BOX SCORE: SDSMT 43 BHSU 35
RAPID CITY, S.D. - The Black Hills State University Yellow Jacket football team (0-2, 0-0 RMAC) traveled down to arch-rival, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (2-1, 0-0 GNAC) to play in the annual and second oldest rivalry in America on Saturday night in front of a raucous crowd at O'Harra Stadium.
With over three minutes to play in the third quarter, Yellow Jacket junior quarterback, Ward Anderson, hit wide receiver Luke Whalen on a play-action fake to the left side for a two-yard touchdown to take a 35-24 lead, which turned out to be the last score for the Jacket offense.
South Dakota Mines (Tech) then scored touchdowns on two consecutive 66-yard drives that took only 3:11 off the clock at the beginning of the fourth quarter. With it just a one-point game with less than six minutes to go, Tech up 36-35, their running-back Chris Sawdey scored with 5:21 left in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to the eventual final score, 43-35.
"We need to overall play together as a team on both sides," Head Coach, John Reiners said after the defeat. "We saw some good things early on and our guys fought but we need to take care of the football when we get down at the redzone to get points and trust everyone in front of us and behind us to do their job."
"Credit Mines for capitalizing on plays when they needed them, but our guys fought hard and we'll go back and watch the film to correct our mistakes and be ready for next weekend," Reiners said.
Early on the Jackets took the biggest lead of the night, 14-3, following an opening three-play 10 yard scoring drive that ended with a Dan Long touchdown catch of five yards. The first score was set up by a Yellow Jacket interception by Darick Eisenbraun, who finished the night with five tackles and two interceptions returned for a total of 30 yards.
The second BHSU score came after a long 10-play, 65-yard drive on a W. Anderson keeper from one-yard out to give the Jackets an 11-point lead half way through the first quarter.
From here on out the teams went back and forth during six lead changes. In that stretch, BHSU scored on a W. Anderson 17-yard touchdown pass to Alex Anderson to regain the lead 21-17 at the beginning of the third quarter.
Tech ran the ball effectively all night and scored three times on quarterback keepers around the goal line by QB Evan Sanders, on the way to a 312-yard, five touchdown rushing night.
Penalties were a factor in tonight's game as there were 23 total penalties called. The most questionable call came on a BHSU must have 4th & 23, where a successful hook-and-ladder pass play that would have easily given the Jackets a first down, was called back for a referee's inadvertent whistle in the closing minutes with BHSU down only 8 points. Therefore, the Jackets replayed the down and punted Tech the ball as they had three timeouts remaining but Tech picked up a key first down with less than a minute remaining to seal the deal.
BHSU's W. Anderson finished the night 26-of-49 for 276 yards, four touchdowns and two INTs, while running the ball 13 times for 52 yards and another score. W. Anderson now has nine touchdowns on the year in two games (six passing, three rushing).
Veteran tailback and senior captain, Bryar DeSanti, got back on track after being held in check last week vs. Angelo St., to scamper for 162 total yards. DeSanti ran it 13 times for 91 yards (5.05 avg) and reeled in seven passes for 71 yards but was held to no touchdowns on the night.
Behind DeSanti, the next leading receiver for the Jackets was junior Luke Whalen who had five grabs for 43 yards and a score. In total, there were six BHSU wide receivers with at least two catches on the night.
Tech ended the game with four players having rushed for over 50 yards, including their leading rusher Kevin Thompson, who had 20 rushes for 106 yards. Running backs Ben Broeker and Chris Sawdey combined for 20 more rushes for 147 yards and two touchdowns.
Three Jacket defenders had over 10 tackles including sophomore Trent Boner who led the way with 14 tackles (5 solo), along with Jeremy Tuten who finished with 14 tackles (4 solo). Defensive tackle, Aaron Olson, turned in 10 tackles on the night.
Yellow Jacket special teams play remained solid for the second game in a row as punter, Oscar Bengtsson, had seven total punts (three inside 20) for 258 yards (43.0 avg). Freshman kicker again had an effective night after kicking off six times with two touchbacks for 341 yards (56.8 avg). Return men, Harrison Dollins and true freshman Bradley Adamson combined for four returns and 84 yards, with Adamson having the longest return on the night of 23 yards.
Next up for the Jackets is their home and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener on the season as they get set to host Colorado School of Mines (1-1, 0-0 RMAC) on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013 at 1 p.m. MT at Lyle Hare Stadium.
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