WARRENSBURG, Mo. – Colorado State University Pueblo football hit the road for the time in the 2025 season here Thursday evening as the 14th-ranked ThunderWolves rallied to post a hard-fought 29-24 non-conference, Super Region Four victory over Central Missouri in Walton Stadium at Kennedy Field.

With the victory, the Pack improves to 2-1 on the season and extends its road win streak to 10 consecutive games, which is the longest active road win streak in Division II. UCM falls to 0-2 on the season.

"The grit on this team was pretty special tonight. I told them, this team (UCM) knows how to win and we we're going to have to make them quit," CSU Pueblo third-year head coach Philip Vigil said following the game. "I felt that offensively and defensively in the second half, we were just on a different level and that is credit to our strength and conditioning coach (Rashard Harris), a credit to our guys buying in during the offseason and I think it showed tonight. I am just proud of our guys to be able to come here and get this win. It's a big win."

After gaining just 122 yards and scoring 10 points in the first half, the Pack gained 248 yards and scored 19 points after halftime, including outscoring the Mules, 10-0 in the third quarter to take a 20-17 lead heading into the final quarter.

For the game, the Pack finished with 373 yards as they rushed 41 times for 123 yards and senior quarterback Roman Fuller (Decatur, Texas/University of Tulsa) was 16-for-38 passing for 250 yards and had two touchdowns and no interceptions. After being 7-for-16 for 106 yards and one touchdown in the first half, Fuller, who was named this week's NFF Colorado Chapter Player of the Week, was 9-for-22 passing 144 yards in the second half.

Fuller's two touchdown passes pushed his career total 25, which is tied for sixth on the school's career chart with Rex Dausin (2016-17) and Joe Pannunizio (1978-81), while his 250 yards pushed his career total to 2,674, which is eighth on the school's all-time list.

Meanwhile, UCM tallied 247 yards of offense and seven points in the second half, after gaining 289 yards and scoring 17 first in the opening half. In addition, the Pack defense pick off three passes, including two interceptions by senior safety Peyton Shaw (Savannah, Texas/Midwestern State), that led to 13 points for the Pack.

"One of our keys this week as the resetting the line of scrimmage and I thought our big boys upfront did that in the second half. They wore those guys out," added Vigil, who is now 20-6 as the Pack's head coach.  

After trailing 17-10 at the half, the Pack tied the game at 17-all after Fuller connected with redshirt senior receiver Andrew Cook (Tucson, Ariz./Ironwood Ridge) for a 34-yard touchdown pass. The ensuing extra point by junior kicker Jackson Smith (Centennial, Colo./Santa Barbara City College) was good to cap a nine-play, 89-yard drive with 9:05 left I the third quarter. Cook's touchdown came nine plays after senior defensive lineman Cameron Smith (Parker, Colo./Stephen F. Austin) picked off a pass at the Pack 11-yard line by UCM quarterback Donovyn Omolo.

Cook, who pushed his career touchdown reception total to 22, which is third on the school's all-time chart, caught two passes for 31 yards. Cook is now seventh in career receptions (116), eighth in career receiving yards (1,695), third in career touchdown receptions (22) and pushed his career scoring total to 150 points.

The Pack retook the lead following a 32-yard field goal by Smith that capped a nine-play, 64-yard drive that began after the Pack held the Mules offense to a 3-and-out. The big play on the drive was a 34-yard pass from Fuller to senior receiver Dedrek Taylor-Akins (Fontana, Calif./Northeastern State).

On its ensuing possession, Shaw picked off another Omolo pass with 1:35 left in the third quarter and the Pack would drive 36 yards in 12 plays and cap the drive with a 42-yard field goal by Smith to give the Pack a 23-17 lead with 11:35 left in the game.

Smith finished the game 3-for-3 in field goals in his Pack debut and it marked the first time Pack kicker made three field goals in a game since Jacob Willig hit three field goals against Midwestern State on Sept. 2, 2023.

Following Smith's third field goal, the Mules would answer back as they drove 75 yards in 11 plays and capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Jordan Pachot to Jack Pospisil to give the Mules a 24-23 lead. On the drive, Pachot was 6-for-9 for 73 yards in relief of Omolo, who finished the game 22-for-42 passing for 263 yards and had three interceptions and no touchdown passes.

Pospisil finished the game with 12 catches for 252 yards, including tallying a 156 yards after the catch, while Hogan Wasson caught 12 passes for 128 yards in the loss.

On its ensuing possession, the Pack marched right back down the field as they capped a 13-play, 65-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown plunge from redshirt senior running back Kiahn Martinez (Denver, Colo./University of Idaho) to give the Pack a 29-24 lead with 3:26 left in the game. The two-point conversion attempt failed and kept the Pack's lead at five points. Martinez finished the game with 74 yards rushing on 19 carries and pushed his career total to 1,242 yards, which is 21st on the school's career rushing chart.

In addition to Martinez, senior running back Devin Cross (Pflugerville, Texas/Midwestern State) gained 77 yards on 14 carries and averaged 5.5 yards per carry.

From that point, the Pack turned to its defense as after both teams had three-and-outs, the Mules took over the ball at its own 18-yard line with 1:45 left in the game. The Mules would move the ball to the Pack 3-yard line following a 66-yard pass completion from Pachot to Pospisil. On the play, senior defensive back Ben Wilson (Pearland, Texas/Midwestern State) made a touchdown saving tackle on the play. That would be as close as UCM would get to the end zone as they moved backwards thanks to a chop block penalty on a second-and-goal play and a sack of Pachot by senior defensive end Samuel Amponsah (Romeoville, Ill./McKendree) that pushed UCM back to the Pack 27-yard line. The next two passes by Pachot were incomplete, including sealing the win on a pass break-up in the end zone by Shaw with one second remaining.

UCM jumped out to a 3-0 lead about six minutes into the game thanks to a 42-yard field goal by Will Peacock.

The Pack, though, answered right back as they needed two plays to take a 7-3 lead thanks to a 65-yard touchdown pass from Fuller to Taylor-Akins with 8:31 left in the opening quarter. Taylor-Akins finished the game with seven catches for a career-high 170 yards.

CSU Pueblo would take a 10-7 lead following a 3-yard field goal by Smith with 6:27 left in the quarter. The field goal came after Peyton Shaw returned an interception 30 yards to set up the Pack drive at the 10-yard line following a late-hit penalty on Shaw following the play.

The Mules tied the game on a 4-yard touchdown run by Keyon Butler with 3:46 left in the first quarter. The score came five plays after senior receiver Reece Robinson (Los Angeles, Calif./Antelope Valley) muffed a punt and the Mules recovered the ball at the Pack's 20-yard line.

Neither team was able to dent the scoreboard throughout the majority of the second quarter until UCM took a 17-10 lead at the half on a 2-yard touchdown run by Omolo with 23 seconds left in the quarter to cap a nine-play, 75-yard drive. Omolo gained 103 yards rushing on 15 carries and finished with 366 yards of total offense.

Along with Smith's three field goals and two extra points, the Pack special teams unit, despite having two turnovers on punt returns, got a strong punting performance from senior Regan Baker (Brisbane, Australia/Idaho State University) as he punted eight times for 341 yards and averaged 42.6 yards per punt and downed two punts inside the 20-yard line. Meanwhile, junior kickoff specialist Evan Lyons (Superior, Colo./Erie) averaged 64.4 yards per kickoff and had four touch backs.

Junior linebacker Gary Seidenberger (Fredericksburg, Texas/Fredericksburg) paced the Pack defense with 12 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for a loss, while junior safety Kahden Rullo (Denver, Colo./Grandview) added nine tackles, a tackle for a loss and two pass break-ups. Along with three interceptions, the Pack also recorded two sacks and seven tackles for a loss and broke-up 10 passes and held UCM to a 7-for-18 effort on third down.

"Our defense was stout on third and fourth down tonight and I thought they played lights out tonight. I am proud of this team and really proud of this staff," the Pack coach added.

The Pack will return to Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play next Saturday, Sept. 20 as they travel to Grand Junction, Colo., for a 2 p.m. match-up against Colorado Mesa University (1-1). The Mavericks have a bye this weekend after opening the season with a 41-14 loss at Central Washington in week zero and a 28-7 home win over Eastern New Mexico last weekend.