CHADRON, Neb. -- November 4, 2016 -- The Chadron State College football team will wrap up its home schedule Saturday by taking on Black Hills State at Elliott Field. Kickoff will be at noon after the Eagles' 14 seniors have been recognized.

The Eagles are striving to regroup after Colorado Mines' All-American quarterback Justin Dvorak threw five touchdown passes last Saturday en route to a 40-14 decision.

CSC coach Jay Long said that despite the "tough weekend," his players are having good practices and are excited for the chance to rebound during their final home game.  He added that because of injuries, "we're a lot different team now than we had at the start of the season."

The Eagles are 3-6 overall and 3-5 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Black Hills State went 0-11 last season, but the Yellow Jackets are 6-3 overall and 5-3 in the RMAC this fall.  Their "signature" win was 48-34 verdict over Colorado Mesa, which was No. 13 in the nation, on Oct. 8.

That was followed by substantial losses to Western State (27-0) and CSU-Pueblo (49-19) before Black Hills beat Dickinson State (33-20) last Saturday to guarantee a winning season no matter the final games against the Eagles and Colorado Mines turn out.

The coaches for Saturday's game are well-acquainted.  Both Long and Black Hills coach John Reiners are former Chadron State football players and CSC graduates, but that's just the start of their relationship.

Prior to becoming the Eagles' head coach in 2012, Long was a Yellow Jackets' assistant coach six years and the head coach three seasons. 

When Long was elevated to the top job at Black Hills in 2009, Reiners became his offensive coordinator.  Prior to that, Reiners had helped coach football at CSC for 15 years and was the Eagles' head track coach 11 years.  After Long moved to Chadron State , Reiners replaced him as the head mentor at Black Hills.

This season, the Yellow Jackets have a balanced offensive attack and some impressive defensive stats.  Tailback Phydell Parish has rushed for 1,014 yards, is averaging 5.4 per carry, and has scored 11 touchdowns.  Quarterback Ryan Homel has completed 51 percent of his passes for 1,959 yards and 11 TDs.

On the other side of the ball, the Jackets lead the RMAC with 20 interceptions, eight of them by sophomore Drew Hebel, and rank second in quarterback sacks with 22.  Their quarterbacks have been dumped just eight times, the least in the conference.

Last year's game was a first-class donnybrook that the Eagles won 39-38 in Spearfish.   Chadron State jumped out to a 22-0 lead, but Black Hills went ahead 38-25 early in the fourth quarter.

CSC scored touchdowns on its final two possessions. After cutting the lead to 38-32 with 4:28 to play, the Eagles forced a punt and drove 90 yards for the winning TD with 1:54 remaining.

Black Hills outdowned the Eagles 29-14, but the Eagles had a 143-21 advantage in return yards and a 3-0 edge in turnovers.