CSC football overpowers rival Black Hills State 33-28
CSC has yet to lose to BHSU since 2012 when the rivalry between the schools was renewed.
Saturday’s game was determined in the last seconds. The Eagles out-scored Black Hills State University, 33-28.
Near the end of the game, the Yellow Jackets gained possession after an onside kick by BHSU, but the Eagles defense was able to hold them.
Linebacker Collin Eisenman, redshirt freshman of Sheridan, Wyoming, led the defense marking 10 tackles. Linebackers Dylan Furrier, junior of Tucson, Arizona, followed close behind counting eight, and Clay Cundall, junior of Greybull, Wyoming, tallied six including one for loss.
In the first quarter, two tailbacks found the end zone: Cody Paul, sophomore of Seal Beach, California, who carried for 62 yards, and Michael Madkins, senior of Sacramento, California, who was the leading rusher. Madkins tallied 96 yards. Tailback Derek Jackson, redshirt freshman of Pueblo West, Colorado, marked 65 yards.
Quarterback Jonn McLain, senior of Chadron, completed 22 of 37 passes for 193 yards. McLain found Insider Receiver Austen Stephens, senior of Lincoln, for a 10-yard pass in the end zone. Stephens grabbed two for 33 yards.
For his first career start, Wide Receiver Antonio Thompson, senior of Savannah, Georgia, snatched five for 22 yards. Danny O’Boyle, wide receiver junior of Gering, snagged three passes for 34 yards, and Inside Receiver Ethan Bauer, senior of Morse Bluff, caught four for 25.
Kicker Randy Wentz, sophomore of Scottsbluff, hit four field goals from the 22, 32, 20 and 37. He is now 11-for-11 this season.
Punter Zach Smith, sophomore of Gering, put the Eagles in good position when he punted three inside the 20-yard line. On six kicks, he averaged 42 yards.
The refs threw a total of 20 flags, with 14 against CSC for 128 yards. BHSU caught six flags for 51 yards.
“There were quite a few flags thrown last Saturday,” Furrier said. “But, as a team, we won’t focus on anything different regarding penalties this week at practice. We just have to understand that the refs will throw flags and that’s just part of the game. We just need to focus on controlling what we can control and that’s how well we play, and not letting penalties affect how we play the game.”
Saturday, the Eagles will travel to Las Vegas, New Mexico, to face New Mexico Highlands University.
“Highlands is a good team that plays hard,” Furrier said. “They have great athletes on both sides of the ball and this week it will be important to take away their big play ability. We must focus on our technique and build off of last week.”
Highlands is 3-5 overall and 3-3 RMAC.
“To get prepared for this game, we have a good practice and listen to our coaches,” Defensive Back Ryan Wood, sophomore of Stockton, California, said. “We have the best defensive coaches in the nation, and they do a great job putting us in position to make plays. In order for us to be successful as a defense is mainly just doing our job. Highlands has the No. 1 offense in our league and their whole offense just waits for you to make a mistake, and they have the ability to turn a mistake into a touchdown or big play. In order for us to do well against them, we have to eliminate the big plays and do what our coaches tell us, and execute.”
Kickoff is at 1 p.m., Saturday, and the game can be heard on 97.5 or 105.9.