Eagle-Rock Trophy stays put

From a last minute pass break-up to seal the game, to key interceptions, a blocked punt for a TD, big passing plays and a safety, Saturday’s 53-48 shootout between Chadron State and South Dakota Mines had more highs and lows than the temperature on the great plains in November. 

“It took all phases,” CSC Head Coach Jay Long said. “We were struggling on defense then we found a way on defense; we were inconsistent on offense and then we found  a way on offense. On special teams we weren’t doing a very good job on our punt team and boom we flip it and we score on special teams. It took every person to win this football game.”

The Eagles eventually came out on top, but their win was put in question by Mines scoring with two-and-a-half minutes left and recovering an onside kick immediately after. Trailing by just five points, the Hardockers drove to the Eagles’ 16-yard line where they were held to no gain on three plays. On fourth-and-10, with 43 seconds remaining, senior DeAndre Barthwell, of Westland, Michigan, broke up a pass at the goal line to give the Eagles the win.  

 

The lead changed eight times throughout the game, five times in the second half alone as the two teams battled, mostly through the air, combining for 1,072 yards of offense. 13 TDs were scored between the teams, 10 on passing plays – six from Mines’ Toby Smith, sophomore of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and four from CSC’s Dalton Holst, junior of Gillette, Wyoming.

Two of Holst’s TDs were thrown to receiver Tevon Wright, a senior of Miami. They were his 13th and 14th of the season and the 23rd and 24th of his career, allowing him to surpass former Eagles Jay Rhoades and Don Beebe for the school record for TDs in a season, and Nate Ross for touchdowns in a CSC career. 

Chadron improved to 6-4 overall and 5-4 in the RMAC with the win. The loss dropped South Dakota Mines to 2-8. 

“I’m proud of our guys for continuing to keep fighting,” Long said. “It’s been a tough season – it started off tough. We have seven more days of football and we have to go make sure these are the best seven days of the year. If this was Division I this win would have made us bowl eligible, so this was a big win for the program.”

While the team may not have reached the heights they hoped for at the beginning of the season, they’re now guaranteed to end with a winning overall record for the third straight season. This week’s home match up with the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers will determine if the Eagles end up 6-4 or 5-5 among conference opponents. 

The Orediggers lead the RMAC and are undefeated. 

Saturday, the Hardrockers took advantage of good field position to pace the Eagles offense and led 24-17 after the first half. They struck first in the second half with a 46-yard field goal to go ahead 27-14, but the Eagles pushed back and the real shootout began. 

After a 75-yard drive made it 27-24 Eagles, senior linebacker Ty Lewis, of Arvada, Colorado, intercepted Mines’ Smith and Elijah Myles, sophomore of Hawthorne, California, punched it in from the 4-yard line to give CSC a 31-27 lead. 

After the two teams swapped leads over the next few drives, CSC punter Chad Mikelson, sophomore of Julesburg, Colorado, pinned Mines on their own 1-yard line and junior linebacker Travis Wilson, of Fresno, California, who leads the RMAC in tackles this season, brought down Mines’ running back Zach Hoopman, sophomore of Douglas, Wyoming,  in his own end zone. 

The safety pulled the Eagles to within one point of the lead at 41-40 and on the next play Holst found receiver Brandon Fullerton, senior of Riverton, Wyoming, for a 54-yard TD to make it 46-41 Eagles. 

The drama didn’t stop there. 

CSC took its first two-score lead of the game when tight end Baylor Hayes, junior of Cheyenne, Wyoming, blocked a Mines punt and teammate Justin Cauley, redshirt freshman of Venice, California, scooped the ball and took it into the end zone.

The Orediggers were forced to punt during their next drive but got the ball back on the CSC 31-yard line after referees determined it had hit the foot of an Eagle player and was recovered by Mines. The team converted on fourth-and-two and threatened on first down from the CSC 19, but Barthwell intercepted Smith at the five-yard line to return the ball to the Eagles. 

A missed CSC field goal on the next drive set the game up for its dramatic finish. 

CSC totaled 573 yards of offense in the game, 222 on the ground and 351 through the air. Holst completed 18 of his 30 passes, had four TD throws and was intercepted once. Wright led all receivers with 180 yards and two TDs on two receptions. Fullerton had 76 yards and a touchdown on two catches and Cole Thurness, junior of Rapid City, South Dakota, had 57 yards and a TD on three catches. Thurness was removed from the game in the third quarter after his second unsportsmanlike penalty. 

Myles rushed for 193 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries.  

Wilson was four tackles shy of the CSC record of 24 tackles, set by Corey Anderson against Montana Tech in 1988. Wilson leads the RMAC in the stat with 115. Both he and linebacker Noah Kerchal had three tackles for a loss in the game. Kerchal was second on the team with 11 tackles. Fellow linebacker Lewis had eight and an interception.