PUEBLO, Colo. – Despite a resilient second-half push and a pair of fourth quarter touchdown passes from senior quarterback Roman Fuller (Decatur, Texas/University of Tulsa), the Super Region Four No. 3 seeded and fourth-ranked Colorado State University Pueblo football team couldn't overcome a slow start in a 37-24 setback to 10th-ranked UT Permian Basin in an NCAA Division II first round playoff game here Saturday afternoon at the ThunderBowl.

With the loss, the ThunderWolves cap the 2025 season with a 10-2 record and a repeat Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship, while UTPB improves to 10-2 on the season and will face 15th-ranked Western Colorado next Saturday in the second round of the playoffs. The Mountaineers opened the first round with a 27-20 win at No. 2 seeded and fifth-ranked Central Washington. Saturday's loss snapped a nine-game win streak for the Pack, which was tied for the fourth longest active streak in Division II.

Saturday's game was the final one for the Pack's 23-member senior class. This year's Pack football seniors were Fuller, defensive lineman Sam Amponsah (Romeoville, Ill./McKendree), offensive lineman Arthur Braach (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo East), tight end Seth Bozzi (Hawthorne, Nev./American River College), receiver Andrew Cook (Tucson, Ariz./Ironwood Ridge), running back Devin Cross (Pflugerville, Texas/Midwestern State), defensive back Kellen Curtis (Anchorage, Alaska/Southwest Baptist), tight end Tyler Dvorak (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek), defensive tackle Rashard Jackson (Upper Marlboro, Md./Wheeling), offensive lineman Jaiden Jones (Dallas, Texas/Tyler JC), defensive tackle Kaleb Manning (Clute, Texas/Midwestern State), running back Kiahn Martinez (Denver, Colo./University of Idaho), cornerback Keith Mckaney, Jr. (Avondale, Ariz./Desert Edge), senior defensive end Stephen Nagbe, Jr. (Willingboro, N.J./Western New Mexico), offensive lineman Domingo Prince II (Aurora, Colo./Cherry Creek), receiver Zack Rakowsky (Loveland, Colo./Loveland), receiver Reggie Retzlaff (Corona, Calif./Riverside City College), receiver Reece Robinson (Los Angeles, Calif./Antelope Valley), cornerback Jaylen Shaw (McKinney, Texas/Midwestern State), safety Peyton Shaw, defensive lineman Cameron Smith (Parker, Colo./Stephen F. Austin), receiver Cedric Tillman (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo South), and defensive back Ben Wilson (Pearland, Texas/Midwestern State).

The Pack, who made its 11th all-time appearance in the NCAA Playoffs and is now 9-10 all-time in the playoffs, spent much of the day fighting uphill at the Falcons, who finished tied for second in the Lone Star Conference, opened the game with 17 unanswered points in the first quarter.

"It wasn't our day today. The last four weeks, we've really been battling and coming back from large deficits, and today we ran out of time and ran out of snaps," CSU Pueblo third-year head coach Philip Vigil said in the postgame press conference. "I'm upset, not because we lost, but because we don't get to continue on this journey together. The buy-in, the work, and the belief by these 23 seniors is what has changed this program completely around, and we're not where we are at today as a program without those guys. I am very proud of this team and I'm proud of their effort and this game does not define them."
 

After UTPB took the opening kickoff and drove 77 yards in nine plays and capped the drive with a 28-yard field goal by Angel Diaz to take a 3-0 lead with 10:21 left in the opening quarter.

On the ensuing drive, the Pack gained 40 yards and seven plays, but back-to-back incomplete passes by Fuller stalled the drive at the UTPB 19-yard line and forced Pack junior kicker Jackson Smith (Centennial, Colo./Santa Barbara College) to attempt a 36-yard field goal, but Smith's attempt was no good to keep UTPB in the lead at 3-0 with 8:20 left in the quarter.

The Falcons would respond as eight plays after the Pack's missed field goal they took a 10-0 lead on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Kanon Gibson to Traylen Suel.

After a three-and-out by the Pack on its next possession, UTPB responded with a 68-yard drive in 11 plays and capped the drive with a 17-yard pass to Suel from Gibson to take a 17-0 lead after the opening 15 minutes of action.

The Pack would finally dent the scoreboard with 11:12 left in the second quarter on a 35-yard field goal by Smith. Smith's field goal, which capped a 68-yard, 13-play drive, dropped UTPB's lead to 17-3.

UTPB, who won it's first-ever NCAA Playoff game in their second-ever postseason appearance, extended its lead to 23-3 after a 2-run touchdown run by Gibson.  The extra point attempt by Diaz was blocked by redshirt junior defensive lineman Jaylen Booth (Merced, Calif./Merced). The blocked kick was the fifth this season by the Pack.

The Pack, who trailed the half for the fourth straight games, got the ball to start the third quarter and had a promising drive as they gained 19 yards on their first five plays and then got a first down on a fourth-and-1 play from their 41-yard line on an offsides penalty by the Falcons. The drive, though, eventually stalled and the Pack were forced to punt.

On the ensuing drive by UTPB, the Falcons drove 77 yards in six plays and capped the drive with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Gibson to Jaylon Tillman to give the visitors a 30-3 lead with 8:29 left in the game. The 27 point deficit was the largest of the season for the Pack.

Later in the third quarter, the Pack would take over the ball on its own 45-yard line following a 20-yard punt return by Rakowsky. Eight plays and 55 yards later, the Pack pulled within 30-10 following a 4-yard touchdown run by Martinez. The touchdown by Martinez was his 18th of his career, which is tied for 10th on the school's all-time charts.

The Pack would pull within 30-17 with 9:13 left in the fourth quarter following a 2-yard touchdown pass from Fuller to Retzlaff. The touchdown reception was the 40th of Retzlaff's career and 49th career touchdown pass for Fuller. The big play on the drive was a 32-yard pass play from Fuller to Retzlaff.

After the Pack defense forced the Falcons into a 3-and out on its next possession, the Pack got the ball back at their own 18-yard line with 7:25 left in the game, but on the first play of drive, Martinez fumbled the ball and UTPB's Amari Bedford recovered the ball at the Pack's 13-yard line.

Five plays after the fumble, the Falcons pushed its lead to 37-17 after a 2-yard touchdown run by Gibson with 4:18 left in the game.

The Pack, though, came right back as they drove 58 yards in 10 plays and capped the drive with a 32-yard touchdown pass from Fuller to junior receiver Dedrek Taylor-Akins (Fontana, Calif./Northeastern State) to drop UTPB's lead to 37-24 with 2:45 left in the game.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Pack attempted an onside kick, but the ball traveled nine yards before going out of bounds and giving the Falcons the ball at the Pack 39-yard line.

The Falcons would run out the remainder of the clock to seal it's first-ever NCAA Playoff win and its first-win over the Pack.

"There were too many times today where we put ourselves into third-and-long situations and that's not going to win in playoff football," Vigil added. "There were just too many times that some things we normally get, we didn't get today. They (UTPB) did a really good job in the secondary and we were struggling get open in their man coverage."

On the day, the Pack struggled on third-down against the Falcons as they were 5-for-16 in the game and 3-for-3 on fourth down, while UTPB was 9-for15 on third down and 1-for-2 on fourth down. In addition, the Pack was 3-for-4 in the red zone and UTPB was 5-for-7.

Fuller, who was named a Second-Team All-RMAC selection on Friday, finished the game 21-for-47 passing for 250 yards and had two touchdown passes, but was sacked two times and finished with 230 yards of total offense as he rushed two times for a minus-20 yards. He closes out his career third in career passing attempts (661), third in career pass completions (415), third in career passing yards (5,313), third in career touchdown passes (50) and fourth in career touhdowns responsible for (52) and fourth in career total offensive yards (5,323). Fuller is one of four players in school history to gain over 5,000 yards of total offense in a career.

In 2025, Fuller finished as the school's single-season leader in pass attempts (466), pass completions (278), passing yards (3,471), and total offense (3,410) and is third in single-season touchdown passes (32) and tied for the single-season lead in touchdowns responsible for with 34.

Taylor-Akins capped off his first season with the Pack by catching a team-high six passes for 98 yards, while Retzlaff capped his collegiate career with four receptions for 71 yards and finishes his career with school records for career receptions (187), career receiving yards (3,026) and career touchdown catches (40). In addition, he closed out the 2025 season with 72 receptions for 993 yards and 16 touchdown receptions. He is currently the Division II active leader in career receiving yards per game (91.6) and career receiving touchdowns (40). The 40 career touchdown catches is fourth-most all-time in state of Colorado history.

Martinez capped his career with 51 yards on 16 carries pushed his career rushing total to 1,726 yards, which is 14th all-time on the school's career rushing chart. Martinez is one of 14 players in school history to rush for 1,700 or more yards in a career.

For the game, the Pack finished with 330 yards of offense (80 rushing, 250 passing), while UTPB gained 469 yards of offense as they rushed for 126 yards and passed for 343 yards.

Gibson paced the Falcons offense as he was 24-for-34 passing for 343 yards and added 51 yards rushing for a total of 391 yards of total offense. He threw three touchdown passes and scored two rushing touchdowns in the win.

Suel was Gibson's primary target in the passing game as he was targeted 13 times and caught nine passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns. Ben Patterson added four catches for 62 yards.

The Pack defense was able to sack Gibson four times and record six quarterback hurries in the game. Two of the four sacks came from redshirt freshman defensive lineman Aiden Alefosio (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral). In addition, junior linebacker Bryson Torrie (Denver, Colo./Vista Peak) lead the way with a team-high 10 tackles to finish the season with 81 tackles. CSU Pueblo's four sacks pushed their season total to 33.