RAPID CITY, S.D. – In what was billed as a national audience in front of the cameras of ESPN, the game did not disappoint. The game was a back-and-forth affair in the second half that saw Black Hills State come-from-behind 16-6 to take a 20-16 lead but ultimately fell 28-26 after a two-point conversion with 2:22 remaining failed.
True freshman quarterback Ryan Hommel set up the possibility to knot the game after he scrambled 23 yards into the end zone to pull the Green and Gold within two points. However, the two-point conversion failed after his pass was just short under the arms of Bradley Adamson.
The Yellow Jackets (0-2, 0-0 RMAC) attempted to kill the clock as time was counting down but South Dakota Mines succeeded on a first down to stop the Yellow Jackets hopes of one more shot.
In the game redshirt-sophomore Phydell Paris ran for a career-best 186 yards, just the second 100-yard performance during the NCAA Division II era for Black Hills State. Paris also scored two touchdowns.
Hommel threw for 228 yards and ran for 37 with a pair of touchdowns.
South Dakota Mines countered with a duo quarterbacking attack led by Trent McKinney with 133 yards and a touchdown while Jake Sullivan tossed for 112 yards and a touchdown. The Hardrockers also had a 100-yard rusher with Devin Nixon with 138 yards.
The Yellow Jackets jumped on the scoreboard first with 7:15 remaining in the first quarter when Ran Hommel took the quarterback keeper one yard to conclude a six play, 62-yard drive. The Yellow Jackets went for the two-point conversion with holder Bradley Adamson throwing into the end zone but was broken up.
The Hardrockers then had the next three scores with a pair of touchdowns and a field goal. Trent McKinney connected with Ben Broeker for an 11-yard touchdown with a nine-play 62-yard drive for a 7-6 lead.
South Dakota Mines then scored on a 35-yard McKinney jaunt into the end zone but the PAT failed for a 13-6 lead.
With time expiring, Marshall Gleason knocked in a 37-yard field goal for a 16-6 lead entering the intermission.
Midway through the third quarter, Paris capped a six-play 75-yard drive that lasted 1:52 with a six yard run into the end zone. He followed that up with 1:08 remaining in the third to give the Yellow Jackets 20-16 lead with a one-yard run.
However, South Dakota Mines answered on the ensuing drive with a seven-play 45-yard drive that saw Nixon run 12-yards into the end zone to reclaim the lead at 22-20.
After both squads struggled offensively, for most of the fourth quarter, Mines again found the end zone with Sullivan hit Patrick Berke with a 17-yard pass with 4:11 remaining for the 28-20 lead.
That is when Hommel led the Yellow Jackets on the nine-play 75-yard drive that ended with the 23-yard touchdown run.
The Yellow Jackets outgained South Dakota Mines 476-451 with 248 yards on the ground and 228 passing. Time of possession was nearly equal, with the Hardrockers at 30:36 and BHSU at 29:24.
Defensively Travis Tweeten led the Yellow Jackets with nine tackles while Miles Robertson tallied eight tackles. Travis Groves had three-pass break ups and Cody Okray had a fumble recovery.
The game was the final non-conference contest between the two longtime rivals as South Dakota Mines joins the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in football in the fall of 2016. The Yellow Jackets are now 58-61-11 all-time in the 130-meeting history. The two teams have met yearly since 1946 but the first meeting in 1895.
Black Hills State plays its third-straight game on the road as it travels to Fort Lewis College for a noon kickoff in the RMAC opener for both schools.
