CHADRON, Neb. – After a 43-point win that kept them at the top of the RMAC standings, Chadron State football will play on its home turf for the third time this season looking for its fifth consecutive RMAC victory.
The Eagles (4-2, 4-0 RMAC) are set to face New Mexico Highlands (3-2, 1-2 RMAC) this Saturday, with kickoff at 1 p.m. Chadron State, picked seventh in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll, is neck-and-neck with the two top-12 programs for the conference standings lead. The Eagles and Pueblo are tied at the top with 4-0 records while Western Colorado is 3-0. All other seven RMAC programs have either two or three conference losses.
The Cowboys lean heavily on the run, as they have the No. 3 ranked rushing offense in all of Division II, but injury concerns are surrounding their star freshman running back this week. The ground attack has led NMHU to wins over in-state Lone Star Conference opponents Eastern New Mexico and Western New Mexico as well as South Dakota Mines before falling to the RMAC's two nationally ranked programs, No. 5 Western Colorado and No. 12 CSU Pueblo, over the past two weekends.
Fans can watch live (with a subscription) on the RMAC Network, listen live on Double Q Country 97.5/105.9 FM or doubleqcountry.com with Dave Collins on the call, or monitor the Chadron State Eagles Facebook page or @cscfootball on X and Instagram for updates.
RMAC Network Reminder
As a reminder, RMAC Network games this season now require a pay-per-view subscription to watch. Revenue generated by the network will be redistributed to the league's membership to enhance their broadcast systems and programs.
NEWS:
RMAC Network Moves To Pay-Per-View Model
RMAC fans can purchase monthly and annual subscriptions that will provide them access to all regular-season, championship, and archived broadcasts on the RMAC Network, including both home and away RMAC contests for Chadron State. A monthly subscription costs $25, and an annual subscription (for all sports) costs $130. Single-game passes are available for $10, which grants the viewer access to a single game for 24 hours. Subscriptions can be purchased through Hudl at
rmacnetwork.com.
Now that CSC has completed the non-conference portion of their schedule, all remaining football games in 2025 (home and away) will be on the RMAC Network and included in any monthly/annual subscription purchases.
Fans will technical support issues can contact
Hudl, visit the RMAC email the
RMAC Network FAQ page, or directly email the RMAC at
rmac@rmacsports.org.
Looking Back
Chadron State cruised to its fourth straight win, racking up 300 yards on the ground and receiving four passing touchdowns from
Aidan Thompson in a 45-2 win over Adams State.
RECAP:
Eagles Romp Past Adams State 45-2
The 43-point margin of victory was a welcome change of pace for the Eagles, who had won each of their previous three RMAC games by three, six and seven points. Chadron State scored 21 points in the first half, doubled up that total with a 21-point third quarter and added a field goal in the fourth quarter.
Coach
Jay Long's team racked up 28 first downs while the Grizzlies had only nine and CSC amassed 513 total net yards while limiting Adams State to just 114. CSC's defense sacked Adams State six times for 39 negative yards, permitted Adams State to succeed just twice on 16 third down attempts and forced the Grizzlies to punt 10 times.
Gameday Experience Notes
Chadron State officially announced that as part of a pilot program approved by the Nebraska State College System, Chadron State will be introducing sales of alcoholic beverages in specific areas of Elliott Field at Don Beebe Stadium.
STORY: CSC Announces Pilot Program For Alcohol Sales
At this time, the pilot program is only available for CSC's four home football games on September 13, September 27, October 11 and November 8. Alcohol sales will be limited to one area, the new "CSC Beer Garden," which will be in the southeast corner of the stadium, utilizing the old concession area.
This weekend is also Family Weekend at CSC, with
family-oriented activities taking place around campus throughout Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
National Radar
Chadron State made an appearance in the AFCA National Poll for the first time this season, receiving three points of votes.
AFCA National Poll
The RMAC has two teams ranked in the top 25 poll – Western Colorado at No. 5 and CSU Pueblo at No. 12. The poll then includes an "others receiving votes" section for teams that were mentioned on some voter's ballots but did not qualify for the top 25.
Among the 14 teams listed in this section, Chadron State is ninth, just behind in-state rivals Nebraska-Kearney. The Eagles are the only RMAC team receiving votes.
CSC-NMHU History
by Con Marshall
Chadron State holds a 28-5 advantage over Highlands in the all-time series. The last two games, both of which were played in Las Vegas, New Mexico, went down to the wire with each team winning one.
The Eagles won in 2023 by a 24-21 score when
Preston Pearson, now a tight end, was the quarterback and threw an eight-yard pass to
Peter Krohn, then the tight end, with 71 seconds left to cap a nine-play, 60-yard drive.
Another big play for the Eagles was midway in the third quarter, when
Tucker Peterson, then a freshman, intercepted a pass and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown that cut Highlands' lead to 21-18. The Cowboys managed just 81 yards of total offense in the second half against the Eagles.
Last year, when the teams combined for 951 yards of total offense, there were four lead changes in the fourth period. The Cowboys got the win when they completed a 28-yard pass with just over a minute remaining that won the game 33-30. The Eagles returned the ensuing kickoff to midfield and completed a pass that allowed them to attempt a 40-yard field goal that would have tied the score, but it was wide right by a few inches.
The win snapped a Cowboys 13-game losing streak and was the first at Highlands for Head Coach Kurt Taufa'asau, a native of American Samoa who wasn't hired until just three months before the 2024 season kicked off.
Fearsome Four-Three
Linebacker
Logan O'Brien has been a terror on opposing offensive lines and ball carriers this season. The Kearney, Nebraska native has made a habit of getting in the backfield, as O'Brien's 2.0 tackles for loss per game average leads the RMAC and is tied for fifth in all of Division II.
A two-time RMAC Defensive Player of the Week this season, O'Brien put up award-winning performances against Black Hills State (eight tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and a pick-six) and Colorado School of Mines (eight tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and two sacks).
O'Brien had a pretty good case to win his third in four weeks last week, again collecting eight tackles alongside four tackles for loss and two additional sacks. O'Brien is in a three-way tie with New Mexico Highlands's Corey Martin and Black Hills State's Isaiah Morales for the conference sacks lead with four, and his 12 tackles for loss on the season are five more than any other conference defender.
Hat Trick
Tommy Thomas went off against Adams, hauling in seven catches for 144 yards and three touchdowns.
The redshirt senior now has seven touchdowns on the year, a total which ranks third in the RMAC but tied for fifth nationwide. All seven of Thomas's scores have come in CSC's last four games. Thomas also ranks second in the RMAC and 23
rd in Division II with his 449 receiving yards this season.
It has been a milestone-filled season already for Thomas's career, as the Fort Collins native managed to grab his 150
th career reception, 20
th career receiving touchdown as well as eclipse 2,000 career receiving yards at various points during the September 27
th homecoming contest against Colorado Mesa.
Thomas has an outside shot at some program career records among CSC receivers. With five games remaining in the season, Thomas needs:
- 35 catches to tie Cole Thurness (2016-21) for the school's all-time receptions lead with 192 (meaning Thomas would need to average the seven catches he has recorded over the past two weeks)
- 778 receiving yards to tie Cory Brooks (1992-95) for the school's all-time receiving yards record with 2,941
- 3 touchdowns to tie Thurness and Tevon Wright (2016-19) for the school's all-time receiving TDs record with 26
AT12 Method
Aidan Thompson has given the Eagles another bona fide option at quarterback after taking the reins full-time when
DJ Ralph went down with a concussion in the Black Hills State game. Thompson has a 3-0 record as the Chadron State starter.
Thompson is completing 59.8 percent of his pass attempts (49 of 82) for 651 yards with nine touchdowns and two interceptions. In addition, the Abilene, Texas native is the team's third-leading rusher with 211 rushing yards, led by an electrifying 73-yard scamper that made an early statement in the win over Colorado School of Mines.
Thompson put his efficiency on display against Adams State, racking up four passing touchdowns and 198 passing yards despite only throwing the ball 16 times.
Churning Yards
Chadron State used a well-balanced attack to put up 300 yards on the ground last week, with seven players collecting over 10 yards and four players topping 40 yards.
Daytuawn Pearson, a junior transfer back from City College in San Francisco, was the leader in both volume and yardage, racking up 73 yards on 12 attempts. His running back tandem partner,
Quincey Ryker, had 53 yards on six attempts with a 26-yard long and punched in a rushing touchdown for the second straight week.
The Eagles also led their QBs run the ball.
Aidan Thompson carried five times for 40 yards while
Wyatt Sprague, who started two games as a true freshman last season and has been deployed primarily as a running QB in select packages this year, collected eight carries with 54 net yards and his first rushing touchdown of his career.
Also receiving rushing opportunities were
Anthony McMillian (4 carries, 34 yards), wide receiver
Richard Okuno (2 carries, 23 yards on fly sweeps), late fourth-period quarterback
Kasey Jones (2 carries, 16 yards) and
Chase Nelson (2 carries, eight yards).
The 300 yards rushing is by far CSC's most in a game this season. Chadron State has eclipsed 100 team rushing yards in every game this year so far and the Eagles have topped 200 team yards twice. Chadron State is averaging 180.5 rushing yards per game (which ranks fourth in the RMAC).
Run, Run, Run the Ball
While the Eagles are coming off a 300-yard week on the ground, that falls short of New Mexico Highlands's average output, as the Cowboys have been the gold standard for rushing offense in the RMAC, if not the country, this season.
New Mexico Highlands is averaging 309.4 team rushing yards per contest, which ranks third in Division II. The Cowboys lead the RMAC with 228 rush attempts, 20 more than any other program, but they aren't simply padding volume stats as NMHU's 6.8 yards per carry average is 1.2 yds/carry more than any other program and their 13 rushing touchdowns also lead the league.
Chadron State's defense ranks fourth in the RMAC as the Eagles allow an average of 129.8 rushing yards per contest to opponents. The Eagles continue to have the RMAC's top defense against the pass, allowing an RMAC-low 152.5 passing yards per contest.
Pinning Deep
Brodie Eisenbraun, a two-time Second Team All-RMAC punter, continues to be a weapon for the Eagles on special teams and is turning in his best season yet.
Eisenbraun has 29 punts this season, hitting an RMAC-high 12 inside the 20, six for 50 yards or more and just three for touchbacks, including a 71-yarder last week that went into the end zone.
The Sturgis, South Dakota native is averaging 43.7 yards per punt, which ranks eighth in Division II. That average, if he maintains it, would break Eisenbraun's own single-season program record of 43.26 set last year.
Stat Leaders
Passing yards:
- Aidan Thompson: 651 yards, 59.76 completion pct., 9 TD, 2 INT
- DJ Ralph: 514 yards, 58.54 completion pct., 3 TD, 4 INT
Rushing yards:
Receiving yards:
Tackling:
Passing Defense:
Scouting the Cowboys
by Con Marshall
New Mexico Highlands will come in to Elliott Field at 3-2 for the season. The Cowboys won their first three contests, but lost to RMAC powers the previous two weekends.
Highlands began the season by defeating both of its in-state rivals—Eastern New Mexico 34-28 and Western New Mexico 69-55—and beating South Dakota Mines 48-42 in overtime while opening the conference schedule.
The Cowboys didn't fare as well when matching up with the RMAC's two nationally-ranked squads. Western Colorado throttled the Cowboys 30-3 before CSU-Pueblo won last Saturday's contest 59-13. Western Colorado, undefeated at 5-0, is ranked fifth in this week's AFCA National Poll while Pueblo, now 5-1, is ranked 11th.
The Cowboys can be dangerous on offense, led by a running back and receiver with the last name Jones (no relation).
Running back Jeffrey Jones rushed for 385 yards, an NCAA Division II record for a freshman, in the game against Western New Mexico. The historic day was part of an outstanding three-game stretch to his collegiate career, as Jones carried 19 times for 228 yards and three touchdowns vs. Eastern New Mexico before rushing only 24 times for his 385 yards against Western. He also carried 19 times for 228 yards and a TD against South Dakota Mines and was leading Division II in rushing by a large margin.
Jones has cooled a bit from those lofty standards in the past two weeks, as he was held to just 12 carries for 57 yards in the fourth game against Western Colorado and did not play against Pueblo last Saturday. His availability for Saturday's clash with Chadron is unknown.
For the season, Jeffrey Jones has 74 carries for 893 yards and eight touchdowns. Despite missing a game, he still ranks second in Division II in total rushing yards and has the national leading in rushing yards per contest by 30 yards over his nearest competitor.
New Mexico Highlands's leading receiver is junior Mike Jones, who caught three touchdown passes and returned a kickoff 99 yards for another TD against South Dakota Mines and won that week's RMAC Special Teams Player of the Week award alongside two honorees from CSC,
Aidan Thompson (offensive) and
Logan O'Brien (defensive).
Mike Jones has 18 pass receptions for 407 yards and six touchdowns. No other Highlands receiver has more than six catches, 107 yards or a single TD. Jones has three 100-yard games so far this season, coming against Eastern New Mexico (two catches for 110 yards), South Dakota Mines (seven catches for 116 yards) and CSU Pueblo (five catches for 103 yards).
If Jeffrey Jones is injured and can't play, the Cowboys have another capable running back in Tevita Valeti, a 6-1, 240-pound sophomore from Utah. As a freshman in 2024, Valeti was the second leading rusher in the RMAC with 166 carries for 880 yards (5.3 yards per carry) and scored eight touchdowns. He was the only freshman who made the First-Team All-RMAC last fall and took home RMAC Freshman of the Year honors. So far this season, Valeti has carried 45 times for 243 yards (5.4 per carry) and four TDs.
The Cowboys' starting quarterback this fall has been Ike Udengwu, a senior transfer from Grand Valley State in Michigan, where he completed 54 of 97 passes for 765 yards a year ago. So far at Highlands, he has connected on 34 of 64 tosses for 638 yards and eight TDs, six of them to Mike Jones.
Elsewhere, the Cowboys' roster has an array of big, veteran linemen. Offensively, the depth chart includes five senior linemen, all of whom weigh at least 290, while the defensive chart includes 10 seniors, among them a pair of 315-pound linemen.
The Staff
Head Coach
Jay Long returns for his 14
th season at the helm of the Chadron State football program, accumulating a 62-64 record at CSC over his previous 13 seasons.
The core of Long's staff all returns for 2025, including sixth-year offensive coordinator
Micah Smith and fifth-year defensive coordinator
Clint Sasse. Long, Smith and Sasse are all Chadron State football alumni. Special teams coordinator
Wes Coomes and quarterbacks coach
Tommy Wilson also return to their roles from 2024.
Four of the Eagles' six coaching assistants are new to the staff this year, with three bringing Division I experience.
DeMarcus Felton (running backs) and
Herbert Frazier, Jr. (wide receivers) both come to CSC from the staff of Dekaney High School in Houston, Texas, where they mentored several eventual Division I and Power 4 players. Both Felton and Frazier were members of the Texas Tech (Division I, Big 12) football program, with Felton racking up 10 rushing touchdowns during his Red Raider career.
Lorenzo Neal (defensive line) joins the CSC staff after a playing career at Purdue University, where he served as a team captain and earned two Honorable Mention All-Big Ten selections. Neal's father, Lorenzo, played for 16 seasons in the NFL and was a four-time Pro Bowl selection and a three-time All-Pro as a fullback.
The final new coaching assistant is
Deunte Moody (defensive backs), who begins his coaching career at Chadron State after concluding his playing career at Black Hills State last season. Returning to the staff are coaching assistants
Steve Chang (linebackers) and
Logan Zacharias (offensive line).
Other Eagle support staff includes strength and conditioning coaches
E.J. Kreis and Chase McClendon and athletic trainer Allison Wood.
