‘Big Win’
Chadron State Head Coach Jay Long speaks following the Eagles’ 3018 win over Dixie State Saturday, OCt. 20, 2018.
631 yards. 36 first downs. Eight trips to the red zone.
All great numbers for Dixie State, whose offense out-gained and out-possessed Chadron State during their 30-18 loss to the Eagles, Saturday, at Elliott Field.
Dixie scored during just three of those eight red-zone appearances, and of its 36 first downs, only four came on third down, in 14 attempts, and just one of five fourth downs were converted. Chadron’s defense may have bent Saturday afternoon, but it didn’t break.
“It comes down to executing,” Eagles’ Coach Jay Long said following the game. “We needed to stop the run. We stopped the run and we made them one-dimensional. Then what happened was they were doing really well until they hit the red-zone.”
Within the shortened field of the red-zone, Long said, his defense was able to make big plays. “That was as big a factor (in the win) as anything else.”
The Eagles got key stops on two goal -line stands, one to end the first quarter and one late in the fourth quarter with the game on the line.
Trailing just 23-18, with less than four minutes remaining in the game, a 48-yard pass from Dixie quarterback Michael Sanders, senior of Phoenix, to receiver Kasey Allison, junior of Las Vegas, jumpstarted Dixie’s last meaningful drive.
Three first downs later, the Trailblazers threatened at the Chadron 9-yard line, but the Eagles’ defense held fast, forcing a fourth-and-goal attempt from the 2-yard line that failed when Calder Forcella, junior of Greybull, Wyoming, dropped Dixie running back Sei-J Lauago, junior of Paramount, California, for a 1-yard loss.
Earlier, on Dixie’s second-and-goal attempt from the 3-yard line, Forcella stopped running back Lawrence Starks, freshman of Fontana, California, for a 3-yard loss.
The stop was instrumental in keeping Dixie at bay, but with just under 90 seconds remaining, and the Eagles’ ensuing drive starting from their own 3-yard line, Chadron had yet to secure the win.
Runs on first and second down by Kevin Coy, Jr., senior of Davenport, Florida, failed to net the Eagles’ any additional yards, but worked to take precious seconds off the clock as the team still stood near their own end zone.
Then, with just 29 seconds remaining, Coy took the handoff from three-strides deep in the end zone, disappeared into a mass of humanity as he met the line, broke through to the opposite side, and raced 97 yards to the opposite end zone, leaving Dixie trailing 30-18 with just 16 seconds left on the clock.
The play is the longest scoring play from scrimmage in Eagles’ history.
Big plays were a theme for the Eagles’ offense which got on the board on their opening possession that began with a 36-yard pass from running back Stevann Brown, junior of Casper,Wyoming, to tight end Matt Vargas, of Modesto, California. Coy capped the 75-yard drive with a 1-yard run into the end zone.
Brown came up big again on the Eagles’ second scoring drive, taking the ball 50 yards to the Dixie 30-yard line early in the second quarter. Five plays later Eagles’ quarterback Dalton Holst, sophomore of Gillette, Wyoming, connected with Tevon Wright, junior of Miami, to put the team up 13-0.
After missing two field goals, and exiting the half scoreless, Dixie quickly scored 11 points on the back of a long scoring drive to begin the second half and a field goal on their next drive.
Clinging to a 16-11 lead midway through the third, the Eagles answered the Trailblazers scores when Holst delivered a pass to wide receiver Brandon Fullerton, junior of Riverton, Wyoming. After breaking a second tackle, Fullerton had just one defender to beat, but a sprinting Jackson Dickerson, junior of Chadron, set his sights on the defender and delivered a blistering block to clear his fellow receivers’ route into the end zone.
The win, the Eagles’ first ever against Dixie State, earned them a 5-2 record, and leap-frogged them past the Trailblazers to third in the RMAC.
“This was a big game,” Long said of the win. “It was a big game against a great opponent. Last year, we had just lost to Humboldt (State University) and it was a heart breaker. Last year at this time my heart was hurting and our team was hurting. This is the exact opposite. Our guys knew what we had to do to beat these guys, and we knew we had to go out and execute. I’m proud of our guys for doing it.”
This Saturday, CSC will play its final home game when it hosts New Mexico Highlands.