LAS VEGAS, N.M. – Chadron State scored five rushing touchdowns,
Liam Blaser recorded his second pick-six in as many weeks and the Eagles weathered a 2-hour lightning delay to defeat New Mexico Highlands 59-17 on Saturday in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference football action.
Chadron State (3-5, 2-4 RMAC) scored 42 points in the first half, scoring touchdowns on five of its first six possessions and each of its final two. New Mexico Highlands (3-5, 1-5 RMAC) lost its fourth straight game.
Liam Blaser, the reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Week, staked his claim for another honor by snagging an interception and running it back to the end zone for the second game in a row. Like last week, the pick-six came in the second quarter, and the 25-yard runback made it 28-10, CSC.
Blaser also recorded four solo tackles plus a sack, forced fumble and fumble recovery, making Blaser involved in all three Chadron State takeaways.
Jarred Marquez recovered the fumble that Blaser forced while
Jahmir Everett forced the fumble that Blaser recovered.
Offensively, the Eagles finished with a season-high 279 rushing yards, the sixth-highest single-game total in the RMAC this season, with nine different Eagles recording at least a carry.
Devon Rivers was the star of the first half, collecting three rushing touchdowns to bring his season total to seven. Rivers finished with 71 yards on 13 carries and found the end zone from 1, 1 and 21 yards out. The 21-yard carry was tied for Rivers' longest of the game.
Jake Marschall took on bell cow responsibilities, carrying a team-high 17 times for 72 yards, while
Aidan Thompson tallied 60 rushing yards on six carries.
For the second consecutive game, true freshman
Kelian Allen racked up numbers in the fourth quarter. The Georgia native finished with 40 yards on three carries, reeling off a 32-yard run and later finding the end zone from 10 yards out for CSC's final score of the game.
Through the air, Thompson had a busy day despite attempting fewer than 15 passes, throwing two touchdowns and two interceptions. Thompson threw a 57-yard pass to
Garet Schlabs early in the second quarter and fired a 38-yard touchdown to
Devon Sundgren and a 9-yard slant to
Camden Walker for his touchdown passes.
TC Shaw led the Eagle defense with eight tackles and two tackles for loss and a sack. Blaser and
Cooper Walton finished with four apiece while four different Eagles had three apiece.
The Eagles scored touchdowns on each of their first three possessions, the first two of which were aided by short New Mexico Highlands punts. Chadron State drove 48 yards in eight plays, with a 15-yard pass to Schlabs and a 10-yard pass to
Koye Gilbert providing big plays before
Devon Rivers punched it in from the one-yard line.
After a 15-yard punt gave CSC possession at the NMHU 29-yard line, Chadron State scored four plays later on a 9-yard pass from Thompson to
Camden Walker, the third receiving touchdown for the sophomore.
New Mexico Highlands responded with a field goal, but Thompson found Schlabs for that 57-yard pass that got the Eagles down to the NMHU 7-yard line. Four rushing plays later, Rivers scored from one yard out again to make it 21-3, CSC.
Another scoring drive was halted when Thompson threw a red zone interception that went for a touchback. Only two plays later, however, Blaser made an interception near the line of scrimmage, immediately reversing the turnover and giving the Eagles a 28-10 lead.
Blaser's pick-six started a string of three consecutive drives that ended in turnovers for New Mexico Highlands, which fumbled on its next two possessions.
Chadron State turned both into touchdowns. One play after the first fumble, Thompson went deep to
Devon Sundgren down the right sideline for 38 yards for a touchdown, Sundgren's fourth receiving score of the season.
After the second fumble, the Eagles threw an incomplete pass on first down, then handed to
Devon Rivers four times in a row for 52 yards, including two 21-yard carries. The final carry gave Rivers his third rushing touchdown of the day, and fifth in the last two games.
Shortly into the third quarter, a lightning delay kept teams in the locker room for nearly two hours. Although play resumed, both teams needed to ease back into the game and the entire third quarter was scoreless.
A flurry of points followed when backups entered the game in the fourth quarter, however. Prichard chipped in with a 24-yard field goal, capping an 11-play drive, before
Chase Nelson finished a 57-yard drive with a 2-yard rushing score and
Kelian Allen carried three times on a six-play drive, culminating in his first career touchdown.
The Eagles will face Fort Lewis next Saturday, October 31, with kickoff at 1 p.m. The Skyhawks (2-5, 1-5 RMAC) nearly upset No. 4/5 CSU Pueblo in wet, muddy conditions but fell 28-21.
