PUEBLO, Colo. -- Colorado State-Pueblo took advatange of six Midwestern State turnovers to roll to a 37-8 season opening win Saturday night at the ThunderBowl.
The Mustangs, who dropped the season opener for the second-straight year, will try to get on-track next Saturday against Mississippi College. Kickoff at Memorial Stadium is set for 7 p.m.
"We had some stuff that shouldn't happen in a game," MSU coach
Bill Maskill said. "We had some holding calls and penalties. We need to do a better job coaching that. We can't make the mistakes that we made. It was absolutely embarrassing."
MSU turned the ball over on four consecutive drives in the first half, allowing the Thunderwolves to roll out to a 27-0 halftime lead.
Colorado State-Pueblo used a fast-paced offense to push the ball down the field for a 75-yard scoring drive on its first possession which culminated in a 1-yard run by Kiahn Martinez.
The Thunderwolves took advantage of turnovers in the Red zone later in the half which resulted in a 29-yard field goal by Jacob Willig and 20-yard touchdown from Chance Fuller to Tyler Dvorak to give CSU-Pueblo a 17-0 edge just four seconds into the second quarter.
The Thunderwolves added another field goal on a 61-yard drive midway through the second quarter, then punched in another touchdown just moments before halftime courtesy of Eli Pittman's 49-yard interception return to MSU's 6-yard line.
Fuller hit Zack Rakowsky on a 6-yard out-route for the score on the next play.
"We played hard and we didn't give up," Maskill said. "I never felt like we were out of the game in the first half.
But Fuller connected for a 4-yard TD pass to CK Poulos early in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 34-0 before the Mustangs responded.
Sophomore
Devin Cross broke free for a 21-yard TD run with 10:01 to play, while backfield mate
Jalen March tacked on a 2-point conversion run.
The duo paced MSU's offensive attack as March finished with 87 yards on 25 carries, while Cross had 59 yards on 12 totes. Cross also contributed MSU's longest gain of the game on a 30-yard reception.
Sophomore
Peyton Shaw led the defense with nine tackles, while brother
Jaylen Shaw made four stops and had an interception in his MSU debut.
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-- MSUMustangs.com --
