CHADRON, Neb. – ?The Chadron State College football team dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage while romping past Adams State 45-2 in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference game played at Alamosa, Colorado on Saturday. 

Aidan Thompson threw four passing touchdowns on just 16 pass attempts, finding Tommy Thomas for scores three times, while 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. 

?The win was the Eagles' the fourth in four contests of RMAC action this fall, keeping them in a deadlock atop the conference standings. It also marked the fourth consecutive Saturday that CSC scored on its first possession of the game. ?While CSC's first three RMAC games were all one-score wins, this one was a 42-point blowout.  

?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. 

?Offensively, the Eagles were potent both running and passing the ball. They rushed 42 times for exactly 300 yards and two touchdowns, the first and last of the game, and completed 13 of 19 passes for 213 yards and the remaining four TDs.

?Redshirt freshmen scored the rushing touchdowns. Running back Quincey Ryker scored the first when he raced 17 yards on CSC's fifth play of the game, and alternate quarterback Wyatt Sprague went the final nine yards on the ground himself after directing a 76-yard drive in six plays late in the third frame. 

?In between those scores, Thompson threw touchdown passes to Thomas of 44 yards in the opening period, 27 yards in the second stanza and 35 yards in the third quarter. ?Thompson also connected with redshirt sophomore Garet Schlabs on a 28-yard touchdown strike in the third quarter.  

?Altogether, Thompson completed 11 of 16 passes for 198 yards, was neither intercepted nor sacked and also ran the ball five times for 40 yards.  

?Thomas was Thompson's primary target. He threw seven passes to the Fort Collins native, who caught all of them for 144 yards, increasing his season totals to 34 receptions for 449 yards and seven TDs at the halfway point and putting him closer to the top of several CSC career pass-receiving lists.

?Nearly everyone who carried the ball for the Eagles on Saturday averaged at least six yards while running behind the rebuilt offensive line. The rushing leader was Daytuawn Pearson with 12 carries for 73 yards, but he was far from alone. Sprague carried eight times for 54 yards, Ryker six for 53, Anthony McMillian four for 34, Richard Okuno two for 35 and Kasey Jones twice for 16. 

?CSC place kicker Wilson Yee also got in on the scoring bonanza by making all six extra points and a 24-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

The second quarter saw Adams State get its only points of the game. With a howling west wind at his back, the Grizzlies' Braden Biller launched a 76-yard punt that his teammates downed at the Eagles' one-yard line. On the ensuing play, the Eagles remained in their shotgun formation and the Grizzlies got to McMillian before he was able to get out of the end zone, giving the Grizzlies a safety.

?The Eagles' defenders also were magnificent. Highlights included intercepting two passes, both in the second period, to stymie the couple of drives that Adams State threatened the Eagle end zone.?Safety Tucker Peterson swiped the first at the Chadron State 12-yard line and edge rusher William Stemler picked off the second, grabbing the ball while running alongside the intended receiver at the Eagles' 21.

?Four CSC defenders—Stemler, Logan O'Brien, Ryder True and Cooper Walton—finished with eight tackles apiece. That foursome also combined for CSC's six sacks, with two apiece from O'Brien and Walton and one each from True and Stemler. In total, Chadron State's defense also combined for 12.5 tackles for loss, including four from O'Brien, 2.5 from Walton and two from Stemler.

Chadron State will put its four-game RMAC win streak on the line next weekend at home against New Mexico Highlands, with kickoff set for 1 p.m. from Elliott Field next Saturday, October 11. The Cowboys are 3-2, 1-2 in the RMAC, and lost to No. 12-ranked CSU Pueblo 59-13 on Saturday.

Eagles Drop Regional Pod Opener to SDM

CHADRON, Neb. – Mataya Ward hit over .500 and four Eagles had double-digit digs, but Chadron State volleyball dropped its first of two RMAC regional pod matches on Friday night, falling to South Dakota Mines 25-20, 25-20, 25-16. 

Ward hammered home a team-high 11 kills with no attack errors on 21 attempts, good for a .524 hitting percentage while Kally Kirkwood contributed eight kills and four blocks. Shelby Harding ended with two service aces and led the team with 12 digs while Avery Lacy, Josie Loosevelt and Gibson Beckler each had 10 digs apiece. 

The loss, which does not count in the RMAC standings, moves CSC's record to 4-9 overall. South Dakota Mines improved to 4-10. 

Chadron State led 4-2 early in the first set after a Kally Kirkwood kill, but South Dakota Mines took control with a 6-1 run to take a 10-6 lead. The Hardrockers got their final six points of the set via kill, taking down the opening frame 25-20. 

The second set mirrored the first. Chadron State again took a 4-2 lead after solo blocks from Mataya Ward and Chloe Grady, but the Hardrockers flipped the script with scoring runs of 4-1 to go up 12-9 in the set and 4-0 to expand to an 18-13 lead. Ivy Vindivich put away a kill to make the second set finish with the same score as the first, 25-20. 

After 12 kills in the first set and 14 in the second, Chadron State could only manage 10 kills in the third and final set while the Hardrockers hit .278 in the frame as a team. The Hardrockers jumped out to a 6-2 and never trailed in set number three as they finished the match in the minimum amount of sets. 

South Dakota Mines finished with a 45-36 advantage in kills and also had more aces (5-2) and digs (63-54) than the Eagles. Chadron State did finish with more blocks than the hosts, coming up with seven total blocks to the Hardrockers' six. Behind Kirkwood with four blocks, Bella Adams contributed and Grady two.