Football round out season with 8-3 record
The Eagles lost to Colorado School of Mines, Golden, 23-0. This is the first time the Eagles have been shut out since 2002.
The offense only put up 262 yards of total offense, 116 rushing and 146 passing.
Glen Clinton, senior of Cody, Wyo., rushed for 94 yards against Mines, adding to his season total of 1518 yards.
Jonn McLain, junior of Chadron, completed 16 of 32 for 104 yards. He threw for 2615 yards this season.
Patrick O’Boyle, junior of Gering, also saw some time on the field against Mines completing seven of 12 for 42 yards.
Nathan Ross, senior of San Diego, caught five passes for 41 yards, leading the team in receiving yards.
Shea Koch, senior of Custer, S.D., led the defense with 14 tackles. He posted 127 tackles this season.
Clinton summarized his thoughts on how the season went.
“This season was an interesting one,” he said. “We didn’t accomplish many of our goals, but I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”
The Eagle’s finished second in the RMAC rankings with an 8-3 overall record, and 7-2 conference record.
Offensive Coordinator Chris Stein talked about how the season went.
“I think it was a good season,” he said. “I think we underachieved in the matter of our goals. We had a lot of young players who grew through the season, and it was good to send our seniors out on a positive note being 8-3, not a lot of teams achieve an 8-3 record in college ball. I think we grew a lot and learned a lot. We had some great seniors who will be missed, but we have a lot of young kids coming back to fill in.”
Defensive Coordinator Jeff Larson also summarized his thoughts of the defense this season.
“Defensively, we were very young and inexperienced,” he said. “Early on I was concerned, but as the season went on, we got better, and I think we did improve every week as the season went on. We certainly weren’t happy about how it ended, but I am happy that we improved every week. I think we have good potential coming back next year.”
Head Coach Jay Long agreed.
“Overall, I think we always pushed our players to compete full force for the full four quarters, and I think our seniors did a great job of leading this team,” he said. “You know a record of 8-3 is something to be proud of. And in the last 10 years, I think this season could be up there with our best seasons.”
Larson talked about his thoughts from the season.
“Overall, I think at the end of the season, like the last two or three games, our defensive did play at their best,” he said.
Long talked about playing in new places this season.
“I think the best thing about this season was that we got to play in some cool places, some places we’ve never been to before,” he said. “To start, Missouri S&T, I know, it was my first time in Missouri playing and it was exciting. And then from reading the senior media guide, a highlight of their year was playing in the Dallas Cowboys stadium. That was a great experience. The outcome didn’t turn out the way we wanted, but it was still a great experience.”
All season long, the coaches and players talked about wanting to play a complete, consistent game. Stein commented on this goal at the end of the season.
“I don’t think that’s a goal that can ever be obtained,” he said. “I think we came close a couple times, and we played well a couple times, but I don’t think we ever played a complete game.”
The next step for the Eagle’s football team is saying goodbye to the seniors and start recruiting.
“Well, we are sad to see our seniors leave, and I think that’s one of the parts of being a coach is you form strong relationships with those players, and it is hard to say goodbye,” Long said. “But now that the season is over, our next step is recruiting and then after recruiting, it will be spring, and we will pick up our sledge hammer and start molding our new team.”
Long also commented on the quality of this year’s seniors.
“I think our seniors did a good job of keeping the team on track and showing the younger guys what being an Eagle means,” he said.