SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State University football team celebrated Senior Day accordingly with a 30-27 victory over New Mexico Highlands University Saturday afternoon at Lyle Hare Stadium.

The Yellow Jackets defense held the nation's top passer to just 159 yards, had a blocked punt and an interception in the game.

The Yellow Jackets were placed in prime field position when Steven Reed blocked Patrick Carney, NCAA Division II's punting leader, and Caleb Guarino recovered at the nine yard line. That set up Steven Soderstrom for his first career-field goal, a 19 yarder to take a 3-0 lead.

Black Hills State continued to put the pressure on by opening a 17-0 lead. Ward Anderson capped a quick three-play 22-yard drive with a seven yard touchdown run followed by a one-play 67-yard pass to Anthony Eboreime. The senior-to-senior connection had a raucous crowd on their feet as Eboreime streamed into the end zone untouched.

New Mexico Highlands finally got on the scoreboard with a 19-yard field goal from Zach Tapia with 13:28 left in the second quarter.

With less than two minutes left in the first half, each team traded field goals, first a 29 yarder from Soderstrom followed by a 47-yard field goal from Tapia as the Yellow Jackets entered intermission with a 20-6 lead.

On the opening possession of the second half, the Cowboys worked a 10-play 60-yard drive as backup quarterback Tanner Wright hit Harold Smith-Mobley for a six-yard touchdown.

Phydell Paris and the Yellow Jackets struck back as Paris had a two-yard touchdown run for the 27-13 lead. The Yellow Jackets then got a 28-yard field goal from Soderstrom, his third of the game, for the 30-13 lead with 1:07 remaining in the third quarter.

Highlands tried to make the game exciting, first as Khadeem Campbell had a 21-yard run. Then Lance Orender, the nations passing leader, re-entered the game and through a 74-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Slavin, slashing the lead to 30-27.

With one timeout in their pocket, New Mexico Highlands elected to kick the kickoff deep as opposed to an onside kick with 3:29 remaining. However, the Yellow Jackets ran the ball to begin running the clock out. Forced to pass on a third-and-9, Eboreime stretched his fingers just enough to catch Anderson's pass at the first down marker to move the chains.

That allowed the Green and Gold to celebrate Senior Day as Anderson took the victory formation and secure the 30-27 victory, snapping a six-game skid in the process.

The Yellow Jackets conclude their season next Saturday as they travel to Western New Mexico for a noon kickoff in Silver City, New Mexico.

Quick Hits

• Ward Anderson completed his home career throwing for 296 yards and a touchdown
• Anthony Eboereime had five catches for 124 yards, an average of 24.8 yards per catch, and a touchdown
• Jerome Krysl had a game-high six catch for 72 yards
• Phydell Paris rushed 16 times for 60 yards
• Steven Soderstrom ended the day with 12 points, easily a career-best for the senior attempting kicks in just his fifth game
• The Yellow Jackets sacked the Cowboys quarterbacks five times, totally a loss of 23 yards
• Trent Boner had a game-high 15 tackles including a sack and two tackles for a loss
• Boner added a pass break-up and quarterback hurry
• Allan Stubbs picked off his third pass of the season, this time diving on an underthrown pass
• Soderstrom added seven tackles along with a half sack
• Lance Orender was 12-for-21 for 159 yards with a touchdown and an interception for Highlands
• Vincent Venegas rushed 14 times for 90 yards for the Cowboys
• Tyler Slavin had a Cowboys-high six catches for 99 yards
• Brandon Brown had a team-high 12 tackles while Jared Koster, the nation's leading tackler, added 11