Eagles lose another close match

A week after earning their first win of the season, the Eagles once again found themselves losing another close game, this time falling 24-17 to Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction. 

“Every game you need to take away something, you learn from each game,” Jay Long, head football coach, said. “The one thing we want to focus on is figuring out ways to win the close game. We have to be able to figure out ways to get into the end zone and score more points.” 

The Eagles led the Mavericks in total yards and time of possession, but too often failed to score. 

Late in the fourth quarter, the Eagles looked poised to make a comeback after a two-yard run from Elijah Myles, junior of Hawthorne, California, capped a nine-play drive to bring Chadron within a touchdown. 

But the team couldn’t score on its final drive after committing two offensive penalties and failing to get a single first down. 

The loss brings Chadron’s record to 1-3 to begin the season and was their second when trailing by seven or few points. 

Earlier in the season the Eagles couldn’t overcome a four-point deficit to Angelo State despite two trips to the red zone with less than 10 minutes in the game. 

“Red zone offense needs to do a better job and put points on the board,” Dalton Holst, graduate of Gillette, Wyoming, said. “Our defense played a great game on Saturday to help the offense out, I think we just need to return the favor and do a better job with scoring opportunities when we have the chance, especially inside the red zone.” 

The Eagle’s defense held the Mavericks to three touchdowns and a field goal and kept them scoreless in both the first and fourth quarters. In their previous games, Colorado Mesa had scored 40 and 56 points. 

Jeremiah Makahununiu, senior of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Noah Kerchal, senior of Benkelman, both recorded nine total tackles. While Hunter O’Conner, redshirt freshman of Broom field, Colorado, recorded a sack on Mesa’s quarterback for a loss of 17 yards. 

“We played well against Mesa, but definitely left a few plays out there,” Makahununiu said. “We just had some mistakes surrounding small details that have a large effect in such close games.” 

Kael Juelfs, senior of Kingman, Arizona, blocked a 42-yard field goal attempt, which was recovered by CSC with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter. This defensive move was similar to the three field-goal blocks and two punt blocks during their loss to Angelo State. 

Holst completed 28 throws of 49 for 286 total yards. He also had six rushing attempts for a net of 10 yards. 

Jahani Wright, redshirt freshman of Miami, Florida, caught four throws for 76 yards with the longest catch of the game for the Eagles at 41 yards. 

Cole Thurness, senior of Rapid City, South Dakota, had six receptions for 45 yards and a touchdown. 

Myles had 18 rushing attempts to gain 75 yards, with his longest rush being 11 yards. 

CSC’s football team face New Mexico Highlands University with a noon kick-off time, Saturday in Las Vegas.