GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - The Black Hills State University football team (0-4, 0-2 RMAC) dropped their fourth game in a row as the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks (2-2, 1-1 RMAC) used a big fourth quarter to open the game up and secure the victory.
After three quarters of play the Yellow Jackets were down just ten points, 21-11. However, CMU opened the quarter with a 37-yard touchdown pass by QB Jason Haferman to WR Steven Linquist to make it 28-11. Two minutes later the Mavericks used a quick seven play drive to extend their lead to 35-11 with over 12 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Early on after CMU took a quick 14-3 lead, the Jackets used the leg of freshman kicker, Christian Parr, to stay in the game after Parr hit three straight field goals over 35 yards to cut the lead to 14-11 with 9:28 remaining in the third quarter.
Parr was the leading BHSU point getter with nine points on the afternoon.
The Jackets turned the ball over eight times on the day, after surrendering seven interceptions to six different defenders, and had one lost fumble as the Maverick defense held the Jackets to zero touchdowns on the day for the first time all season.
CMU had 205 total rushing yards to go with 219 passing yards after a balanced attack by Haferman (13-of-22, 162 yards, 3 TDs, O INTs) and running backs Jake Cimilino and Kyle Duran who combined for 22 attacks and 111 yards and a touchdown.
Coming into the day, the BHSU defense had given up 927 yards in just three games in their 3-3-5 defense.
The bright spot on the defense side of the ball for the Jackets was again young sophomore linebacker, Trent Boner, who racked up nine more tackles and a sack to keep is average per game on the season at almost 10 tackles per game.
Defensive backs, Brian Baldwin and Travis Groves, notched interceptions while going up against CMU's back-up quarterback later in the second half. Groves now has two interceptions on the season after having a 37-yards INT returned for a touchdown last weekend vs. Colorado Mines.
BHSU quarterback Ward Anderson went 26-of-46 (50%) for 264 yards, zero touchdowns and six interceptions. The leading receiver for the Jackets was Jerome Krysl with five grabs for 64 yards and no touchdowns.
Starting running-back and team captain, Bryar DeSanti, had just six carries for five yards while the leading rusher for the Jackets was back-up quarterback Matt Rassmussen who had one rush for 18 yards.
Next up for the Jackets is Western State on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013 at 1 p.m. MT at Lyle Hare Stadium for the annual homecoming game.
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