DICKINSON, N.D. – Black Hills State football won its season opener Thursday night, taking down Dickinson State 17-2.

The Yellow Jackets (1-0) combined for 360 total yards of offense while dominating in time of possession, having the ball for 41:11.

Nolan Susel and Mitch McKibbin each scored a receiving touchdown on the night, Susel's coming on a 12-yard catch and McKibbin's for 50 yards.

Susel finished with 102 rushing yards and 22 receiving. McKibbin totaled 90 receiving yards on three catches.

Hasaan Williams hauled in five catches for 80 yards.

Quarterback Aiden Willard completed 13 of 17 passing attempts for 210 yards and two touchdowns.

Defensively, Bailey Rosenstrauch and Nicc Quinones each hauled in an interception while Ryder Blair had a pass breakup.

Aaron Thiele led the team with six total tackles while Zaine Hood, Deunte Moody and Lovenski Simon each totaled four.

Kicker Coleman Chapman booted a field goal and converted two extra points.

The Yellow Jacket defense forced a turnover on downs in the game's opening possession after a team sack resulted in a loss of 14 yards and a 4th and 24 that the Blue Hawks would fail to convert.

Teams traded possessions the rest of the first and moved into the second tied at 0-0. Nicc Quinones hauled in an errant DSU pass for BHSU's first interception of the year to cap the first quarter.

The game remained scoreless into the second quarter and DSU had an opportunity with 6:34 left in the half to get on the board with a field goal, but the kick went wide right, and the 0-0 tie held into halftime.

Out of the break, Willard lined up under center for BHSU to open the second half and connected with Williams for a 53-yard completion to give the Yellow Jackets their best field position of the game at the DSU 20. The Yellow Jackets would end the drive empty handed, though, and the scoreless tie continued.

BHSU got moving on offense midway through the third quarter with a 27-yard run from Susel, followed by a 19-yard completion to Williams to get into the red zone.

BHSU would break the scoreless tie with 7:34 remaining in the third as Willard completed a shovel pass to Susel who then ran through a pair of Blue Hawks at the goal line for the score, giving the Yellow Jackets a 7-0 lead.

The BHSU offense got into a rhythm from there, marching down the field on their next possession before a Willard scramble turned into a 50-yard touchdown pass to McKibbin to extend the lead to 14-0 with 1:36 left in the third.

DSU drove all the way to the BHSU 1-yard line on the ensuing drive, and the Yellow Jacket defense stood them up on three straight downs to stop the Blue Hawk's scoring threat and get the ball back on downs.

On the next play the Yellow Jackets couldn't get out of the DSU end zone, however, resulting in a safety and cutting the BHSU lead to 14-2 early in the fourth quarter.

Later in the fourth, a McKibbon 29-yard reception got BHSU into field goal range after converting four third-downs. Chapman split the uprights on the 40-yard field goal attempt to finish the strong drive and make it a 17-2 lead with 5:34 to play. That score would hold over the final minutes of play as BHSU won 17-2.

Up Next
The Yellow Jackets now look ahead to next Saturday, September 10 as they host William Jewell at 12 p.m.