CHADRON, Neb. – With award-winning defensive and special teams units, getting the offense going is the final piece of the puzzle for the Chadron State football team. The Eagles (1-3, 0-2 RMAC) will look to put it all together this Saturday against the Adams State Grizzlies (0-4, 0-2 RMAC) in Chadron at noon.

Each team is searching for their first RMAC victory of the season. So far in RMAC play, the Eagles have lost 13-12 to then-No. 4 Colorado School of Mines and 18-3 to Colorado Mesa. Adams State has lost 38-0 to Western Colorado and 66-10 to then-No. 22 CSU Pueblo.

Saturday's game is also the annual Hall of Fame game. Nine former CSC student-athletes will be honored with induction into the college's athletic Hall of Fame. The inductees will be recognized at a halftime ceremony at the football game before the Hall of Fame dinner on Saturday night at 6 p.m.

The game will be streamed for free on the RMAC Network. Chadron fans can also listen live to Dave Collins on Double Q Country 97.5 and 105.9 FM and follow along via live stats.

Looking Back
A 57-yard field goal from Wilson Yee provided the only points for Chadron State in an 18-3 loss to Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction during the Eagles' first road game of the season.

RECAP: Colorado Mesa

The defense held CMU to a season-low 126 passing yards in the game. Linebackers Reed Henkel and Xavier Harrell had 12 tackles apiece to lead the Eagles, with Harrell and Hunter O'Connor also finishing with 1.5 sacks each.

Player of the Week
For the second straight week, Chadron State captured one of the RMAC's three weekly award winners. A week after safety Dax Yeradi won the defensive award, this week saw CSC punter Brodie Eisenbraun honored.

NEWS: Eisenbraun Named Special Teams POTW

Eisenbraun punted seven times for an average of 49 yards per punt, the eighth-longest single-game punting average in Chadron State program history. Against CMU, the South Dakotan placed three punts inside the 20-yard line with zero touchbacks and had four boots of 50 yards or more, including a season-long 64-yarder that is the third-longest punt in the RMAC this season. 

For the season, Eisenbraun leads the RMAC with six punts over 50 yards and has not recorded a touchback in any of his 22 punts this year. He has also placed eight of those 22 punts inside the 20, a total that ranks second in the conference. Eisenbraun's season average of 44.5 yards per punt ranks 11^th in Division II and third in the RMAC.

Hall of Fame
Wrestlers will be leading the way during Chadron State College's Athletic Hall of Fame inductions this fall. Five of the nine former Eagles are going into the Hall of Fame as wrestlers. They'll be joined by two football all-stars and two standouts on women's track and field teams.

The football players selected for the Eagles' Hall of Fame in 2024 are Paul Schweger, a graduate of Longmont High School in Colorado, and John Strand of Imperial. Schweger and Strand were among the leaders of the Eagles' 2006 and 2007 teams, both of which were 12-1 overall and 8-0 while winning RMAC championships.

Schweger was a four-year starter at safety. He was first-team all-RMAC as both a junior and a senior and was first-team on the Omaha World-Herald's NCAA Division II All-Nebraska three times. As a senior, Schweger was chosen as both CSC's Outstanding Defensive Player and Outstanding Special Teams Player.

At 6-foot-8, 280 pounds, Strand was an imposing offensive lineman who helped CSC classmate Danny Woodhead became college football's all-time leading rusher. As a senior when Stand played left tackle, the Eagles averaged 438.5 yards and 37.5 points, he was named first-team All-RMAC and All-Nebraska as well as First-Team Southwest Region. Daktronics also named him Second-Team All-American. John teaches mathematics and is the boys' basketball coach at Arapahoe High School in southwest Nebraska.

Yee-Haw
Although Wilson Yee's 57-yard kick against Colorado Mesa wasn't quite a career-long by his lofty standards, it still tied for the second-longest kick in program history.

Yee holds the program record himself with a 61-yard boot from last season, but with his 57-yarder last Saturday, the Colorado native notched the second-longest kick of his career, tying him with former Eagles kickers Gunnar Jones and Aaron Turner, who also made from 57. Turner hit from that distance in the year 2000 while Jones knocked through two 57-yard kicks in the same game against Adams State in 2022.

Overall this season, Yee has made 6 of 7 field goals and 2 of 2 extra points this season. He is a perfect 4-for-4 on kicks over 35 yards.

Roper Repeat
The special teams highlights for Chadron State weren't limited to the kicking game. The Eagles came up with two blocked extra points in the game, and senior lineman Morgan Roper got a hand on both.

The Milliken, Colorado native also blocked a kick last season against CSU Pueblo, so he now has three for his career. Roper has appeared in every game this season, primarily on special teams.

O'Connor Tracker
Defensive lineman Hunter O'Connor racked up 1.5 sacks against CMU last Saturday, his second consecutive game with multiple sacks after recording two against Colorado School of Mines.

The senior is currently sitting at 31.5 sacks for his career. O'Connor is firmly within striking distance of Chadron State's program record for career sacks, which is 36.5, held by Casey Beran (1996-1999). O'Connor went off for 16 sacks in 2022, which earned him All-American honors, the CSC single-season sack record and the CSC single-game sack record when he had five sacks against South Dakota Mines.

O'Connor was one of three First Team All-RMAC picks for Chadron State a year ago alongside receiver Tommy Thomas and defensive tackle Tanner True. All three return to the Eagles this season, although O'Connor is the only one to play in every game this season as the other two have missed time.

O'Connor made an appearance on D2Football.com's annual Elite 100 list for the second straight season, ranking 100 players to watch from across the country in Division II. The full list can be viewed at this link. There are seven other RMAC players on the list – receiver Max McLeod, punter Blake Doud, offensive lineman Nic Van de Graaf and defensive back Jackson Zimmerman from Colorado School of Mines, defensive back Daniel Bone III and wide receiver Reggie Retzlaff from CSU Pueblo and linebacker Kendall Lightfoot from Western Colorado.

In the Polls
There are three RMAC teams ranked in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) national poll – Colorado School of Mines at No. 4, Western Colorado at No. 14 and CSU Pueblo at No. 22. The D2Football.com poll has Mines at No. 7, Western Colorado at No. 13 and CSU Pueblo at No. 24.

Chadron State was picked to finish seventh in the 10-team RMAC in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches. Each coach ranked opposing programs without voting for their own.

Colorado School of Mines, who have won the last five RMAC titles but need to replace Harlon Hill-winning quarterback John Matocha, were picked to finish on top again, receiving seven out of 10 first-place votes. Western Colorado was picked second, receiving three first-place votes.

The other teams picked ahead of Chadron State by the coaches were CSU Pueblo, Colorado Mesa, Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines. After the Eagles in seventh, the poll is rounded out by Adams State, New Mexico Highlands and Fort Lewis.

Opponent Preview
by Con Marshall
Two football teams seeking to get their offenses in gear and win some games will be meeting Saturday at Elliott Field when the Chadron State Eagles host the Adams State Grizzlies in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference contest. Kickoff will be at noon.

Chadron State has a 1-3 record while Adams State is 0-4. The Eagles got their 17-10 win by posting two touchdowns in the fourth quarter against the Jamestown Jimmies on Sept. 5. None of their other opponents have scored more than 18 points, but Nebraska-Kearney won the season-opener 18-6, and Colorado Mesa prevailed 18-3 last Saturday at Grand Junction. In the remaining game, the Eagles limited the No. 4-ranked Colorado School of Mines Orediggers to just 13 points, but the visitors won by a single point—13-12.

Adams State opened its season by losing a 46-36 shootout against Western New Mexico. Since then, the Grizzlies have scored just 24 points.

Texas Permian Basin beat Adams State in its second game 67-14 and RMAC foe Western Colorado blanked the Grizzlies 38-0 in their third game. Last Saturday, Colorado State-Pueblo won 66-10. The ThunderWolves scored 58 unanswered points after Adams State pulled ahead 10-8 at the end of the first quarter by kicking a field goal and returning an interception 12 yards for a touchdown.
CSU Pueblo finished with 718 total net yards against Adams State, rushing for 301 yards and passing for 417.

The Grizzlies' managed 141 yards of offense, 59 on the ground and 82 through the air. They were forced to punt 12 times.

In Chadron State's previous game, the Eagles accumulated just 123 total net yards at Colorado Mesa and never got to the red zone. The Eagles scored on Wilson Yee's 57-yard field goal in the fourth period. The Eagles' defense and special teams were excellent, however, limiting the Mavericks to just three touchdowns, one of them on an interception return, and a pedestrian 274 total yards.

Punter Brodie Eisenbraun was named the RMAC's Special Teams Player of the Week after averaging 49 yards per punt against CMU, including a season-long 64-yarder. That marks the second consecutive week that CSC has captured one of the RMAC's weekly honors, after Dax Yeradi won the conference's Defensive Player of the Week award two weeks ago.

Chadron State leads the all-time series with Adams State by a 28-6 margin. The Eagles have won eight of the last 10 and have never lost to the Grizzlies in Chadron.

Both of Adams State's two wins in the last decade were by extremely narrow margins in Alamosa. The Grizzlies squeezed out a 31-30 victory in 2016 and won 65-62 two years later. Adams State led the latter game 45-42 at halftime before neither team scored in the third period, but both tallied 20 points in the fourth. The Grizzlies finished with 658 yards of offense. CSC had 456.

The game also was a donnybrook two years ago, the last time Adams State visited Elliott Field. That contest saw former Eagles kicker Gunnar Jones kick two 57-yard field goals with the wind at his back and a 35-yarder with the wind in his face. CSC finally won 29-27 by completing a 67-yard drive when Jalen Starks dove into the end zone with 68 seconds remaining.

Last year in Alamosa, the Eagles won 53-14 after outscoring the hosts 30-7 in the second half and finishing with 521 total net yards. The Eagles' leading rusher was redshirt freshman Jake Marschall, who carried 16 times for 121 yards. Quarterback Preston Pearson, who plays wide receiver on this year's Eagles squad, completed 16 of 28 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns and also scored on a four-yard run.

The CSC defense was extremely instrumental in last year's victory. That unit limited the Grizzlies to 262 yards of offense, including just six yards rushing after the losses from six quarterback sacks were deducted. The CSC defense also blocked a punt, intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble that led to touchdowns. Another interception set up a CSC field goal.

Coach's Corner
Chadron State head coach Jay Long is in his 13^th season leading the Eagles in 2024. He is an alum of the university, earning two RMAC All-Conference selections at center during his playing career.

Coach Long went 25-8 on the field across his first three seasons in charge of the CSC program from 2012-2014, although NCAA violations by the previous coaching staff and not connected to Long led to the first nine of those wins being vacated.

During Long's coaching tenure the Chadron State program has seen 10 All-America selections, 11 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, numerous All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and All-Region awards, one Harlon Hill Trophy Finalist, and the first NFL draft pick that CSC has produced since 1989 when offensive lineman Garrett Gilkey was picked in the seventh round by the Cleveland Browns in 2013.

Prior to coaching at Chadron, Long spent three seasons as the head coach at Black Hills State University while the Yellow Jackets were transitioning from NAIA to Division II. He was also an assistant coach at BHSU for six seasons, serving as the offensive coordinator, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator over that time frame.

Entering the 2024 season, Coach Long is 59-56 at Chadron State. He has a career record of 74-71 as a head coach between three seasons at Black Hills and 12 seasons at CSC.