The upcoming Black Hills State University football game scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24 at Chadron State has been canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.

Due to BHSU football seeing an increased number of positive tests and quarantined student-athletes this week, the Yellow Jackets found it to be in the best interest of both teams to not participate in Saturday's game.

"This week, we have seen an uptick in positive COVID tests over previous weeks as it relates to students and student-athletes," said Athletic Director Jhett Albers. "We feel it is in the best interest of the health and wellness of our student-athletes to hold off on practices, workouts, and competitions for our high-risk contact sports this weekend."

Positive COVID-19 cases at the local, state, and national levels are currently on the rise as well.

"We will continue to be diligent in our enforcement of CDC guidelines as it relates to social distancing, and the disinfecting and sanitizing of our facilities and equipment," said Albers. "We will also continue our protocols of masking and face covering to lower the risk of spreading the virus, as well as our daily symptom checks and weekly testing procedures going forward."

The Yellow Jackets' remaining schedule consists of two more games, both at home in Spearfish. After a bye week, BHSU is set to host South Dakota Mines on Nov. 7 at 1 p.m. and then Chadron State Nov. 14 at 2 p.m.

-BHSUAthletics.com-