The Chadron State College football team led by just 7-0 at halftime, but scored five touchdowns and kicked a field goal in the second half while defeating Western Oregon 45-7 in a non-conference game played at Elliott Field in Chadron on Saturday afternoon.

The 10-play, 80-yard drive that netted the Eagles’ first touchdown with 43 seconds left in the first quarter was about the only offensive fireworks in the first half. But three turnovers that the Eagles turned into points ignited their second half uprising that evened their record at 5-5.

“The first half was kind of boring, but we got the momentum and had lots of good things happen in the second half,” said CSC Coach Jay Long. “It was a good win for us and I was happy for our seniors, who got a win in their final home game.”

Two wily seniors, quarterback Dalton Holst and inside receiver Cole Thurness, set up the first half touchdown by connecting on back-to-back passes of 16 and 18 yards. Holst’s 10-yard dart to sophomore Ahlonte Hair in the front of the end zone netted the touchdown with 43 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Otherwise, the first half was pretty much a punting contest between the Eagles’ Gunnar Jones and the Wolves’ Andrew Gross. Both punted five times for averages of 41.8 and 40.8 yards, respectively.

The Eagles posted 17 points in a two minute and 10 second span in the third quarter to put them on the victory trail, then added 21 points on three TDs in the fourth.

Another Holst-to-Ahlonte Hair touchdown pass, this one a 47-yard shot, launched the Eagles’ second half surge. Hair got about a step and a half ahead of the defender and grabbed the perfect pass on a perfect autumn afternoon while in full stride with 10:42 left in the third.

The Wolves failed to cover the ensuing kickoff, and CSC junior Cole Condon claimed the ball at the Western 25. The Eagles were stymied on that possession, but, Jones, who doubles as the CSC punter and placekicker, booted a 40-yard field goal to make the score 17-0.

On the third play of the Wolves’ next possession, cornerback Jahvonte Hair, twin of the receiver who had caught the two CSC touchdowns, zoomed in front of the intended receiver and picked off a pass that he returned 16 yards before being shoved out of bounds at the Western 19.

On the first play after the interception, the Eagles’ leading rusher, sophomore Jeydon Cox, took the ball around right end to the end zone.

The Eagles added to their lead early in the fourth quarter when the Wolves fumbled a pitchout at their own five-yard line and CSC defensive end Kael Juelfs turned the loose pigskin into a lineman’s dream, claiming it in the end zone for another six points.

“When you keep hustling it sometimes pays off,” said Juelfs, one of 18 seniors who were playing their final game at Elliott Field. “I knew I had to get it when I saw that ball go into the end zone.”

Cox, who finished the game with 112 yards rushing on 13 carries, had back-to-back carries totaling 60 yards that resulted in another CSC touchdown with 12 minutes left to play. He went 33 yards on the first romp and 27 on the second.

Each team scored on long pass plays as the clock was winding down. The Oregon visitors got the first, a 58-yarder from Gannon Winkler to Thomas Wright for their only touchdown. The Eagles posted the second, a 69-yard strike from Mason Hamilton to Jamal Browder, both freshmen.

Most of the statistics were much closer than the final score. The Eagles ran 71 plays and finished with 400 yards of total offense, while the Wolves had 69 snaps and 389 yards. There was less than a minute of difference in the time of possession.

But the Eagles had four takeaways and didn’t commit any turnovers. As much as anything, that’s what made the difference on the scoreboard.

Holst completed 13 of 28 passes for 133 yards and also ran for 44. The Wolves used three quarterbacks about equally. None of them completed more than 30 percent of his passes, and as a trio the connected on 10 of 33 for 265 yards. Winkler was the leading receiver with 136 yards on four catches. Their leading rusher was Omari Land with 17 carries for 87 yards.

Linebackers again led the Eagles in tackles. Sophomore Joey Geil, who also recovered a fumble, led with eight and seniors Noah Kerchal and Travis Wilson each had six. Linebacker Jaylin Parnell paced Western with 12 stops.

The Eagles will wrap up their season by playing at Black Hills State in Spearfish this coming Saturday, Nov. 13.

WO/CSC

First Downs 15 20
Total Net Yards 389 400
Rushes, Yards 26-124 39-194
Passing Yards 265 206
Passing 10-33-1 15-30-0
Return Yards 73 66
Fumbles, Lost 3-2 0-0
Penalties, Yards 9-56 3-25

Western Oregon 0 0 0 7 —-7
Chadron State 7 0 17 21 —45

CSC—Ahlonte Hair 10 pass from Dalton Holst (Gunnar Jones kick)
CSC—Ahlonte Hair 47 pass from Holst (Jones kick)
CSC—Jones 40 field goal.
CSC—Jeydon Cox 19 run (Jones kick)
CSC—Kael Juelfs recovered WOU fumble in end zone (Jones kick)
CSC—Jeydon Cox 27 run (Jones kick)
WOU—Thomas Wright 58 pass from Gannon Winkler (Danny Cossette kick)
CSC—Jamal Browder 69 pass from Morgan Hamilton (Jones kick).

Three Eagles Have Double-Doubles During Senior Night’s Comeback Win Over Griffins

Setter Audrey Bennett and hitters Amelia Berg and Rylee Greiman each earned double-doubles Saturday night to help the Chadron State College volleyball team (5-18, 3-13 RMAC) defeat Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival Westminster Griffins (5-21, 3-13 RMAC) in a thrilling 3-2 comeback win.

To earn a double-double in a single match, a player must hit double digits in two of five statistical categories: aces, kills, blocks, digs, and assists. Bennett had 15 digs and a whopping 57 assists to end the night. Berg came away with 18 kills and 25 digs while Greiman produced 12 kills and 29 digs.

Another Eagle who had a season-best performance was outside hitter Alli Keisel, who put up eight kills and only two errors on 16 total attempts for a hit percentage of .375.

The Griffins won set one 26-24 and set two 25-22 and were looking to sweep the Eagles in set three, which featured 15 tie scores and eight lead changes. At the start of the set, Greiman switched out of the libero position and moved to outside hitter. Taking over libero duties was defensive specialist Aracely Hernandez, who had a season-high 22 digs on the night. After both teams scored back and forth throughout the set, Berg and Greiman landed back-to-back kills from Bennett to fly away with the set 30-28.

Set four featured Greiman’s best offensive attack, which consisted of four kills and only one error out of 13 total attempts. Though the set had six tie scores and three lead changes, the Eagles kept their momentum going from the previous set to win 25-23.

The team put everything together in set five, coming away with nine kills and only two errors out of 20 total attempts for a team hit percentage of .350. That high percentage can be contributed to Berg landing three kills and zero errors on four attempts. Like the two previous sets, there were multiple tie scores and lead changes with the game-winning point coming from a Greiman kill off a perfectly set by Bennett. The took set five 15-13 and won the match 3-2.

“I thought we had a lot of heart and had some players step up at big moments,” said Head Volleyball Coach Jennifer Stadler. “[Audrey], Amelia, and Rylee did a great job of playing the roles their team needed.”

Four volleyball seniors who are set to graduate from Chadron State were honored by the school Saturday night. They were Amelia Berg, Aracely Hernandez, Alli Keisel, and Kincaid Strain.

The Eagles will wrap up the 2021 volleyball season in South Dakota next week, where they will take on South Dakota Mines (11-13, 5-11 RMAC) Friday night at 5 p.m. and Black Hills State (7-17, 4-12 RMAC) Saturday night at 5:30 p.m.

Cross Country Finishes Season In Lubbock

The Chadron State College men’s cross country team finished 22nd of 30 teams, while the CSC women were 24th of 25, as the Eagles wrapped up their cross country postseason on Saturday morning at the NCAA South Central Regionals at Chaparral Ridge Cross Country Course in Lubbock.

All five women’s runners, and all three on the men’s team who were present when the team last competed at 10 kilometers in 2019, had personal collegiate bests. In addition, each of the 12 student-athletes, including the men’s runners, ran a better average mile pace than they had two weeks prior at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships, despite the men’s NCAA course being two kilometers longer.

Finishing the 10k men’s course first for the Eagles was, for the second consecutive outing, Logan Moravec of Gering, Nebraska. He finished in 32:59 to place 94th of 183 individual entrants, just missing the top half of the field.

The men remained fairly close together, with only about 1:24 separating CSC’s first runner from its seventh.

Crossing first for the women was, once again, true freshman Alissa Wieman, who has led her squad at all five meets in 2021. Her time of 23:49.3, good for 108th of 174, dropped more than a full minute off her prior fastest six-kilometer time.

Colorado School of Mines won the men’s regional title over Adams State University by eight points, and ASU returned the favor, and then some, in the women’s standings, winning by 67.

Individual champs were men’s runner Dillon Powell of Mines and Brianna Robles of Adams.

CSC individual results:

Women
108, Alissa Wieman, 23:49.3; 138, Sydney Settles, 24:50.6; 157, Morgan Jaggers, 25:45.2; 159, Audrey Grinnan, 25:51.3; 171, Kassyl Swinney, 27:48.8.

Men
94, Logan Moravec, 32:59.0; 109, Cale Schafer, 33:26.9; 114, Joaquin Venzor, 33:40.7; 120, Rhett McMasters, 33:53.7; 126, Noah Burtis, 34:09.0; 128, Logan Andrews, 34:13.4; 133, Garrett Avery, 34:22.9.

Team results:

Women
1, Adams State, 30; 2, Colorado School of Mines, 97; 3, UCCS, 116; 4, Western Colorado, 129; 5, Colorado Christian, 177; 6, Dallas Baptist, 187; 7, West Texas A&M, 202; 8, CSU-Pueblo, 212; 9, MSU Denver, 218; 10, Westminster, 259; 11, Fort Lewis, 284; 12, Texas A&M International, 313; 13, Eastern New Mexico, 360; 14, Colorado Mesa, 407; 15, Lubbock Christian, 428; 16, Oklahoma Christian, 468; 17, St. Edward’s, 503; 18, Midwestern State, 505; 19, N.M. Highlands, 520; 20, S.D. Mines, 520; 21, Cameron, 577; 22, Arkansas-Fort Smith, 643; 23, Angelo State, 684; 24, Chadron State, 689; 25, Regis, 701.

Men
1, Colorado School of Mines, 42; 2, Adams State, 54; 3, Colorado Christian, 91; 4, UCCS, 99; 5, Western Colorado, 121; 6, West Texas A&M, 177; 7, N.M. Highlands, 216; 8, Colorado Mesa, 266; 9, MSU Denver, 337; 10, CSU-Pueblo, 338; 11, S.D. Mines, 339; 12, Fort Lewis, 362; 13, Black Hills State, 374; 14, UT-Tyler, 453; 15, Dallas Baptist, 459; 16, Western New Mexico, 480; 17, St. Edward’s, 484, 18, Oklahoma Christian, 484; 19, Cameron, 530; 20, Texas A&M International, 546; 21, Texas A&M-Commerce; 22, Chadron State, 557; 23, UT-Permian Basin, 574; 24, Lubbock Christian, 653; 25, Arkansas-Fort Smith, 768; 26, Angelo State, 782; 27, Eastern New Mexico, N/A; 27, Regis, N/A; 27, Westminster, N/A; 27, Texas A&M-Kingsville, N/A.

Five CSC Wrestlers Compete At Mines Open

Three of five Chadron State College wrestlers who entered, on Sunday, at the Colorado School of Mines Amateur Open, placed in the rookie tournament.

Yusef Nelson, a true freshman, was the leader with a runner-up finish. He won a pair of 125-pound bouts to finish second at the meet.

Parker Schlater, a redshirt freshman, went 3-1 to finish third at the event at 285 pounds.

Keegan Gehlhausen placed fourth at 174.

The Eagles are at the University of Nebraska for a dual on Thursday, before a Saturday appearance at the Dakota Wesleyan Open in Mitchell, S.D.