CSC Athletics:
Led by a stellar defense and two touchdowns early in the fourth quarter, the Chadron State College football team came from behind to defeat the Jamestown Jimmies 17-10 in a non-conference game in Chadron on Thursday night.
Jake Marschall ran for 110 yards, part of a 228-yard day on the ground for the Eagles, and a fourth-quarter special teams touchdown by Rylan Wehr provided the difference as Chadron State earned its first win of the season to improve its record to 1-1 ahead of the RMAC season beginning in two weeks.
The Chadron State defense limited Jamestown to just six first downs and only 140 total yards, but the Eagles offense turned the ball over four times and didn’t score until kicking a field goal with 6:49 left in the third quarter.
The Eagles’ first turnover was a fumble that Jamestown safety Parker Chafee took 68 yards down the sideline for a touchdown with 3:17 left in the opening quarter to put Jamestown up 7-0. Chadron State’s Brodie Roden appeared to run the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown, but the officials ruled he had initially signaled for a fair catch, wiping out what would have been an 87-yard return.
Late in the second quarter, Chadron State had a pair of 17-yard gains, the first on reverse by Roden and the other on a draw play by Rylan Aguallo, that put the ball at the Jamestown nine before the drive died. Chadron tried a fake field goal, but Jamestown stopped the Eagles short of a first down and the score remained 7-0 at halftime.
The Jimmies made it 10-0 soon after the second half began. Chadron State failed to field the kickoff, allowing Jamestown to claim it at the Eagles’ 20. The Eagles defense held Jamestown to just five yards on their ensuing three plays as the Jimmies settled for a 32-yard field goal.
Chadron State got on the scoreboard with 6:33 left in the third frame when Wilson Yee booted a 21-yard field goal. Chadron took advantage of a roughing the kicker call on Jamestown that wiped out an earlier 53-yard attempt and gave CSC a first down.
The Eagles scored their first touchdown of the season early in the fourth period by going 80 yards in nine plays. Freshman quarterback Wyatt Sprague connected with wide receiver Jamahd Monroe on a 17-yard pass in the end zone. Yee kicked the extra point to tie the score at 10.
The Eagles’ defense forced Jamestown to punt about a minute and a half later. However, the ball was snapped over the punter’s head into the end zone, where sophomore Rylan Wehr recovered it for a Chadron State touchdown and a 17-10 lead after Yee made the PAT.
Jamestown put together its best drive as the clock was running down, marching from its own five yard line to the Eagles’ 40. But with less than a minute remaining and on fourth down and one, Quarterback Johnny Grann’s pass was picked off by CSC safety Dax Yeradi to clinch the victory.
The Eagles finished with 289 total net yards. Marschall carried 30 times for 110 yards and Aguallo 24 times for 79 yards to lead the ground game. Sprague, a true freshman from Holyoke, Colo., also ran four times for 31 yards and completed eight of 13 passes for 63 yards after entering the game in the second quarter.
Linebacker Reed Henkel led the Eagles’ defense with 12 tackles, eight of them unassisted. Fellow linebacker Logan O’Brien had six stops, including a sack for a 10-yard loss that blunted a Jamestown drive midway in the fourth quarter. Eagles punter Brodie Eisenbraun punted just twice, one for 62 yards and the other for 46. Both bounced sideways out of bounds inside the Jimmies’ five-yard line.
For Jamestown, quarterback Johnny Grann completed 13 of 24 passes for 78 yards while running back Gavin Blomdahl had 12 carries for 39 yards to pace the Jimmies’ ground game. Linebackers Mason Parker and Jed Rantz combined for 20 tackles to pace the Jimmies’ defense. Each also had two tackles for loss and forced a fumble.
Chadron State will have a bye week this upcoming week before facing No. 5 Colorado School of Mines on Saturday, September 21. The Orediggers opened their season with a 41-13 win over West Texas A&M on Thursday.