CMU Mavericks Romp in Football Season Opener

Last year the CMU Mavericks started the season 0-3. That won't happen this year thanks to a season opening 34-0 win over Menlo College (0-2) from Atherton California. The Mavericks opened up a 21-0 halftime lead thanks in part to two touchdown runs by Junior Jake CImolino, who played sparingly in the second half and finished with 125 yards on 15 carries. The Mavericks racked up over 400 yards of offense, but it was the defense that was most impressive.The shutout was the first by the Mavericks since blanking Mines on November 3, 2007. Head Coach Russ Martin was pleased with the performance of his defense."The defense did a great job. To shut out a team in this day with the kind of offenses that people have and the ability to have big plays, the defense played phenomenal. I thought they did a very good job of tackling overall."

The bad news for the Mavericks was losing starting quarterback Aric Kaiser to a knee injury in the first quarter. It's not known how long the redshirt freshmen will be sidelined. Kaiser was replaced by fellow redshirt freshmen Kyle Duran who went 16-29 for 142 yards with no interceptions and carried the ball 10 times for 33 yards and a touchdown.

The 1-0 Mavericks hit the road next Saturday for another non-conference against an NCAA Division I opponent Montana State University. More than 5,000 fans turned out for Saturday night's game. The next home game will be September 28th against Black Hills State University.