CHADRON, Neb. – After sitting idle for a week and clinching a top three finish in the RMAC while on the bye, Chadron State begins a three-game stretch of important games with the annual Eagle-Rock Trophy showdown against South Dakota Mines this Saturday.
 
The Eagles (6-2, 6-0 RMAC) will face the Hardrockers (2-6, 2-4 RMAC), who were also off last week, looking to regain possession of the trophy after South Dakota Mines took it last season. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. from O'Harra Stadium in Rapid City.
 
There are still three unbeaten RMAC teams, while every other school has at least three conference losses. Two of those teams are nationally ranked in No. 6/5 Western Colorado (8-0, 6-0 RMAC) and No. 7/8 CSU Pueblo (7-1, 6-0 RMAC). The first domino in the title race will fall this weekend when those two play one another in a top 10 showdown. Chadron State faces both teams in the last two weeks of the season, hosting Western Colorado on November 8 and traveling to Pueblo in the season finale on November 15. 
 
Chadron State is receiving votes in the AFCA Coaches Poll for the fourth consecutive week, meaning CSC is listed on some ballots for the Top 25 voting, but not yet enough to make the Top 25. The Eagles have growing support among poll voters, as they have gone from three votes in their first appearance in the rankings to seven, nine and 14 in the three latest editions. The D2Football.com poll, which only lists their top 25 teams and does not have an "also receiving votes" category, does not include the Eagles.
 
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.
 
Tailgate Info
Planning on going to Rapid City? Join your fellow Eagle fans, parents and alumni for Chadron State's official tailgate at O'Harra Stadium starting at 10:30 a.m. 
 
The tailgate will be in the back parking lot behind the grandstand, along East Joseph Street. With a Chadron State-branded trailer and tents, you won't miss it if you see it. Food is provided while supplies last.
 
Looking Back
Aidan Thompson threw five touchdowns, three to Tommy Thomas as Thomas set a Chadron State program record, and the Chadron State defense limited Fort Lewis to 128 total yards as the Eagles cruised to a 41-0 win. 
 
RECAP: Eagles Ground Skyhawks, Improve to 6-0 in RMAC
 
Thomas scored touchdowns of 10, five and eight yards and now has 11 receiving touchdowns this season. Quarterback Aidan Thompson also found Devon Sundgren for a 63-yard catch-and-run to open the scoring in the first quarter and found Garet Schlabs for an eight-yard score in the third quarter.
 
The Eagle defense recovered three fumbles for takeaways and combined for eight tackles for loss and three sacks. It marked the Eagles' first defensive shutout since October 15, 2016 (73-0 against New Mexico Highlands) but it was the second time this season that the defense had held a conference opponent scoreless after beating Adams State 45-2 with the only points scored by the ASU defense on a safety. 
 
Record Breaker
With his three touchdowns on the day, Tommy Thomas set a new Chadron State career record for receiving touchdowns. The Fort Collins native now has 27 and counting across his 38 career games. 
 
Thomas passed the previous record of 26 shared by Tevon Wright, who graduated in 2019, and Cole Thurness, who concluded his career in 2021. Thomas's 11 reception touchdowns this season are a career-high for the redshirt senior, beating his 10 touchdowns from his 2023 season that ended in First Team All-RMAC honors. 
 
Thomas may not be done breaking records this season. With three games remaining in the regular season, Thomas needs:

• 19 catches to tie Cole Thurness (2016-21) for the school's all-time receptions lead with 192
• 617 receiving yards to tie Cory Brooks (1992-95) for the school's all-time receiving yards record with 2,941
• 5 receiving touchdowns to tie Tevon Wright (2016-19) for the school's single season record with 16

 
No Fly Zone
The Chadron State defense has been really good against the pass this season, and that's underselling it.
 
The Eagles currently lead Division II in passing yards allowed per game, giving up just 134.1 yards through the air on average. CSC is allowing 2.0 yards per game less than the second best pass defense in DII (Harding) and 14.2 yards per game less than the third best (Henderson State).
 
Chadron State's numbers against their competition put them in rarified air across college football. CSC's 134.1 passing yards allowed per game would rank fourth in Division I's Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), trailing only Power 4 programs Oregon, Nebraska and Ohio State. 
 
The Eagles' mark would rank second nationally in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), trailing only North Dakota State, the No. 1-ranked FCS team in the country, and would rank sixth nationally in Division III.
 
Regional Rankings 
Early this week, Chadron State made an appearance on the NCAA's inaugural regional rankings, which are the ultimate determining factor for who makes the NCAA Tournament.  
 
NCAA Regional Rankings

Chadron State is joined by Central Washington, CSU Pueblo, Harding, Northwest Missouri State, Pittsburg State, Southern Arkansas, UT Permian Basin, Western Colorado and Western Oregon on the alphabetical list.

The opening regional rankings present 10 teams under consideration for the eight qualifying spots in alphabetical order. Starting next Monday, the NCAA will begin numerically ranking 10 teams in each region weekly all the way up the NCAA tournament field is selected. 

The NCAA Tournament has expanded to 32 teams, with eight teams qualifying from each of Division II's four Super Regions. Unlike the previous 28-team bracket (seven teams per super region), there are no longer first-round byes for the top regional seed. 

The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference shares Super Region Four with the Lone Star Conference (LSC), Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) and Great American Conference (GAC). The four conference champions will each earn automatic bids, while the other four regional spots are at-large and can be filled by teams from any of the region's four conferences.

NCAA: How the DII football championship works

Super Region Four is loaded, with the region's teams taking up five of the top nine spots in the AFCA Coaches Poll (No. 2 Harding, No. 6 Western Colorado, No. 7 CSU Pueblo, No. 8 Central Washington and No. 9 Pittsburg State). Northwest Missouri State, Angelo State and UT Permian Basin are also ranked in the AFCA Top 25, with Chadron State, Southern Arkansas and Western Oregon receiving votes. 

However, it is important to note that the Top 25 polls ultimately have no impact on the selection process, as the NCAA uses its own criteria such as strength of schedule, in-region record and performance indicator scores (as an example, AFCA No. 16 Angelo State was excluded from the Super Region Four alphabetical list of 10 this week). Along with every other team, Chadron State will learn a lot more about where their postseason chances stand when the NCAA releases its first numerical rankings after this weekend.

Eagle Rock Trophy Game History
by Con Marshall
The Eagles and the Hardrockers have been meeting on the gridiron for a long time, with the first meeting taking place over 100 years ago.
 
The Eagle-Rock Trophy, a traveling trophy that is held by the winner of the football game between Chadron State and South Dakota Mines, was first established in 1981 "in observance of the 50th game and the good relations that have existed between the schools through the years."

The trophy was on the line from 1981-1995, with CSC winning 12 of 15 matchups during that time frame. Starting in 1995, the rivalry stopped while Chadron State competed as an NCAA Division II member while the Hardrockers were still in NAIA. 

When the Hardrockers jumped up to Division II and joined the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the rivalry renewed beginning in 2016. A new trophy bearing the Eagle-Rock Trophy name was created and will be on the line for today's game. This trophy is inscribed with the year and winning school for every matchup since 2016.

In the Division II era of the rivalry, Chadron State has won eight of the 10 matchups. Chadron State won every year from 2016-2021, including two wins during the COVID-19 impacted 2020 season, but the Hardrockers took hold of the new trophy for the first time with a 28-7 win in 2022 by scoring a touchdown in each quarter and limiting CSC to just one.    
 
In 2023, when the teams played the season finale at Elliott Field, the Eagles managed only 179 yards of total offense but won 27-19. Thirty-seven of the game's 46 points were scored in the second quarter. All the other points came on three field goals in the second half. Four of the five touchdowns were aided by turnovers, two for each team. The clash also featured 10 quarterback sacks, six of them by the Eagles, and 13 punts. 
 
Last year's game was also strange. Mines played keep-away from the Eagles. The Hardrockers had possession 43 of the 60 minutes and ran 79 plays and CSC just 43.  
 
By that point in the season, the Eagles were struggling with quarterback injuries, and they mustered only 216 total net yards of offense. Mines turned a pair of CSC turnovers into touchdowns to spur its victory, even though the Eagles blocked a Hardrockers' punt and took it to the end zone. 
 
According to Chadron State records, the Eagles lead the all-time series with Mines 54-20. 
 
Stat Standouts
 

• The Chadron State defense ranks third in the RMAC in scoring defense (23.3 points per game) and is second in total defense (294.1 yards allowed per game).
• The Chadron State offense ranks fifth in the RMAC in both scoring (30.8 points per game) and total offense (391.6 yards per game).
• Due to the efforts of placekicker Wilson Yee, Chadron State is tied for first in the RMAC in point-after percentage (100.0, 29-29), tied for second in the RMAC in total made field goals (11) and tied for third in field goal percentage (.733, 11-15). 
• Quincey Ryker ranks third in the RMAC with 81.4 rushing yards per game. Daytuawn Pearson ranks fifth in the RMAC with 54.5 rushing yards per game.
• Aidan Thompson ranks fourth in the league in passing touchdowns (15) and sixth in passing yards (1,016).
• Tommy Thomas ranks second in the RMAC in receiving touchdowns (11) and total yards (610) and ranks third in receiving yards per game (83.6).
• Logan O'Brien leads the RMAC with 14 tackles for loss (7^th in Division II) and ranks sixth in the RMAC with 59 total tackles.
• O'Brien is part of a three-way tie for the RMAC lead with five sacks. Cooper Walton is tied for fifth with four sacks.
• Dax Yeradi is one of 12 RMAC players with multiple interceptions. Logan O'Brien is one of five RMAC players to return an interception for a touchdown this season.
• Brodie Eisenbraun leads the RMAC with 14 punts inside the 20-yard line, ranks third with nine punts of 50 yards or more and ranks fifth with a 43.6 punting average (11^th in Division II). That average, if he maintains it, would break Eisenbraun's own single-season program record of 43.26 set last year.

 
In the Polls
Chadron State finished in a tie for seventh place in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll. There were multiple ties throughout the preseason voting, including at the top. Defending league champions CSU Pueblo and defending runners-up Western Colorado finished in a dead heat for first place at 76 points, both receiving the exact combination of five first place votes, three second place votes and one third-place vote. 
 
Colorado School of Mines, whose five-year streak of having at least a share of the RMAC title was broken last season, finished third in the voting while Colorado Mesa finished fourth. Regional rivals South Dakota Mines and Black Hills State tied for fifth. After the Eagles and New Mexico Highlands in seventh, the poll was rounded out by Fort Lewis in ninth and Adams State in 10^th. 
 
The RMAC has two nationally ranked programs, in addition to the Eagles knocking on the door of the national top 25. The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) poll has Western Colorado ranked at No. 6 and CSU Pueblo at No. 7, while the D2Football.com poll has Western at No. 5 and CSU Pueblo at No. 8. Chadron State is receiving votes in the AFCA poll.

RMAC Update
With three weeks to go, Chadron State is firmly in the RMAC title conversation despite being picked to finish seventh in the league's preseason poll.
Here is a look at the current RMAC standings:

Team	RMAC Record	Overall Record
#6/#5 Western Colorado	6-0	8-0
#7/#8 CSU Pueblo	6-0	7-1
#RV/NR Chadron State	6-0	6-2
Colorado School of Mines	3-3	5-3
New Mexico Highlands	3-3	5-3
Colorado Mesa	3-3	4-4
South Dakota Mines	2-4	2-6
Black Hills State	1-5	1-7
Fort Lewis	0-6	1-7
Adams State	0-6	0-8

Western Colorado remained undefeated with a decisive 40-17 win over Colorado School of Mines while CSU Pueblo and Chadron State were on a bye. Chadron State has clinched a top three finish, with the Eagles holding a three-game lead on fourth place with three games to go and head-to-head tiebreakers on all three teams currently tied for that spot. 

The RMAC's projected biggest showdown of the season between top 10 titans Western Colorado and CSU Pueblo is this weekend, but with Chadron State also undefeated, the next three games will all have massive title implications as the trio of undefeated teams all need to face one another.

November 1:

• CSU Pueblo @ Western Colorado

November 8:

• CSU Pueblo @ Colorado School of Mines
• Western Colorado @ Chadron State

November 15:

• Chadron State @ CSU Pueblo
• Colorado Mesa @ Western Colorado

CSU Pueblo is trying to win its second consecutive RMAC regular season championship. Western has not won since splitting the title in 2021 with Colorado School of Mines but is looking to extend their overall record of most football championships in the RMAC. Chadron State is seeking its first title since 2008.

RMAC Championships (most recent)
Western Colorado (19, 2021)
Colorado School of Mines (16, 2023)
Colorado Mesa (12, 2017)
CSU Pueblo (9, 2024)
Chadron State (8, 2008)
Adams State (7, 1989)
New Mexico Highlands (2, 1999)
Fort Lewis (1, 1984)
Black Hills State/South Dakota Mines (0)

Scouting the Hardrockers
by Con Marshall
South Dakota Mines is 2-6 for the season and 2-4 in the RMAC.  The Hardrockers gave up 194 points while losing their first four games this fall. The setbacks were to Pueblo 43-0, Michigan Tech 45-9, Upper Iowa 58-14 and New Mexico Highlands 48-42 in overtime.
 
Mines then won back-to-back games, beating Fort Lewis 22-21 and toppling archrival Black Hills State 27-13 before falling to Colorado School of Mines 24-14 and Western Colorado 34-13.
 
The Hardrockers have had more success throwing the ball than running it by about a two-to-one margin this season. They have passed for 1,749 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 873 yards and six TDs.
 
Starting quarterback Gage Baker, a 6-foot, 190-pound redshirt freshman, has completed 183 of 294 passes for 1,682 yards and all of the team's TDs.  He's been intercepted nine times. Four receivers have caught at least 20 passes, led by 6-4, 200-pound senior Martin Galbreath with 38 receptions for 442 yards.
 
Two veterans, including former Chadron High standout Dawson Dunbar, now a 5-11, 200-pound junior, lead the ground game. Dunbar has rushed 80 times for 373 yards and Ty Harris, a 508, 175-pound senior from Houston, has carried 72 times for two more yards than Dunbar. Both have scored two touchdowns.
 
Dunbar has also caught 19 passes for 182 yards and three TDs. He scored on a pair of three-yard runs against the Eagles last year, when the Hardrockers won 24-17 in Chadron and took the trophy to Rapid City.
 
The Staff
Head Coach Jay Long returns for his 14^th season at the helm of the Chadron State football program. In addition, Long coached for three seasons at now-RMAC rival Black Hills State from 2019-2012. 
 
As a result of CSC's five-game win streak, Long is back over .500 for his head coaching career, with an all-time record of 82-81 as a head coach and 67-66 at CSC. 
 
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 McLendon and athletic trainer Allison Wood.