Eagles miss the target against Lopers
Chadron State football came up short Saturday against the University of Nebraska-Kearney Lopers 35-21. The team did not score a single point until the fourth quarter.
UNK scored its first touchdown in the first quarter after 15 plays for 80 yards. Quarterback Jake Spitzlberger, of Lakewood, Colo., passed 4 yards to senior wide receiver Brendan Leiss of McCook for the first 6 points. Loper kicker Michael Gruber, freshman of San Diego, kicked the seventh point of the game.
The Lopers scored again in the second quarter just 3 minutes in. Spitzlberger threw a 53-yard touchdown to Eli Hammond, junior of Colorado Springs, Colo., for the score to read 14-0.
With Jonn McLain, redshirt freshman of Chadron, at quarterback, the Chadron team almost scored at the end of the second quarter. Mike Ziola, redshirt freshman kicker of Columbus, missed a 34-yard field goal with 1:42 left in the half.
Once the Lopers gained possession, they played six plays for a first down. UNK played two more downs before Rustin Dring, junior running back of Kearney, ran in a 57-yard touchdown with 29 seconds left on the clock. Gruber kicked the extra point, leaving the Eagles behind 21-0.
The Eagles started the third quarter with the ball. Garrett Treffer, senior of Scottsbluff, came into the second half. Chadron State’s offense lost 5 yards on a false start penalty.
After gaining back the five yards with a pass to Jared Hanson, junior of Broken Bow, Treffer threw the ball to Hanson again, this time for a three yard loss.
Treffer threw an interception to Pete Kropp, sophomore safety of Grand Island, that landed the Lopers on the Eagles’ 22 yardline. Dring ran the ball in for the Lopers from 22 yards out. Gruber’s extra point brought the score to 28-0, in favor of UNK.
After the kick return, the Eagle offense played six plays and Treffer threw another interception. Ethan Kuhlmann, senior of Athol, Kan., caught the ball from Treffer and ran 40 yards and landed on the UNK 40 yardline.
Chadron State’s defense held its ground until Keifer Burke, sophomore of Brady, finally recovered a fumble that was caused by freshman Pierre Etchemende of Douglas, Wyo. The Eagles still could not score and Ziola missed another 34-yard field goal with 2 minutes on the clock.
The Lopers ran down the clock and the fourth quarter, the Eagles started with possession. McLain threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Hanson for the Eagles first points of the game. Ziola kicked the extra point so that the Eagles were on the board, but still behind 28-7.
Chadron’s defense blocked the next punt by UNK, and Cory Beran, senior of Sargent, recovered the ball and ran the rest of the 4 yards to the Loper end zone. The Eagles caught up to 28-14 and still had 10 minutes to play.
The Eagles closed the gap even more after the Lopers’ three-play drive. McLain threw a 39-yard pass to Travis Reeves for Ziola to kick the extra point and the put the score at 28-21.
Both teams held their ground defensively, until the last minute of the game when McLain threw an interception to Sam Kuck, sophomore safety of Central City, who ran the ball 38 yards for a touchdown and put the score at 35-21 after Gruber’s extra point.
The stands were quiet until both teams walked off of the field and the Lopers took the victory of 35-21.
