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Opportunity.
Mesa State had enough of them to pull an upset on No. 10 West Texas A & M yet, for a play here or a yard there, the Mavericks wound up on the back side of a 23-20 loss.
“Were gonna beat ourselves up pretty good because we knew we had an opportunity,” said head coach Joe Rammuno. “But, we had a lot of things to be proud of.”
True and true.
Visions of A & M kicker James Chandler, hitting the 24-yard, game-winning field goal late in the fourth quarter will haunt the Mavericks collective psyche this weekend.
On the flip side, Mesa (0-1) can take a lot of positives from Thursday’s non-conference loss into the practice for next week’s road game at Central Washington.
“We played a good football team right there. I’m proud of our players and coaches. They really worked hard,” said Rammuno.
Hard work by the offensive line gave Bobby Coy ample opportunity to display his running ability.
The junior ran for 201 net yards in 34 carries and two touchdowns against A & M’s highly-touted defense that was the third stingiest among Division II football teams last year.
Coy’s 2-yard, first quarter touchdown run which culminated a 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive gave Mesa State the first of two leads they held in the game.
Naturally, Coy had a prominent role that produced the score. Putting together back-to-back first down gains of 20 and 23, Coy pushed the Mavericks out from their own 23 to A & M’s 24.
Later in the drive after quarterback Phil Vigil connected on a 3-yard pass to Maurice Manley, Coy kept the Mavericks moving when he ripped through the Buffaloes defense for five yards on fourth down to get down to the A & M 7-yard line.
Stunned with the ease of Mesa’s being able to move the ball on its defense, the Buffaloes offense responded.
Running back Keithone Flemming ran in from 11 yards out with 1:41 left in the first. Then Chandler knotted the score at 7-all on the first of three extra points he had.
Quarterback Keith Null gave A&M the lead with 5:31 remaining in the second quarter when he found receiver Charly Martin in the end zone on a 16-yard pass. Mesa defensive tackle Nic Pade blocked Chandler’s PAT attempt to keep the score at 13-7.
Lifted by the senior’s defensive stop, the Mavericks took a 14-13 advantage into halftime on a 4-yard Coy TD run and Jerad Keating’s successful point after.
West Texas erased any good vibrations Mesa took with them into the locker room after Wayne McKnight returning the second-half opening touchdown 78 yards to Mesa’s 3-yard line.
Despite getting flagged for making an illegal block at the end of the run, Null and Martin connected for a 13-yard strike to go up 20-13 with just 24 elapsed seconds gone in the third quarter.
Taking advantage of A&M’s defense keying in on Coy, Mesa quarterback Philip Vigil fashioned a 9-play, 60-yard drive on passes of 6 and 15 yards to receiver Griffin Chernoff and first down keepers of 13 and 8 yards to set up tight end Maurice Manley’s 7-yard game-tying touchdown pass with 9:26 left in the period.
After the score, both teams had a chance to take the lead on successive series.
Each team failed to do so when they were stopped on 4th-and-1 attempts. Mesa came up short when Coy lost a yard on the Buffaloes 24.
That was the deepest penetration the Mavericks had the rest of the night.
West Texas began its march to Chandler’s game-winner after a Maverick punt was downed at the Buffaloes 1-yard line. Flemming got A&M out of the shadow of their own end zone with a first down gain to the 10.
Null took care of the rest.
He connected on four, first down passes afterwards to move A&M inside the Mesa 13. The key play of the drive was a Hull 43-yard gain to Sedrick Knowlton. The Mavericks stiffened at the 13, holding A&M to five rushing yards and an incomplete pass before Chandler kicked the ball through the uprights.
Mesa State had enough of them to pull an upset on No. 10 West Texas A & M yet, for a play here or a yard there, the Mavericks wound up on the back side of a 23-20 loss.
“Were gonna beat ourselves up pretty good because we knew we had an opportunity,” said head coach Joe Rammuno. “But, we had a lot of things to be proud of.”
True and true.
Visions of A & M kicker James Chandler, hitting the 24-yard, game-winning field goal late in the fourth quarter will haunt the Mavericks collective psyche this weekend.
On the flip side, Mesa (0-1) can take a lot of positives from Thursday’s non-conference loss into the practice for next week’s road game at Central Washington.
“We played a good football team right there. I’m proud of our players and coaches. They really worked hard,” said Rammuno.
Hard work by the offensive line gave Bobby Coy ample opportunity to display his running ability.
The junior ran for 201 net yards in 34 carries and two touchdowns against A & M’s highly-touted defense that was the third stingiest among Division II football teams last year.
Coy’s 2-yard, first quarter touchdown run which culminated a 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive gave Mesa State the first of two leads they held in the game.
Naturally, Coy had a prominent role that produced the score. Putting together back-to-back first down gains of 20 and 23, Coy pushed the Mavericks out from their own 23 to A & M’s 24.
Later in the drive after quarterback Phil Vigil connected on a 3-yard pass to Maurice Manley, Coy kept the Mavericks moving when he ripped through the Buffaloes defense for five yards on fourth down to get down to the A & M 7-yard line.
Stunned with the ease of Mesa’s being able to move the ball on its defense, the Buffaloes offense responded.
Running back Keithone Flemming ran in from 11 yards out with 1:41 left in the first. Then Chandler knotted the score at 7-all on the first of three extra points he had.
Quarterback Keith Null gave A&M the lead with 5:31 remaining in the second quarter when he found receiver Charly Martin in the end zone on a 16-yard pass. Mesa defensive tackle Nic Pade blocked Chandler’s PAT attempt to keep the score at 13-7.
Lifted by the senior’s defensive stop, the Mavericks took a 14-13 advantage into halftime on a 4-yard Coy TD run and Jerad Keating’s successful point after.
West Texas erased any good vibrations Mesa took with them into the locker room after Wayne McKnight returning the second-half opening touchdown 78 yards to Mesa’s 3-yard line.
Despite getting flagged for making an illegal block at the end of the run, Null and Martin connected for a 13-yard strike to go up 20-13 with just 24 elapsed seconds gone in the third quarter.
Taking advantage of A&M’s defense keying in on Coy, Mesa quarterback Philip Vigil fashioned a 9-play, 60-yard drive on passes of 6 and 15 yards to receiver Griffin Chernoff and first down keepers of 13 and 8 yards to set up tight end Maurice Manley’s 7-yard game-tying touchdown pass with 9:26 left in the period.
After the score, both teams had a chance to take the lead on successive series.
Each team failed to do so when they were stopped on 4th-and-1 attempts. Mesa came up short when Coy lost a yard on the Buffaloes 24.
That was the deepest penetration the Mavericks had the rest of the night.
West Texas began its march to Chandler’s game-winner after a Maverick punt was downed at the Buffaloes 1-yard line. Flemming got A&M out of the shadow of their own end zone with a first down gain to the 10.
Null took care of the rest.
He connected on four, first down passes afterwards to move A&M inside the Mesa 13. The key play of the drive was a Hull 43-yard gain to Sedrick Knowlton. The Mavericks stiffened at the 13, holding A&M to five rushing yards and an incomplete pass before Chandler kicked the ball through the uprights.
