CHADRON, Neb. – The Chadron State College football team built a 21-point halftime lead and executed enough down the stretch to hold off rivals Black Hills State 31-28 and win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener Saturday night at Elliott Field in Chadron.

The Eagles scored on their first two possessions to take a 14-0 lead, added two more touchdowns in the second quarter to lead 28-7 at halftime, but had to fight for dear life in the second half to remain ahead of the Yellow Jackets, sealing victory after recovering an onside kick with just under two minutes to play.

The victory snapped the Eagles' three-losing streak in the rivalry that dates back to 1912. Each team entered the game with 0-2 records after playing rugged non-conference opponents. 

Chadron State Coach Jay Long called the win "awesome" for his team, but also commended the Yellow Jackets for their exceptional effort in the second half when they threatened to deal the Eagles a heart-breaker.

The Eagles built early momentum, going 82 yards in seven plays and 98 yards in eight plays on their first two drives of the game. After CSC received the kickoff, quarterback DJ Ralph completed four passes for 63 yards and threw a fade to wide receiver Tommy Thomas in the end zone for a three-yard TD.

Soon afterwards, Black Hills punted and forced the Eagles to take possession at their own two.  They got out of the hole on the second play from scrimmage when redshirt freshman running back Quincey Ryker broke loose on a 56-yard romp. CSC had a couple more good-sized gains before Ralph ran the final nine yards to the end zone to make it 14-0 with 3:52 left in the opening quarter. 

Early in the second frame, Black Hills went 79 yards in 10 plays to get on the scoreboard. Quarterback Luke Duby completed three passes for 38 yards and chipped in a 15-yard run, but the Yellow Jackets mixed in plenty of Wildcat snaps to running back Danny Davis, who scored the touchdown on a direct snap from center and went the last 15 yards to cut the Eagles' lead in half.

After a Ryker 42-yard run on the Eagles' ensuing possession was erased by a penalty, CSC had to punt the ball away. Black Hills took over on its own 30, but on the first play, Duby's short pass was intercepted by CSC linebacker Logan O'Brien, who was blitzing on the play, caught the ball at full stride and took it to the end zone for his team's third touchdown. It was the first turnover forced this season by the Chadron State defense and the first defensive TD, one year after they ranked fifth in all of Division II with five. 

Chadron State scored again with just 11 seconds left before halftime when Ralph threw a two-yard pass to tight end Preston Pearson in the corner of the end zone after the CSC quarterback had hit Devon Sundgren with a 27-yard strike down the middle of the field. That drive was a 70-yarder in 10 plays.
 
The Eagles had a 28-7 lead and 244 yards of total offense at halftime. They added just 50 yards and three points in the second half while Black Hills rolled up 254 yards and 21 points in the game's final 30 minutes.

The Jackets got their second TD midway in the third quarter when alternate quarterback Kade Weber ran the final eight yards to cap a 50-yard drive. They also scored on the first play of the fourth frame by capping an 11-play, 98-yard drive when Duby connected with his favorite target, TJ Chukwurah, on a 43-yard strike to make the score 28-21. 

In between those BHSU touchdowns, Ralph exited the game while on a rushing play, and the graduate student from San Diego did not return to action. Alternate quarterback Aidan Thompson took over and directed a 10-play, 53-yard march that took nearly six minutes off the clock and led to Wilson Yee's 29-yard field goal with nine minutes left to play. Those three points ended up being the margin of victory.  

The Yellow Jackets got two more possessions after CSC went ahead 31-21. The first drive covered 72 yards and reached the Eagles' 11-yard line, but was stopped there on fourth down with five minutes left to play.

A couple minutes later, the South Dakota team cashed in on its second late opportunity. A 53-yard pass from Duby to Chukwurah, the RMAC's leading passing duo entering the game, was the major reason, with CSC safety Tucker Peterson finally stopping the Jackets' star at the CSC three. Two plays later, the Jackets scored on a three-yard Duby to Davis toss that made the score 31-28 with 1:54 seconds left to play and the Yellow Jackets out of timeouts.

Chadron State thought they had sealed the game when BHSU's first onside kick did not go the required 10 yards and was jumped on by linebacker Liam Blaser, but the officials said that one of them had blown an inadvertent whistle during the play and allowed the Yellow Jackets to re-kick. This time, the squib traveled 17 yards, with wide receiver Tommy Thomas corralling it and enabling the Eagles to kneel out the clock for a hard-fought win.

Black Hills finished with 380 total net yards and the Eagles with 294. The visitors also ran 77 plays and had possession of the ball 37 minutes and 13 seconds while the hosts had 56 plays and owned the ball just 22:47.

Twenty-six penalties were called, 14 of them against the Yellow Jackets for 140 yards and 12 against the Eagles for 141 yards.

Ralph had completed 16 of 25 passes for 152 yards before he left the game. Preston Pearson was CSC's top receiver with five catches for 70 yards. Ryker had nine rushes for 60 yards.

CSC safety Sutton Pohlman was the game's leading tackler with 10, followed by Logan O'Brien with eight stops to go with his dramatic interception that he turned into a touchdown.  

For Black Hills, Duby completed 24 of 33 passes for 229 yards with Chukwurah catching seven of them for 147 yards. Davis was the Black Hils' leading rusher with 11 carries for 72 yards.

Chadron State will go on the road next week to face Colorado School of Mines in Golden on Saturday, September 20.