CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State football had two representatives selected to the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association (D2CCA) All-Region teams, with senior defensive end Hunter O'Connor and junior safety Dax Yeradi both earning second team honors.

It is the second all-region selection in three seasons for O'Connor, who also earned a second-team nod from the D2CCA in 2022. It is the first career All-Region selection for Yeradi.

The 2024 D2CCA All-Region team is an exclusive group of 25 first-team selections and 27 second-team selections across Super Region 4, which is comprised of the 10 football schools from the RMAC, 10 football schools from the Lone Star Conference and 13 football schools from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). The teams are nominated and voted on by the super region's sports information directors.

This season marks a return to the All-Region teams for Chadron State football, which did not have any All-Region selections in 2023. The last time CSC had multiple All-Region picks came in 2022, when O'Connor joined first-team placekicker Gunnar Jones.

It is no accident that both of this year's All-Region selections for Chadron State came from the Eagles defense. The Eagles excelled on that side of the ball all season long, finishing with the second-best total defense (allowing 288 yards per game) and third-best scoring defense (allowing 19.3 points per game) in the RMAC. 

Hunter O'Connor, a senior from Broomfield, Colorado, adds a second All-Region selection to go with his three career All-RMAC nods at the end of his final collegiate season. The 2022 All-American finished 2024 with 7.5 sacks, 12.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and 49 total tackles while being the focus of every defensive gameplan. O'Connor had three games with multiple sacks, with two of them coming against nationally ranked opponents in Colorado School of Mines and Western Colorado.

On November 9 against Western Colorado, O'Connor recorded two sacks to become Chadron State's all-time program leader with 35.5 career sacks. O'Connor already held the program sack records for a single season (16) and a single game (five), both set in 2022. 

Dax Yeradi had a breakout campaign in 2024, adding a first All-Region selection to his debut First Team All-RMAC selection last month. The safety from Wright, Wyoming finished the season tied for the RMAC lead with four interceptions, including a 51-yard pick six against Fort Lewis. 

Yeradi also finished with 51 tackles, including 40 solo stops, and recorded four pass breakups. He earned the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week award on September 23 of this year.

Chadron State was one of six RMAC institutions represented on the All-Region teams. Among RMAC schools, CSU Pueblo and Colorado School of Mines led the way with six selections apiece, followed by Colorado Mesa with three and CSC, Western Colorado and South Dakota Mines all with two.

The RMAC also cleaned up the Super Region's major awards, with CSU Pueblo's Reggie Retzlaff winning the Regional Offensive Player of the Year award and Western Colorado's Ricky Freymond winning the defensive award. Retzlaff and Freymond were also the RMAC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively.