CHADRON, Neb. – After three matchups against the projected top three RMAC teams to open conference play, Chadron State football will welcome their final projected top-half conference opponent as the Eagles journey west to Grand Junction to face the Colorado Mesa Mavericks this Saturday night, with kickoff set for 6 p.m.

The Eagles (1-4, 0-3 RMAC) are still searching for their initial conference win while the Mavericks (2-3, 1-2 RMAC) have faced three top 10 opponents in their first five games. CSC's 34-27 win in Chadron last season halted what had been a six-year CMU winning streak in the series.

Numbers to Know

• 4: of the top 12 tacklers in the RMAC on the Chadron State defense – Jarred Marquez (46), Reese Jacobs (41), Cooper Walton (39), Aiden Kuester (37)
• 6: Sacks last week by CSC vs. Mines, doubling the Eagles' season total entering the game
• 25: Solo tackles by Kuester, which leads the RMAC
• 46.8: Penalty yards per game by the Eagles, second fewest in the RMAC

How to Tune In
Saturday's game, along with every CSC football game for the remainder of the regular season, will be livestreamed on the RMAC Network.

Fans can purchase monthly subscriptions to the RMAC Network for $25 or annual passes for $130. Those prices are both unchanged from the 2025-26 season, which was the first for the RMAC Network's pay-per-view model.

PURCHASE: RMAC NETWORK

A radio stream of the game will take place on Double Q Country 97.5/105.9 FM and doubleqcountry.com, with Dave Collins on the call. Finally, Eagle fans can follow along via live stats for free or keep track on social media (@cscfootball on X/Twitter and Instagram) for updates.

Looking Back
Chadron State and Colorado School of Mines played a one-score game for the third season in a row, with the Orediggers claiming a 16-12 victory at Elliott Field.

STORY: Eagles Lose Low-Scoring Battle With Mines

The Eagles set season highs with six sacks while the Eagle pass defense held the Orediggers under 200 passing yards. Chadron State kicked two field goals via Shay Prichard, including a 50-yarder that tied a career-long, before a 19-yard pass to Devon Sundgren on the final play of the game.

True Story
Edge rusher Ryder True had a monster game vs. Colorado School of Mines. The Eaton, Colorado senior recorded career highs of 10 tackles, five solo tackles and three sacks last Saturday, plus a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry.

True's stat line led online content page The CFB Network to name True as their Division II National Defensive Player of the Week. You can view a highlight reel of True's sacks and forced fumble here.

This season, True has 22 tackles (11 solo), 3.5 tackles for loss for 28 yards, four hurries and three pass breakups. True's three sacks are tied for sixth in the RMAC and also ranks within the top 15 in the conference in TFL's and passes defensed.

The game against Colorado School of Mines was the first game in True's career with multiple sacks.

Off the Edge
In addition to True's breakout game, William Stemler continued his consistent production against the Orediggers. The Preseason All-RMAC and D2 Elite 100 Watchlist selection supplemented True's performance with five tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery off the sack/fumble forced by True.

Stemler now has four sacks on the season, tied for third-most in the RMAC, while his five tackles for loss are tied for fourth in the league. Stemler has already replicated a healthy percentage of his production for the entire 2025 season (six sacks, 11.5 TFL's) that won him Second Team All-RMAC honors.

Hands Up
Chadron State has generated three blocked kicks already this season, tied for the lead in the RMAC and tied for fifth in NCAA Division II.

Two of those blocks came against CSU Pueblo – a field goal blocked by Brady Dahlberg and a point-after blocked by Mason Kiewiet. Against Colorado School of Mines last week, CSC's Koye Gilbert blocked a punt, which Kiewiet recovered.

Dahlberg, an offensive lineman by trade, now has three blocked kicks in his career after recording two last season. 

Pass Attack
After exiting each of the previous two games early with nagging injuries, Aidan Thompson played the entire game against Colorado School of Mines and set season-highs with 238 passing yards and 19 completed passes along with his second passing touchdown of the season. 

Garet Schlabs set season-highs against Mines with six catches for 89 yards and remains CSC's leader with 17 receptions in 2026. 

Devon Sundgren has been the home run threat, with 10 receptions going for 203 yards and all three of Chadron State's receiving touchdowns, with the highlight being an 88-yard TD reception against Nebraska-Kearney that served as CSC's longest pass play in 50 seasons and second-longest ever. Sundgren's 20.3 yards per reception ranks fourth in the RMAC.
Including the top two targets, Chadron State quarterbacks have completed a pass to 11 different receivers.

Stat Selections

• Chadron State's defense ranks seventh in scoring (28.4 points allowed per game) and eighth in total defense (413 yards allowed per game) in the RMAC. 
• CSC's offense ranks 10^th in scoring (13.6) and total (265.6). The Eagles rank ninth in the league in both rushing yards (101.8) and passing yards (163.8).
• CSC's defense ranks fourth against the pass, allowing only 221.8 passing yards per game to opponents.
• Shay Prichard ranks 11^th in the RMAC in scoring, averaging 6.4 points per game. Prichard is averaging 1.8 field goals per game, fourth in Division II but third in the RMAC.
• CSC has not been a highly penalized team. The Eagles have the third-fewest penalties per game in the RMAC (5.6, 30^th in Division II) and the second-fewest penalty yards per game in the RMAC (46.60, 23^rd in Division II).
• Aiden Kuester leads the RMAC with 25 solo tackles. Jarred Marquez is just behind, in third with 22 solo tackles.

• Four of the top 12 tacklers in the RMAC reside on the Chadron State defense – Jarred Marquez (46), Reese Jacobs (41), Cooper Walton (39) and Aiden Kuester (37).
• Marquez leads the RMAC and ranks tied for fourth in Division II with 0.6 forced fumbles per game. He also ranks tied for eighth in passes defensed with four.

• William Stemler ranks tied for third in the RMAC with four sacks while Ryder True is tied for sixth with three.
• Chase Nelson ranks second in the RMAC in yards per punt return (10.6) and fourth in yards per kickoff return (26.8).
• Triston Hite has placed 17 punts inside the 20, seven more than any other RMAC punter.

In the Polls
In the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll, released July 22, Chadron State was picked to finish fourth out of 10 RMAC programs. The Eagles received one first-place vote, one second-place vote and three third-place votes in the poll. 

CSU Pueblo finished in first place in the poll, with eight first-place votes, followed by Western Colorado (one first place vote), Colorado School of Mines and Chadron State. Chadron State faced the three teams picked ahead of them in the preseason standings in the first three weeks of the conference season.

Behind CSC, Colorado Mesa was fifth while New Mexico Highlands, South Dakota Mines, Black Hills State, Fort Lewis and Adams State rounded out the poll.

Last year, the Eagles were picked seventh in the preseason and went on to finish second in the conference standings.

The RMAC has two nationally-ranked programs – CSU Pueblo, ranked No. 4 in the AFCA Coaches Poll and No. 6 in the D2Football.com media poll, and Western Colorado, ranked No. 7 in both.

Preseason Plaudits
The RMAC released a Preseason All-RMAC team alongside their preseason polls back on July 22, based on the leading vote-getters from last year's all-conference voting that return to the league. 

Chadron State had four players honored, tied for the third-highest total in the RMAC – quarterback Aidan Thompson, offensive lineman Dominic Castanon, linebacker Cooper Walton and defensive end/edge rusher William Stemler.

Stemler also made an appearance on the D2Football.com Elite 100 watchlist as a "squad" member of the defense, one of six RMAC honorees across the national 100-player listing.

Stemler's selection marks the fourth consecutive year that an Eagle defensive player has made the Elite 100 preseason list, joining alumni Dax Yeradi (2025) and Hunter O'Connor (2023, 2024).

RMAC Update
Chadron State is one of two remaining winless teams in the RMAC, but the Eagles have faced undeniably the toughest stretch of their schedule so far by facing teams picked first, second and third in the league's preseason poll, including two games against two national top-7 opponents. 

While the standard is for RMAC teams to have two nonconference games in addition to their nine conference contests, that won't work out perfectly this year. Fort Lewis had a nonconference game against William Jewell ended prematurely and canceled due to a medical emergency, giving the Skyhawks just one nonconference game, while Colorado School of Mines had a nonconference game against Washburn end in a tie due to unplayable heat index and turf temperatures at the start of overtime.

The RMAC will take a league-wide bye week during the week of October 10. No conference teams will be in action. All 10 RMAC schools will resume conference play on October 17.
Here is a look at the current RMAC standings:
 

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

*for ranked teams: first # = ranking in AFCA Coaches Poll, second # = ranking in D2Football.com poll | RV = "receiving votes" in top 25 | NR = "not ranked"

RMAC Weekly Matchups:
Black Hills State @ Colorado School of Mines
South Dakota Mines @ Fort Lewis
CSU Pueblo @ Adams State
Western Colorado @ New Mexico Highlands

RMAC Championships (most recent)
Western Colorado (19, 2021)
Colorado School of Mines (16, 2023)
Colorado Mesa (12, 2017)
CSU Pueblo (10, 2025)
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 Mavericks
by Con Marshall
The Chadron State College football team has played and lost to each of the three teams that were voted by the RMAC coaches late last summer as the conference's best heading into the 2026 season.
 
The Eagles were tabbed for fourth place in the lineup while Colorado Mesa, the team Chadron State will meet this coming Saturday night, was projected for fifth in the 10-team lineup.
 
The Mavericks have a 2-3 season record and are 1-2 in the conference. They've been through the meat grinder. They opened the season by hosting Minnesota State-Mankato, (also named the Mavericks), which is 5-0 and is ranked No. 5 among the nation's NCAA II teams. That score was 38-14.
 
After that, Mesa defeated Eastern New Mexico 42-23 and edged South Dakota Mines 30-24 in the RMAC opener in overtime before taking on the RMAC two powers—Western Colorado and CSU Pueblo. Western topped Mesa 31-17 and Pueblo defeated the Mavs 35-23 last Saturday. The ThunderWolves led 35-9 before Mesa scored its two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
 
Mesa's leading rusher this season is Bronco Hartson with 68 carries for 253 yards while two quarterbacks, Liu Aumavae and Cole Hansen, have shared those duties, completing 93 of 171 passes for 943 yards and nine TDs. They combined to complete 19 of 36 tosses for 139 yards against Pueblo. 
 
Chadron State defeated Mesa at home last year 34-27 in a game that the Eagles dominated more than the final score indicates.  
 
The Eagles were outstanding on offense against the Mavericks a year ago, out-yarding them 412 to 285. CSC was ahead 31-7 in the third quarter before Mesa freshman Bryson Brown scored on a 75-yard run late in the third and then closed out the game's scoring by catching a 59-yard TD pass.
 
Chadron State leads the all-time series versus Mesa 21-14, but last year's triumph during the Eagles' homecoming game was just the second in the last 11 contests in the rivalry.  The Eagles and the Mavericks had never met on the football field until CSC joined the RMAC in 1991.  
 
No RMAC games are scheduled for the following Saturday, Oct. 10, while the Eagles will be at home to play Adams State on Saturday the 17^th.
 
5-for-5
Under a new eligibility ruling passed by the NCAA this summer, all NCAA student-athletes will have five years of eligibility while developmental redshirts and medical waivers that previously could grant another year of eligibility have been eliminated.

To accommodate this new system, Chadron State is changing how student-athletes are labeled on the football roster – using the term "freshman" for a player in their first year of college, "sophomore" for a player in their second, "junior," "senior," and "fifth-year," regardless of whether the player has previously received a redshirt year.

For example, a player now being referred to as a "junior" has been with Chadron State or another college football program for two seasons (regardless of if they played or not during those seasons) and has three years of eligibility remaining, including 2026.

Coaches' Corner
Head Coach Jay Long returns for his 15^th season at the helm of CSC Football in 2026. In his previous 14 seasons at Chadron State, Long boasts a 70-68 record. He is 85-83 overall in his 17-season head coaching career.
 
Notably, the Eagles' 8-4 record in 2025 was a substantial turnaround from a 3-8 record in 2024. Chadron State's eight wins in 2025 is tied officially for the most in a single season during Long's tenure, alongside eight-win seasons in 2013 and 2014.

For his efforts last season, Long was voted by his head coaching peers as both the RMAC Coach of the Year and the AFCA Region Five Coach of the Year, each for the first time in his career. Coach Long was one of only five AFCA award recipients in Division II and one of only 25 recipients among all levels of college football.

Chadron State's head coach (Jay Long) and all three coordinators – Micah Smith (offense), Clint Sasse (defense) and Mitch Collicott (special teams) are all Chadron State football alumni. 

Quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator Tommy Wilson also returns for a fourth season at CSC, while coaching assistant for defensive backs Deunte Moody returns for a second season. 

In year one on the CSC staff are coaching assistants Cole Cartwright (running backs), Reed Henkel (linebackers), Abe Hestdalen (defensive line), Seth Moore (offensive line) and Fred Pillivant (wide receivers). Henkel makes a move to the coaching staff after playing for the Eagles from 2022-25.