CHADRON – After having its 13-game winning streak on Homecoming snapped last year by Colorado State-Pueblo, the Chadron State College football team will strive to get back on the winning track while playing before the old grads Saturday.
 
 Western New Mexico will be the opponent.  Kickoff will be at 1:30.
 
Since 1969, the Eagles are 29-13-1 in their homecoming contests.
 
The Mustangs are 4-4 overall and 3-3 in the RMAC after losing a 49-28 decision to Adams State on Saturday. The game had 1,008 yards of total offense with Adams State rolling up 516 yards, including 340 on the ground.
 
Western New Mexico opened the season by beating Sul Ross State of Texas 54-44 and losing to the University of San Diego 34-27 in non-conference play.
 
Pueblo beat the Mustangs 35-27 in the teams' RMAC opener. Western New Mexico then topped Fort Lewis 42-34, fell to Colorado Mesa 31-14, but upset Colorado Mines 54-28. The Mustangs also blanked Western State 28-0 before losing to Adams State.
 
Chadron State is 6-2 and 5-1 in the conference after earning a come-from-behind victory at New Mexico Highlands last weekend. The Eagles are ranked third in the recent Super Region Four rankings. The top six teams in each of the four regions advance to the NCAA Division II playoffs.
 
Despite having a freshman quarterback, the Mustangs have a strong passing attack. Mitch Glasmann, a 6-foot-3, 220-pounder from Temecula, Calif., has completed 187 of 308 passes (60.7 percent) for 2,471 yards and 24 touchdowns. He has thrown 10 interceptions.
 
The top receivers are senior Marquis Sumpter with 56 catches for 880 yards and 10 TDs and sophomore Donald Bryd with 44 receptions for 664 yards and seven TDs. Sumpter's 109.4 yards per game receiving leads the RMAC.
 
Abe Macias, a 5-10, 180-pound sophomore, is the rushing leader with 121 carries for 597 yards and six scores. John De La Rosa, a 5-7, 160-pound scatback, has 78 carries for 393 yards and has five TDs.
 
The Mustangs are fairly young.  Besides Glasmann, both starting offensive tackles and two defensive starters are freshmen. So is punter/placekicker Josh McIntire.
 
Defensively, Western brings pressure, led by Zach Dembrowski and Jerald Hines, who have combined for 14 sacks to pace the RMAC. The Mustangs have tackled opposing quarterbacks behind the line 26 times. The foes have dumped Glasmann just 10 times.
 
Chadron State leads the conference in both pass defense at 182.1 yards a game and total defense at 338.5 a game. The Eagles also have yielded the fewest first downs per game, 18.5.
 
CSC also leads in punt return average at 14.8 yards and placekicker Alex Ferdinand has made 10 of 11 attempts to set the pace in field goal accuracy.