CSU Pueblo Thunderwolves get another victory in RMAC play; defeat Adams State 43-10

The CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves football team had their homecoming game on Saturday at the ThunderBowl against RMAC opponent Adams State. After coming off an historic performance last game, in which they set school and RMAC records, the Pack defeated the Grizzles 43-10.

The ThunderWolves were led by an effective rushing attack by Kiahn Martinez and Howard Russell, with both running backs rushing for touchdowns in this game and keeping the ball out of the hands of Adams State by running time off the clock.

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ThunderWolves win again

The first quarter was promising for the ThunderWolves, who took the opening possession of the game down the field for a touchdown. Chance Fuller hit a big pass to Zack Rakowsky to set up the score by Martinez, who dragged defenders into the end zone to put the Pack up 7-0 early in the first quarter.

A few series later, the ThunderWolves scored again, this time with Russell taking it in from about 12 yards out to give the Pack a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter. With time running out in the first quarter, the ThunderWolves scored one more time on an 11-yard scoring toss from Fuller to Reggie Retzlaff to make the score 21-0 before the end of the opening period.

In the second quarter, the Grizzles finally got on the board with a touchdown to close the gap to 21-7. The Pack added another score by kicking a field goal midway through the second quarter to go up 24-7. Then a muffed punt by Andrew Cook gave the Grizzles great field position, but the ThunderWolves defense stepped up and forced the Grizz into a field goal, making the score 24-10.

With less than two minutes left on the clock in the half, the Pack marched down the field and added a field goal of their own to go the break 27-10. The second half was more of the same, as the ThunderWolves scored on their opening possession of the third quarter when Fuller found receiver Andrew Cook for a 14-yard touchdown to go up 34-10.

The ThunderWolves got a safety off a botched snap on an Adams State punt made it a 36-10 game. On the ensuing free kick, Dorion McGarity would took it 73 yards down the field for another Pack touchdown. The third quarter ended with the score 43-10, and the fourth quarter was simply a formality, with the ThunderWolves putting in most of their backups. Adams State was unable to do anything on the offensive side of the ball in the second half, and the final score was 43-10.

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Head coach Philip Vigil was happy with the team's victory today and pointed out that each week his team is getting better and better throughout the season.

“I am proud of our team and proud of our staff,” Vigil said. “They did a really good job putting our guys in good positions today and just challenging them to be physical and do their job, and they did that today. Our offense started really fast. They came out the gate in the first half and scored on every possession I think except for one. The defense held them when they needed to and got some turnovers there in the second half.”

After last week’s historic win over Fort Lewis, it’s easy for a team to have a letdown the following week, but Vigil had his team ready to go for this one and preaches readiness every day in practice.

“I mean, it's just about doing your job,” Vigil said. “We stress it all the time, ‘Do your job, do your job, and play to our standard,’ and they've been doing that. It’s not about anybody else, it’s about, how much do you love the guy next to you? Are you willing to let the guy next to you down? When you do your job and you play hard for the guy next to you, good things happen, and that's what happened today.”

The offense has been clicking the last few games, and Fuller is a big reason behind it; however, the passing game would not be as effective as it is if it wasn’t for the steady performance in the running game from backs like Martinez and Russell.

“Every week it seems like our offensive line and our running backs get better and better and better,” Vigil said. “We talked before the season about that group right there, and there is no substitution for live reps. The more live reps they've gotten, the better they've gotten. So, I'm really excited about that group and what they're doing, and it's fun to see. For a coach, it’s like a security blanket to know that you can run the football, and they ran it really well.”

The run sets up the pass

Running back Kiahn Martinez has been at CSU Pueblo since last year and went through the process of starting 1-3 before running off seven straight victories to reach the playoffs. As one of the veterans on the team, Martinez looks to not only help establish the running game for the Pack but also be a leader for others on the team.

“I think it's just very important because we have a younger O-line right now with some of the guys out,” Martinez said. “It’s important that we know we can build confidence by running the ball, and me being the leader on this team, I know guys look up to me. When I do my job, it feeds the energy off to everybody else. I think it just helps, and we have a great quarterback in Chance. He just leads us. He is the leader on the team. He's calling the shots.”

Martinez was able to notch another touchdown in the game against Adams State on Saturday, and his performance week in and week out is indicative of what the coaches preach all week long between games.

“We just come to work every day,” Martinez said. “We will come back to work on Monday when we watch the film. Day in and day out, that's the coach's biggest thing. We just need to be intentional. We know the first couple of losses were on us as a team. We weren't really dialed in all the way. We were looking too far ahead. We have got to be intentional. Day in, day out.”

With the Pack now at 3-3 on the season, they are quite literally running the script back from last season at this point and are poised to try and make another run of seven games in a row to make the playoffs, but Martinez stressed the importance of not getting too far ahead of themselves and taking things day by day.

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“I definitely believe we can do it,” Martinez said. “But like I said earlier, we have to focus on tomorrow. We have to make sure we come to work tomorrow and make sure our bodies are healthy to keep maintaining the next five games. I think that's just the biggest thing. We can't look too far ahead.”

Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @chowebacca. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: CSU Pueblo defeats Adams State 43-10; back to .500 on the season