Orediggers route Eagles at home
Saturday, the Chadron State Eagles’ football team joined nine of its Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foes as another victim of the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers.
Mines put the finishing touches on a perfect regular season, Saturday at Elliott Field with a 70-28 defeat of the Eagles.
“We found out today what a top-10 team is like,” CSC Football Head Coach Jay Long said. “I think they’re a top-five team. They’re good.”
Mines’ potent offense scored on five of their eight first-half drives to lead 35-14 after two quarters. They followed the performance by doing the same in the second half, scoring three times in the third and twice in the fourth.
Colorado totaled 683 yards to Chadron’s 350 before the game was over. According to CSC Sports Informations’ Con Marshall, it was the most net yards the Eagles have given up; and the second most points against.
Chadron scored once in each quarter but struggled to gain much ground on offense, averaging just 4.8 yards per game. The Eagles’ TDs were scored on two passing plays from Dalton Holst, junior of Gillette, Wyoming, to Tevon Wright, senior of Miami; and one from Holst to senior Jackson Dickerson, of Chadron. The Eagles’ second TD of the game came on a 18-yard run by Elijah Myles, sophomore of Hawthorne, California, who had just 67 yards on 20 carries.
“A few things worked early, but obviously we’d like to get off to a better start and help the defense out,” Holst said. “They’re a well-coached team – it’s tough to run on them, tough to pass on them.”
Mines knew coming into the game they’d have to shut down the Eagles’ weapons on offense.
“They’re passing game is formidable,” Mines Head Coach Gregg Brandon said. “We worked hard this week trying to give the quarterback different looks. We had a plan that if we felt we needed to double team a particular receiver we could do it.”
CSC’s Wright caught nine passes for 133 yards and his two touchdowns, Saturday, helping his quarterback break two school records as Holst ended the season with 3,106 passing yards and 33 TD passes, the most in Eagle history in both categories.
The loss dropped the Eagles to 6-5 overall and 5-5 in the conference. Mines ended the regular season 11-0 overall and 10-0 against RMAC opponents.
“Today didn’t end up like we wanted it to,” Long said. “We played a great team and they beat us. But that doesn’t take away from our seniors, who have been great Eagles over the years. There are some guys out there we’re going to miss – some record holders. I’m proud of those guys, I’m proud of how they fought through the year. I’m proud of how they gave everything they can.”
The Eagles entered the season ranked third in the RMAC’s Preseason Coaches Poll. But following a 48-31 debut win over Black Hills State University, the team lost its next five games as it struggled with issues on both sides of the ball.
Long said during the slide the team battled to find their identity and eventually, a 42-23 win over Adams State University in mid-October sparked a five-game win streak that left the team with a winning record for its third straight year.
Though the Eagles will lose impact players like Wright on the offense and linebacker Ty Lewis, senior of Arvada, Colorado, on the defense, Holst will have one more opportunity to lead his team to the playoffs before he departs after next season. He’ll take the hard-earned lessons of this season into the next.
“I learned how much we rely on the senior leadership,” Holst said. “When you’re 1-4 you look to your leadership and that’s the seniors each year. It’s a testament to this senior class that they showed us how to carry ourselves when times are tough. It’s easy to lead when things are going good, but these seniors turned the season around for us. That’s what I’ve learned for next year – it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.”