CSU-Pueblo football defeats No. 15 University of Texas Permian Basin in home opener

CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves hosted the University of Texas Permian Basin at the ThunderBowl for their home opener on Saturday afternoon.

The game was delayed in the second quarter due to a lightning strike in the area, but the Pack was still able to finish the game out with a victory over the Falcons.

The ThunderWolves were led by quarterback Devin Larsen and wide receiver Reggie Retzlaff.

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Pack sends Falcons flying home

The game started rough for the Pack as they gave up a 70-yard touchdown to the Falcons to open the scoring up. They answered right back on the next drive with their own 70-yard touchdown pass to Retzlaff from Larsen; however, their extra point attempt was blocked by the Falcons and returned for two points.

Larsen and the Pack offense settled in and began to score against the Falcons' defense. Retzlaff got another touchdown grab, this time a 30-yard reception to put the pack up 13-9. Shortly after, Keith McKaney picked off Dylan Graham and returned it for a touchdown. Howard Russel V then took the ball down the sideline for a 51-yard rushing touchdown.

A few series later, the Pack kicked a field goal to go up 29-9. The Falcons started to march down the field after picking off Larsen in the second quarter before the lightning strike caused an hour-and-a-half delay in the game.

The third quarter was filled with penalties for both teams and not much action until late in the period. With just under two minutes left in the quarter, the Falcons scored.

In the fourth quarter, the Pack scored with Larsen tossing it to Taylor Tosches. They converted the two-point conversion to make it a 37-16 game with about nine minutes left in the game.

The Falcons scored a late touchdown and tacked on another field goal to win 40-23.

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Head coach Phillip Vigil spoke after the game about his team’s performance in this game.

“We beat a very good team tonight at home and we represented well for the Pack,” Vigil said. “You come to CSU-Pueblo to play ranked teams, and these guys answered the bell tonight and did a really good job. ... I’m proud of these guys, proud of the way they finished and their resiliency with the delay.”

The delay in the second quarter was close to two hours of real-time, but Vigil kept his team composed during that time and they were able to finish the game off with a win.

“Pastor Mike talked to us today in our Chapel about finishing,” Vigil said. “He talked about when a man says he's going to do something, he needs to stay true to his word and finish regardless of the circumstance. So, the good Lord was looking down on us today because even during the week, we had rain on Tuesday morning, which it never rains here, and that got us prepped to play in the rain a little bit. But that message was perfect, and the guys finished strong.”

The ThunderWolves took down one ranked opponent and welcome in another one next week with Grand Valley State visiting the ThunderBowl. Vigil's message to the team is simple — take care of the Pack.

“We got to take care of us and we got to continue to get better,” Vigil said. “If we do what we need to do throughout the week, the results will take care of themselves.”

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: CSU-Pueblo football defeats No. 15 University of Texas Permian Basin in home opener