With starters returning at nearly every position on both offense and defense, much of the emphasis during the first 10 days of practice for the Chadron State College football team has been on establishing the depth chart. 

At all levels of football, players who have been starters nearly always open the new season at that position again if they are healthy.  With almost all the players from last year’s abbreviated schedule still on the roster, there’s not much suspense about who will be the Eagles’ starters when they launch their schedule on Saturday, Sept. 4 against Colorado Western in Gunnison.

About the only offensive starter from last year not available is tight end Baylor Hayes, who graduated in May.  The Eagles also are missing last year’s starting running back, but Elijah Myles, the team’s leading rusher in 2019 is back after remaining at home in California last fall because of the COVID pandemic, although he was not infected. 

As a sophomore in ‘19, Myles carried 200 times for 1,077 yards and a dozen touchdowns to rank among the most productive running backs in the RMAC. 

The Eagles also return one of their best quarterbacks ever in senior Dalton Holst.  He’s completed 698 passes during his career and needs to throw for just 1,100 more yards this fall to match Jonn McLain’s CSC career passing yardage record.

But depth is an issue at that position.  Holst’s understudy the past two seasons, Tyler Hyland, also graduated this spring. That means there’s no one with even limited experience on hand to take over for Holst this fall in case of an emergency.  Offensive Coordinator Micah Smith said he and his helpers are grooming two prospects to be ready should that happen.

They are Trevon Wehrman, a 5-10, 190-pound sophomore who was a two-time Class 2A all-stater at Platte Valley High School at Kersey, Colo., and Mason Hamilton, a 6-0, 185-pound redshirt freshman who was a two-time Class 4A all-stater and Casper Star-Tribune Super 25 selection at Thunder Basin High in Gillette, which is also Holst’s hometown.  Getting them ready to play is a priority, Smith admits. 

The Eagles also have three true freshmen who were high school quarterbacks, including Preston Pearson, who was a Class A all-stater at Kearney High last fall.  

At tight end, Peter Krohn of Rocky Mountain High in Fort Collins and Riley Schliep of Grand Island Northwest are likely to share the playing time. Krohn saw as a true freshman last fall and Schliep has been highly regarded since he stepped on campus in the fall of 2018.  Both Krohn (6-3, 230) and Schliep (6-5, 220) are good-sized pass targets who can run.

The Eagles have some cushion at the other offensive positions in case a starter can’t play.

Both Jeydon Cox of Jackson, Wyo., and Chris Busby of Scottsbluff carried the ball in all four of last fall’s games.  In addition, freshmen are often able to fill the bill at running back, and the Eagles have several highly-regarded recruits at the position.

Senior Cole Thurness, who has caught 139 passes for 1,911 yards and 19 touchdowns during the past four years, is the most experienced receiver and one of CSC’s all-time greats at the position.  Classmate Chad Mikelson had 20 receptions for 309 yards in last fall’s four games.  Jahlani Wright, Montel Glandney and Ali Musa were also in the rotation and appear ready to rumble again. They combined to catch 18 passes last fall.

“We plan to play up-tempo, running something like 90 plays a game, so we need depth at wideout,” Smith said. “We’re looking at a lot of young players to find it.”  

 Up front, the Eagles return all of last year’s starters—Justin Calderon and Juan Estrada-Sanchez at the tackles, Austin Rapp and Jake Norris at the guards and Michael DeCamillis at center.  The coaches are happy that Trent Grizzle, who is capable of playing about any of the positions, is fully recovered from a torn ACL that he suffered last fall. 

“Since we practiced so much both last fall and spring, we created quite a bit of experience in the line,” Smith noted.  “The backups got lots of reps, sometimes more than the starters.”

 On the other side of the ball, Defensive Coordinator Clint Sasse is pleased that the Eagles are two-deep with experienced personnel in the line, where lots of rotating is usually beneficial. 

Brandon Hopkins, listed at 6-4, 300, is the veteran of the group.  Like Holst and Thurness, he’s already earned four letters, counting last year’s.  Others expected to share playing time at end include seniors Kael Juelfs and Jordan Watt along with sophomore Gabe Perkins and redshirt freshman Hunter O’Connor.

Kobe Whipple (6-1, 295) and Trevon Smith (6-1, 320) were the starters in the middle of the defensive line last fall.  More good news is that Tayven Bray (6-3, 280), who played in all 11 games in 2019, has returned after missing last season because of an injury.  Also available are a pair of substantial younger players—Rich Harris (6-5, 340) of Glenrock, Wyo., and Kien Martin (6-2, 296) of Overton, Neb 

Linebacker is another area where all of last year’s leaders have returned. They include senior Travis Wilson, who led the RMAC in tackles in 2019 with 124, including 64 solos, and Jeremiah Makahununiu, who was a great addition last fall after joining the Eagles when St. Cloud State dropped football.

Another standout is junior Noah Kerchel of Benkelman, who, like Wilson, had 13 tackles for minus yards in 2019.  Another leader at the position is sophomore Joey Giel of Casper Kelly Walsh, and Sasse believes redshirt freshman Xavier Harrell is ready for primetime action.

The Eagles have more depth and experience in the secondary than usual. One stalwart is senior Jeremiah Gutierrez, who had 41 unassisted tackles and broke up 12 passes in 2019. The coaches also were elated with the addition of Bobby Peale last fall, when he intercepted three passes in the four games. Before transferring, he’d picked off 12 passes in 19 games while playing two years at College of Sequoias in California.

Others who saw plenty of action last fall included Alliance product Brendan Brehmer, Cole Condon and Ju’Wan Murphy, who convinced Peele to join him at CSC a year ago.

The coaches are happy that two talented players—Estabon Bozeman and Ethan Zimmerman–who have had injury problems are now healthy.

Often, making the special teams is the first step to getting on the field full time.  

With so many top-flight seniors on this year’s team, there’ll be plenty of shoes to fill next season.  Head Coach Jay Long noted that, as usual, most of the true freshmen will redshirt, but said a few of them may make their college debuts this fall. 

CSC track and field team adding nearly 30 newcomers

With just one senior on both the men’s and women’s roster this spring and a high retention rate among younger team members, Chadron State College Head Track and Field Coach Riley Northrup didn’t have many scholarships available for newcomers, but he and his assistants were able to entice nearly 30 newcomers into joining the Eagles for the 2022 season.

“We did a lot of searching and think we’ve found numerous athletes who have good potential and are happy to be coming to Chadron State,” Northrup said. “Since track and field is such an individual sport, they’ll all have a chance to prove themselves. As coaches, it will be our job to help them do their best.”

Several of the recruits are from the Panhandle. They include two well-known sprinters from Mitchell. Early in the season, Kadin Perez won all three of the sprints and also was named the outstanding male contestant at the meet his team hosted.

Perez also won both the 100 in 11.31 seconds and the 200 in 22.62 at the Best of the West, before missing a couple of meets because of a quadricep injury. However, he bounced back to win both races at the Class B-6 District Meet in 11.03 and 22.92. At the state meet, he was fifth in the 100 in 11.06 and third in 200 in 22.29.

Another Mitchell senior, Rylan Aguallo, usually finished next to Perez in the 100 and also placed high in the long jump last spring after rushing for 1,950 yards and scoring 31 touchdowns for the Tigers’ 8-2 football team last fall. Aguallo is a freshman on the CSC football team and also plans to continue his track career with the Eagles.

Also joining the CSC men’s track and field team from the Panhandle are Logan Andrews of Gering, who placed fifth in Class B in the 1600 meters in 4:32.85 at the state meet last May, along with two athletes from Scottsbluff. The latter are James Bruner, a long and high jumper who was recovering from injuries much of this spring, but Northup believes has good potential, and Conner McCracken, who hopes to resume his high jumping career after clearing 6-6 while placing fourth in Class B in 2018.

Quintin Emerson of Ogallala, who won the Class B-6 District pole vault last spring by clearing 14 feet, is another addition. Chris Jennings of O’Neill, who sailed the discus 149-10 this spring, will compete in the throws for the Eagles.

Four men from Wyoming have signed with the Eagles. They include Kaden Dower, who scored all 40 points for Western Heritage Lutheran, a Class 1A school in Riverton, at the state meet last May by winning the 100, 200, shot put and discus.

Zach Purviance of Newcastle will run the middle distances and Blaine Johnson of Sheridan and Kyson Miller of Kelly Walsh High in Casper are distance runners.

Another distance prospect is Rhett McMasters of Lake Preston, S.D. Isaac Perkins of Rapid City Stevens, who was fourth in the Class AA shot put at state with a toss of 50-2, will throw for the Eagles.

Quincy Efeturi is coming from much farther away. He’s a Nigerian who has some excellent marks in the sprints. Northrup said he has run the 100 meters in 10.6 seconds, the 200 in 21.8 and the 400 in 49 seconds.

Two women from Jamaica will give the Lady Eagles a boost in the sprints if they can match or improve upon the times they posted while competing for St. Rusea’s Academy. Shantae Morgan has run the 100 in 12.1 seconds, the 200 in 25.1 and the 400 in 59.6. Shantel Goodison had bests of 12.5 in the 100 and 14.3 in the 100 high hurdles.

Another excellent sprint prospect is Caydince Groth of Cheyenne South, who placed second in the Class 4A 400 meters at the Wyoming State Meet in 58.66 and also anchored the winning 4×400 relay team. Another CSC recruit, Joclyn Toso of Riverton, ran the anchor leg for the second place Class 4A 4×100 relay team.

Hunter Wiebelhaus, who attended Keya Paha County High at Springview, went 5-7 in the high jump this spring for the North Central co-op team. Also an outstanding student, she will be in the Rural Health Opportunities Program at CSC as a pre-med participant.

Another highly successful high school athlete joining the Eagles is Devyn Thornton of Windsor, Colo. While she did not quite match her season bests of 18-7 ½ in the long jump and 37-4 in the triple jump, she placed third in both in Class 4A at the state meet after winning both events at five regular season meets.

Rounding out the incoming class of Lady Eagles are Averie Harold, a thrower from Sutherland with best marks of 34-2 in the shot put and 107-8 in the discus; Sammi Comes, a high jumper from Harding County High in Buffalo, S.D., who has cleared 4-11; Danae Rader, a sprinter and hurdler from Doniphan-Trumbull High in Nebraska who has personal bests of 26.4 in the 200 meters, 16.14 in the 100 hurdles and 48.35 in the 300 hurdles.

In addition, distance runner Caela Benkendorf of Elizabeth, Colo., has run the 800 in 2:28.0 and the 1600 in 5:44 and also will add depth to the cross country team.

The same is true for Alissa Weimann of Douglas High at Box Elder, S.D., who has personal bests of 2:27.83 in the 800, 5:18.27 in the 1,600 and 11:23.16 in the 3,200. She qualified for the South Dakota State Meet every year since she was an 8th grader, placed four times and was the runner-up in the 3200 as a sophomore.

CSC kickoff cookout slated for August 30th

The annual Chadron State College athletics department’s Kickoff Cookout will return in 2021, scheduled for Monday, Aug. 30, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at Country Kitchen in Chadron.

Head coaches from each of the Eagles’ athletic programs will be on hand to talk about their upcoming seasons.

Dinner will be served for a cost of $10. Cash or check will be accepted and there will be a cash bar.

- Con Marshall