rally resulted in the Mavericks taking down their rival Colorado School of Mines 14-13 in an instant classic of a game out at Stocker Stadium and reclaim the Nyikos Cup.The Colorado Mines Orediggers came into play winners of 24 straight Rocky Mountain Athletics Conference games, an RMAC Championship last season, and a National Title game appearance. On top of that, when Mines made the trip to Grand Junction last season, they dimantled CMU, 52-0.The Maverick offense struggled mightily for most of the first three quarters. However the Defense looked like came to play.Defensively, the Mavs only surrendered one complete scoring drive throughout the game to the defending RMAC Champs, on the first drive of the game, where the Orediggers marched down the field at Stocker Stadium and scored on a pass from the Mines Quarterback Evan Foster to receiver Max McLeod. and seemed primed to make this another crushing defeat for the Mavericks.The only other score the Mavericks Defense would surrender to the Orediggers would come after a blocked punt pinned the Mavs defense deep in their own territory, and the Mines Running Back Landon Walker ran the ball in. However the Mesa special teams forced a bad point after attempt kick by mines that ricocheted off an upright putting mines up 13-0. Those wound up being the only points Mines scored in the football game. Reading the box score would tell you the momentum of the game changed in the fourth but the swing really began at the end of the third. After both teams offenses were stifled to start the second half, the Mavericks got creative to create some momentum. What appeared to be a jet sweep to receiver Trevin Edwards was actually a pass by Edwards downfield at Alex Turpin. The throw went past Turpin who got tied up with a Mines defender and got a huge pass interference call to end the quarter. CMU quickly cashed in with Quarterback Liu Aumavae throwing off his backfoot on a play action pass to Edwards for the first Maverick points of the ballgame. It was one step forward, one back though, as the Mavericks special teams struggles reared their ugly head again, as the PAT was blocked to make things 13-6.After the Maverick defense came up big yet again forcing a quick punt from Mines, the Maverick offense put together maybe their most complete drive of the year. Driving down 98 yards to cap off the drive with a touchdown on a rollout from Aumavae to Quezon Villa to bring the Mavericks within one point at 13-12. CMU made the bold call to play for the lead, not the tie and elected to go for two. In what could quite possibly be the play of the season, Aumavae rolled to the left with the offensive line, to give the reverse handoff to Logan DeArment. In what wound up being another reverse play pass, DeArment, a former scout team quarterback at Colorado Mines delivered a dagger to his former team completing the pass to Wide Receiver Sam Horneck to give CMU their first lead of the day with about 5:30 on the clock. “We’ve had it on the docket for a little bit, Logan started out at Colorado School of Mines, so they kind of know what they’re getting. You put a quarterback into the game that hadn’t played, and I could hear them screaming over there, ‘DeArment, DeArment!’ But you know, they did a great job of executing it the last few weeks as we’ve had that in, so that threw them off-guard a little bit,” CMU Head Football Coach Miles Kochevar said postgame. After keeping the Mavericks in the game all game long, CMU once again had to call on their defense to make a key stop with the game on the line. Foster tried to make escape the Maverick pass rush with his feet, but he was chased down by Defensive Lineman Kade Street, and the ball came loose. Christian Speller fell on the ball to secure the narrow win for the Mavericks at a final of 14-13, and bring home the Nyikos cup for the first time since 2021.“For me, I was more worried about who got the ball, when when the ref said it was Mesa ball, man, I was just so excited. You could see the emotion of every single player on the team. It was just amazing,” Linebacker Colin Stuhr said. The Mavericks win also snaps that 24-game winning streak by mines against the RMAC. The last RMAC team to defeat Mines was the 2021 Mavericks. “it’s Awesome just to be able to continue to fight and then, you know, they never lost, lost belief in what they were doing, to be able to come out and just be able to finish it then and ended the way that it did. You know, kind of fitting with the defense on the field. Because you look at that 13 points that Mines had up there and a big chunk of that wasn’t on the defense, but they didn’t even blink,” Coach Kochevar said.CMU is now 3-2 on the season, and 2-1 in conference play, and will hit the road next week to take on Adams State.</div></body>

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Late Comeback leads CMU Football to win over Colorado Mines in Instant Classic

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - A dramatic Colorado Mesa Mavericks Football fourth quarter rally resulted in the Mavericks taking down their rival Colorado School of Mines 14-13 in an instant classic of a game out at Stocker Stadium and reclaim the Nyikos Cup. The Colorado Mines Orediggers came into play...

Late Comeback leads CMU Football to win over Colorado Mines in Instant Classic

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