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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Mesa State's Bobby Coy showed off his skills early in Thursday's 42-14 non-conference victory over Dixie State.
Coy rushed for touchdowns of four and 15 yards and caught a 29-yard pass from Sean McGraw for a score as the Mavericks introduced the Rebels to four-year football by building a 28-7 halftime lead. He finished the night with 131 yards rushing and four touchdowns overall.
"I thought the kids competed," said Dixie State coach Ron Haun. "They hung in and fought.
"We knew coming in we're young and we're weak," he said. "It's just a matter of playing these games and learning from them. We'll get better. It's going to be interesting when these guys come over to St. George (on Oct. 7)." The Rebels had a chance to score first when Steven Cook recovered a fumble and returned it to the Mesa State 10 in the first five minutes of play. But a penalty pushed the ball back to the 25 and DSC stalled from there. Nick Reed blocked Stephen Webster's field goal attempt and the Mavericks and Coy scored their first touchdown a few plays later.
Travis Brown scored DSC's first touchdown of the NCAA era when he took a pass from Lance Patonai and turned it into an 84-yard score with 10:49 left in the first quarter. That made the score 7-7, but that was as close as the Rebels came. Brown had a 29-yard catch in the second quarter, but the Rebels were unable to cash in on that opportunity.
Missed opportunities were just part of the story of the game for Dixie State offensively. The defense, meanwhile, had trouble stopping Coy as well as McGraw, who passed for 119 yards and two scores.
Patonai and Brown hooked up four times for 230 yards, part of a total of 298 in the air, but the Rebels couldn't get anything going on the ground. They managed just seven yards.
"We had our best back out," Haun noted, pointing out that Amos Allen suffered a slight shoulder separation and was unable to go.
The start of the game was delayed 10 minutes because of an electrical storm in the area. A pounding rain fell for about five minutes, leaving puddles on the track surrounding the football field. A steady drizzle continued until just before game time.
EXTRA POINTS: The Rebels got their first win in Division II when they won the pre-game coin toss. They deferred their opportunity to take the opening kickoff to the second half.
Quarterback Danny Southwick tripped on the stairs at the team motel and twisted his ankle before the game. Trainers taped and iced the ankle before the game. He did not play.
Mesa State won all five of its Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference home games in 2005 and had that long of a home winning streak before Thursday's game.
Dixie State and Mesa State were long-time rivals in their junior college days. Both played in the Intermountain Collegiate Athletic Conference with the likes of Snow College and Carbon College (now the College of Eastern Utah).
Starting halfback Amos Allen missed the game with a shoulder injury. Pine View graduate Jesse Ence got the call in his place.
Coach Ron Haun told his players their opponents expected a "ragtag junior college bunch" as he reminded them of the historic implications of the game. They weren't ragtag, but they struggled against the more experienced Mavericks all night.
A sizeable group of Dixie State fans made the six-hour trip from St. George for the game.
Dixie State 7 0 0 7-14
Mesa State 14 14 7 7-42
MS-Coy 4 run (Johnson kick)
DSC-Brown 84 pass from Patonai (Webster kick)
MS-Coy 15 run (Johnson kick)
MS-Bohannon 27 pass from McGraw (Johnson kick)
MS-Coy 29 pass from McGraw (Johnson kick)
MS-Coy 6 run (Johnson kick)
DSC-Smith 42 pass from Patonai (Webster kick)
MS-J. Murray 38 pass from Vigil (Amezola kick)
