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CHADRON – After opening the season last week at Montana State at Bozeman, the Chadron State College football team will take another long bus ride this week to play Angelo State in west-central Texas on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. MDT.

CSC coach Jay Long said his team will leave early Thursday morning on the approximately 1,000-mile journey. It will be the Eagles' final non-conference contest.

Angelo State opened its season Saturday night by downing another Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference team, Western State of Colorado, 42-14. 

The Rams beat Western 35-12 last year before coming from far behind to turn back the Eagles 49-42 during Family Day at Elliott Field.

Angelo State finished the 2011 season with a 5-6 record. Three of the losses were by less than a touchdown, including one in overtime.

The Rams are coached by Will Wagner, a west Texas native who had been an assistant at perennial power Northwest Missouri State for 13 years before taking over at Angelo State a year ago.

Western State scored first Saturday night, but Angelo State tallied the next 35 points. After the Mountaineers scored again late in the third period, the hosts posted the game's final TD.

The Rams finished with 432 total net yards and had six different players reach the end zone. Western State managed just 175 yards and only 29 on the ground.

Junior quarterback Blake Hamblin, also the starter a year ago, completed 18 of 27 passes for 311 yards and four touchdowns in the season-opener. He threw two interceptions and lost a fumble, but Western State could not take advantage of the turnovers. The Rams also survived 128 yards in penalties.

Besides Hamblin, just three of Angelo State's projected starters were in the opening lineup against the Eagles last year, but most of the others were on the team a year ago.

Among the missing is last year's leading rusher, Tristen Carter, who ran for 964 yards and 11 touchdowns, and all of the starters in the offensive line.

The returnees include C.J. Akins, who caught 36 passes for 645 yards last season to lead his team. His receptions included five that went for 117 yards against the Eagles. It was Akins who caught Hamblin's 26-yard pass with only 24 seconds remaining for the winning touchdown last year.

Defensively, the only returning starters are tackle Kyle Patterson and cornerback Nekechie Miller.

It appeared that the Eagles had last year's game in the bag, particularly after Michael Madkins raced 25 yards to the end zone on the opening play of the fourth quarter to give them a 42-21 lead.

However, Angelo State scored four times in the final period, including twice on long drives in the final minutes to grab the victory.

The fact that starting tailback Dominic Morris had been injured late in the third period and was taken off the field by ambulance a few minutes later undoubtedly contributed to the Eagles' late demise.

After Madkins scored, the Eagles managed just two first downs and 46 yards while the Texas team picked up 12 first downs and 246 of its 388 total net yards.

CSC also fumbled the ball away four times, had a punt blocked and was penalized 115 yards in last year's game.

And, shortly after Morris was injured, quarterback Jonn McLain sustained a broken thumb on his non-throwing hand and also missed the rest of the season.

The good news is that both Morris and McLain are fully recovered and are playing again.

Although the CSC offense sputtered against Montana State, the coaches believe the Eagles will have a potent attack this fall.

Long said he was pleased with both the defense and the special teams against the Bobcats.