Spearfish, S.D. – The Black Hills State football team lost 29-31 on a 17-yard field goal with nine seconds remaining against Colorado Mesa on Saturday afternoon.
"We rode too many highs and lows. We got turnovers that we didn't convert on, and then we had some missed assignments on defense that gave them a big play. We are in the red zone six times and we scored three times," Reiners said. "If we want to beat teams, we have got to take advantage of that."
The Yellow Jackets were first on the board with a 28-yard field goal by Devin Rounds. The field goal was made possible by a forced fumble and recovery by defensive tackle Sterling Boylan. Later in the first quarter, the Yellow jacket defense forced a Maverick punt and the Yellow Jacket offense was able to march down the field with a five-play, 42-yard drive, which included an acrobatic 35-yard catch by Daniel Hancock.
The Mavericks answered with a 27-yard touchdown run from Jake Cimolino to make the score 10-7.
The Yellow Jackets were able to come back and Bryar DeSanti found the end zone for his second score of the afternoon. The Mavericks blocked the extra point.
Colorado Mesa put two more touchdowns on the board, including a six-yard quarterback keeper by Jason Haferman before the end of the half, and the Yellow Jackets found themselves down 21-16 going into halftime.
Haferman scrambled for his third touchdown on the ground to take a 28-16 lead in the third quarter.
The Yellow Jackets battled back in the fourth quarter and quarterback Ward Anderson capped-off a seven-play, 55-yard drive with a one-yard quarterback sneak. The score put the Yellow Jackets within five.
After forcing the Mavericks to punt, the Yellow Jackets put together an impressive drive that ended with Anderson finding tight end Reed Reuman with a bullet over the middle of the end zone. The Yellow Jackets led 29-28 with 3:17 left in the game. BHSU attempted the two-point conversion, but were not able to convert on a pass to Hancock near the sideline.
Mesa moved the ball down the field and set-up the go-ahead 17-yard field goal with nine seconds remaining.
Anderson ended the game going 19-for-37 for 205 yards, one touchdown and one interception. DeSanti found the end zone twice to compliment his 24 attempts for 86 yards. Hancock had a team-high 113 yards on nine receptions. Reuman scored a touchdown and tallied 37 yards.
"We can fix these things, but we can't wait till next week to fix them. We have the opportunity to be a really good football team," said Reiners. "I know we are 0-3 on paper and it is all about wins and losses, but I told our team that I am not going to give up on them and no one is going to give up. We just have to continue to battle and clean these things up."
The defense had a strong performance throughout the day. Linebacker Ryan Lee had a team-high 12 tackles, including four solo tackles. Other impressive performances were Boylin and Randall Hill who each had nine tackles. Boylan also recorded two fumble recoveries. The Yellow Jacket defense forced four turnovers on the day (three fumbles, one interception).
Defensive back Darick Eisenbraun had a lockdown day with eight tackles and an interception.
"Our defense battled, I can't say enough about them," Reiners said.
The Mavericks had a productive day on the ground with Cimolino, who rushed for 196 yards and a touchdown.
The Yellow Jackets will now travel to Western State to battle the Mountaineers (0-4, RMAC 0-2) next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
"There are so many 'what ifs' and we can't keep going over it. We will look at this film, get our things that we need to improve on and prepare for Western State," Reiners said.
