Eagles soar over Highlands in final road game

In a flashback to earlier this season, the Chadron State Eagles’ offense was slow to start, Saturday, in Las Vegas, New Mexico, but the trio of Dalton Holst, Elijah Myles and Tevon Wright, eventually clicked – helping the team earn their fourth straight win – a 41-7 domination of the New Mexico Highlands University Cowboys.  

All three of Holst, Myles and Wright are among the RMAC’s offensive leaders, led by Holst, a junior of Gillette, Wyoming, who leads in completions (189), yards (2514) and touchdowns (26). Myles, a sophomore from Hawthorne, California, is third in yards among all running backs (881) and is tied for first with nine TDs. Wright, junior of Miami, is second with 833 yards and leads receivers with 12 touchdowns. 

Saturday’s win gave the Eagles, now 5-4, their first winning record since defeating Black Hills State University in their first game of the season. They now sit fifth in the RMAC standings with a record of 4-4.

Just two games remain in the regular season, both home games, beginning with a rivalry bout with South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, this Saturday. Mines, like Highlands, has just one win against RMAC opponents this season. 

With about 15 minutes remaining in Saturday’s game, Holst connected with Cole Thurness, junior of Rapid City, South Dakota, for a 58-yard touchdown that put the game well out of reach for the Cowboys. But in a flashback to the Eagles’ early-season woes, the CSC offense struggled to gain yardage in the first half. 

Despite Highlands’ one-win season so far, the Cowboy defense is ranked fourth in the RMAC for average yards allowed and did well to limit CSC’s offense in the first two quarters. Chadron was forced to punt on five of their seven first-half drives and had their defense and special teams to thank for their 14-0 lead after two quarters. 

“We knew that going in, their defense was good statistically and on film,” CSC Offensive Coordinator Logan Masters said. “They’re fast and they hit you – and we didn’t necessarily play our best to start off either. We missed some plays we’d like to have back.”

After running just eight plays that gained 10 yards during their first two drives, CSC punter Will Morgan, senior of Fort Collins, Colorado, pinned the Cowboys at their own 4-yard line and the Eagle defense allowed them to gain just three yards in three plays. Chadron’s Thurness fielded the ensuing 38-yard punt and ran it back to the Highlands 2-yard line where Myles punched it in on the next play. 

The Eagles were able to strike again about midway through the second quarter after senior linebacker Tyler “Gator” Lewis, of Arvada, Colorado, intercepted Highlands’ QB Gunner Mefferd, senior of Rohnert Park, California, at the CSC 15-yard line and returned the ball to the Cowboy 41. A 22-yard pass from Holst to receiver Wright put the Eagles a yard into the red zone and two plays later Myles scored from 19-yards out. 

Before the half was retired, Highlands drove 54 yards to the CSC 29 but was forced to attempt a field goal by the Eagle defense. During the kick 6’5” offensive lineman Juan Estrada-Sanchez, redshirt freshman of Denver, Colorado, got a hand on the ball and knocked it down. 

As has happened multiple times this season, the Eagles’ offensive woes disappeared in the second half. 

After punting on their first possession of the third quarter, Chadron scored three touchdowns bookended by a pair of field goals during its final five drives. Continuing the day’s theme of big plays, the Eagles scored on a 58-yard pass from Holst to Thurness and an 88-yard interception by Cole Condon, freshman of Temecula, California.  Prior to that, as the third quarter came to a close the Eagles drove 78 yards in 10 plays capped by a 2-yard TD pass from Holst to Wright. 

Chadron kicker Colton Dolder’ two field goals came from 21- and 27-yards out. Dolder is a freshman from Santa Clarita, California. 

The Eagles gained 374 yards in the game, led by Myles’ 165 rushing yards and two TDs. Wright caught seven passes for 100 yards and one TD and Thurness had 75 yards and a touchdown on just three catches. Holst completed 12 of 28 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns and was sacked just once. 

The defense allowed Highlands 297 yards (about 70 yards more than the Cowboys have averaged per game this season), but held the team to just one score, a seven-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a one-yard rush from NMU’s Ramone Atkins, a senior of Columbus, Ohio.

The Eagles were strong on third down, holding Highlands to just two conversions on 15 attempts. They also made a habit of getting to the Cowboy’s QB whom they sacked five times. Lewis, Noah Kerchal, sophomore of Benkelman, and Zeke Zuhlke, junior of Bennett, Colorado, were each credited with a sack. Kerchal had three tackles for a loss in the game. Linebacker Travis Wilson, junior of Fresno, California had 10 tackles and is currently second in the RMAC with 95 this season.