CHADRON, Neb. -- Two football teams with identical records will square off Saturday when the Chadron State Eagles visit the Colorado Mesa Mavericks in Grand Junction. Kickoff will be at noon.
             
Both are 4-5 for the season and they share sixth place in the RMAC with 3-4 records.  Both have defeated Fort Lewis and Adams State and lost to Black Hills State, Western Colorado, Colorado Mines and CSU-Pueblo.  The Eagles also have defeated New Mexico Highlands and Mesa upset South Dakota Mines in Rapid City on Sept 16.  CSC will host the Hardrockers next Saturday, Nov. 11, while Mesa will close out its season that day by visiting the Cowboys.

Several of the CSC-CMU season statistics are similar. The Eagles are averaging 344.8 yards of total offense and giving up 392.5 per game.  Mesa is averaging 326.2 and yielding 405 a game. 
             
Chadron State is rushing for 144.6 yards a game and giving up 129.7 per game. The Mavericks are averaging 121.8 yards a game on the ground and have allowed 159.1 per game. 

The Eagles' passing game has averaged 200.22 yards while the foes have averaged 262.89 yards through the air, lowered a great deal when New Mexico Highlands completed just six passes for 44 yards against CSC last Saturday. Mesa is averaging 204.44 yards passing while allowing 245.9 per game.

None of Mesa's statistical leaders have spectacular numbers.  Quarterback Gavin Herberg, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound junior, has completed 80 of 169 passes for 1,339 yards and eight touchdowns while being intercepted nine times.  However, he has rushed for six touchdowns while none of the other Mavs has scored more than two TDs.

Herberg has run for 343 yards, the team high, but has been sacked for a minus 136 yards, leaving him with 207 total net yards.  The team's top rusher is Marvin Jones, a 5-9, 170-pound sophomore, with 43 carries for 267 yards while playing in all nine games.  The Mavs' busiest receiver is Keenan Brown, a 6-2, 195-pound junior, with 22 receptions for 461 yards.

CSC's sophomore quarterback Preston Pearson has completed 91 of 166 passes for 1,235 yards and 12 TDs.  He's been picked off six times. Redshirt freshman James Marschall has run for 421 yards in the last four games after taking over the starting job and has now carried 91 times for 488 yards. Sophomore Tommy Thomas ranks third in the RMAC in receiving with 51 catches for 859 yards and nine TDs.

Chadron State leads the all-time series with Mesa by a 20-12 margin, but the Mavericks have won seven of the last eight contests. Two of the Mavs' recent victories have been in overtime.  They were 10-7 during the COVID-shortened season in 2020 and 38-37 last year in Chadron.   
             
Miles Kochevar is in his second season as Mesa's head coach.  He is a native of Colorado's Western Slope and was the leading tackler at Colorado State at Fort Collins as a senior in 2005.  He had been an assistant with several Division II teams, including a stint as the defensive coordinator at CSU-Pueblo, before going to Grand Junction in December 2021. 

Eagles shutdown Yellowjackets

SPEARFISH, S.D. -- The Chadron State College volleyball defeated the Black Hills State Yellowjackets in three straight sets Friday night in Spearfish, South Dakota, 25-17, 25-21, 25-6.
 
CSC improves to 14-10 overall and 7-5 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play with the victory.
 
Black Hills State started set one with a 4-0 lead but the Eagles quickly tied the set at six. CSC scored the next three points and never trailed in the set again.
 
The Eagles never trailed in set two, which was the closest set of the match. The Yellow Jackets scored two straight points to lower their deficit to 23-21, but kills by Bella Adams and Rylee Greiman gave CSC the set victory.
 
The largest margin of victory this season for Chadron State occurred during set three, when they won the match 25-6.
 
As a team, the Eagles had a .255 hitting percentage.
 
Offensively, Lexi Hurtado, a graduate student from Aurora, Colorado, led CSC at the net with 10 kills while hitting .296. Mayson Fago, a senior from Evans, Colorado and Adams, a sophomore from Pueblo, Colorado, each added seven. Adams hit .500 while Fago hit .350.
 
Rylee Ward, a sophomore from La Grange, Wyoming and Kendyl Kirkwood, a junior from Fleming, Colorado had 16 and 11 assists, respectively.
 
Ward and Kirkwood both joined Alondra Hernandez with double-digit digs. Hernandez, a junior from Provo, Utah, and Ward both had 13 while Kirkwood added 10.
 
Five different Eagles recorded blocks and each of them had at least two. Adams led the group with five blocks, Aiyana Fujiyama, a junior from Wahiawa, Hawaii, had four, Fago added three and Hurtado and Kirkwood both had two.
 
The Eagles play in Rapid City tomorrow against South Dakota Mines at 6 p.m.

CSC defeats NJC in season opener, 46-9

CHADRON, Neb. -- The Chadron State College men's wrestling team pinned six of its opponents on Friday night in the Chicoine Center, boosting them to a 46-9 season opening win against Northeastern Junior College.
 
The Eagles points were scored with six pins and two tech falls. The Plainsmen nine points were from a forfeit and one decision.
 
At 125 pounds, CSC forfeited the weight class, giving NJC six team points to start the match.
 
Fans in attendance didn't have to wait long for the Eagles scoring to start with returning national runner-up Quen Campbell opening the match at 133 pounds.
 
Campbell, a senior from Tifton, Georgia, opened his season with a 22-3 tech fall early in the second period, lowering CSC's deficit to 6-5. He recorded nine takedown points, twelve nearfall points, one point for an escape and a riding time point. Due to a rule change in NCAA Wrestling, takedowns are now worth three points instead of two.
 
Chadron State won the 141- and 149-pound weight classes with pins by Ethan Leake and Brody Lamb. Leake, a graduate student from Clovis, California, pinned his opponent in 3:56 while Lamb, a senior from Wellington, Colorado won in 0:38.
 
The Plainsmen's three other points occurred on a decision by Channing Warner over Tayten Gillette in the 157-pound weight class.
 
Trailing 8-3 at 165 pounds, Jaziah Whaley, a senior from Gilcrest, Colorado, slammed his opponent on his back in the second period to record the Eagles third pin of the day in 4:26.
 
A third period tech fall occurred by Logan Berger at 174 pounds. Berger, a sophomore from Hartsville, South Carolina, had nine take down points and nine nearfall points on his way to a 18-0 victory in 5:47.
 
Chadron State ended the match with three consecutive pins against the Plainsmen.
 
Rowdy Pfeil, a senior from Moorcroft, Wyoming, started the rally at 174 points when he pinned his opponent in 32 seconds.  
 
At 197 pounds, Eli Hinojosa, a graduate student from Imperial, Nebraska, overcame an early takedown by his opponent before recording a pin in 2:27.
 
A returning national qualifier in Mason Watt concluded the night for Chadron State. Watt, a graduate student from Bloomfield, Colorado recorded an early takedown and eventually pinned his opponent in 2:17.
 
Freshmen and other individuals on the CSC wrestling team will attend the Rookie Open hosted by Colorado Mines in Golden, Colorado on Sunday.

Women’s Wrestling starts season 1-1

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- The Chadron State College women's wrestling team started its season with a record of 1-1 on Friday, defeating Snow College 28-21, before falling to #4 ranked Colorado Mesa 41-3.
 
In the Eagles victory against Snow, Mana Chanthasone, Ana Rojas Zamora, Racquel Moore, Annika Lee, Emma Meadows and Kamila Montenegro were all victorious.
 
At 101 pounds, Chanthasone, a freshman from Liberal, Kansas, gave CSC an early 3-0 team lead with a 10-6 decision.
 
Wrestlers from Snow won the 109- and 116-pound weight classes with victories over Brianna Vollendroff and Cassandra Witte. The Eagles responded by winning their next five matches.
 
Rojas Zamora, a sophomore from Sweeny, Texas, started a stretch of five straight pins for the Eagles when she won in 2:21 by fall at the 123-pound class.
 
At 130 pounds, Moore, a sophomore from Beatrice, Nebraska, recorded a pin in 4:43 before Lee, a freshman from Olympia, Washington, pinned her opponent in 3:17 in the 136-pound class.
 
Meadows, a freshman from Roseville, California, had the fastest pin of the day at 155 pounds, winning in 1:14.
 
The Eagles received their last pin of the day from Montenegro, a senior from Las Vegas, Nevada. She won in the 191 class in 3:55.
 
Snow College received the majority of its team points from CSC having open spots at 143 and 170.
 
Against the nationally ranked Mavericks, Heavynne Robles-Wright scored the only points for CSC. The sophomore from Las Cruces, New Mexico, scored an 11-10 decision over Adriana Gomez at 109 pounds.
 
Colorado Mesa's victories occurred by forfeit at the 143 and 170 weight classes. The Mavericks recorded three tech falls, two decisions, and three falls against the Eagles.
 
The Eagles will wrestle in Grand Junction again tomorrow when the Mavericks host the Maverick Open.