T’Wolves maul Eagles’ H’coming
Despite a strong start, Chadron State’s football team throws its Homecoming game away to Colorado State University-Pueblo, 42-17, continuing its losing streak to Pueblo for over a decade.
“Our coaches on all three phases of the football had a really good plan and we came out in that first half and we executed that plan,” Jay Long, head football coach, said. “You cannot turn over the ball three times against a top team, like Pueblo.”
The Eagles have lost their last 12 games against the ThunderWolves. CSC last won in 2008, 32-0, and the closest they have gotten to beating CSU-Pueblo since was 2010 when Pueblo won, 33-30, with a field goal in the third overtime.
With their strong start, the Eagles drove down the field and scored first, keeping the score 3-0 by the end of the first quarter.
CSC was also first in the end zone but faced troubling mistakes as the game moved into the second half.
“When you play good football teams, you cannot turn over the football,” Long said. “You can’t turn over the football against any football team. You’re going to get exploited and that’s what happened.”
Dalton Holst, graduate of Gillette, Wyoming, threw a pass down field, which was intercepted by CSU-Pueblo Patrick Howell, senior of Pearland, Texas, at the 23-yard line and returned for a touchdown at 11:55 in the third quarter.
During CSC’s offensive drive following Howell’s pick-six, another interception was caught by Pueblo’s Marcus Lawrence, senior of Aurora, Colorado, at the 49-yard line.
To finish out the team’s third-quarter troubles, Dorian Collier, freshman of Tallahassee, Florida, finished an attempted rush with an 18-yard loss and a fumble recovered by the ThunderWolves at the two-yard line.
“We can beat any team on any given day, I think the guys believe that,” Holst said. “I just think we just need to come and play our best football, no matter who we’re playing. We just can’t turn the ball over. We got to come out and play four full quarter like we try to every week. You can’t have costly mistakes against a team like Pueblo because they’ll make you pay for it.”
Jeydon Cox, redshirt freshman of Jackson, Wyoming, capped off the scoring for the game at 8:23 in the fourth quarter with a one-yard rush, earning CSC’s second touchdown. Cox had six yards per carry, rushing 110 yards. He also received the ball for 58 yards for a 168-yard day.
The Eagles kept CSU-Pueblo scoreless in the fourth quarter but couldn’t reverse the damage that was done.
“The thing I’ve got to do better is protecting the ball, not turning it over, seeing what we can do better in the second half,” Holst said. “You just got to ride the highs and stay out of the lows. That starts with protecting the football, sustaining drives, marching down and ultimately scoring when we have opportunities.”
CSC kicks off their next game against Adams State University at 1 p.m., Saturday, at Alamosa, Colorado.