Black Hills State football looked excellent on both sides of the ball in Saturday night's 32-23 victory over Chadron State.

The Yellow Jackets (3-0, 1-0 RMAC) captured their first win over CSC since 2016. The 2016 season was also the last time the team started a season 3-0 when they went on to finish 7-4 overall and 6-4 in the RMAC.

Aidan Willard finished the game with 24 completions on 33 passing attempts for 250 yards and three touchdowns. He also added 29 yards on the ground.

Hasaan Williams scored two touchdowns, hauling in a team-high six receptions for 63 yards.

Nolan Susel ran for 74 yards on 13 attempts, scoring a touchdown and also catching five passes for 59 yards.

Mitch McKibbin also found the end zone, totaling five receptions for 43 yards.

Kicker Coleman Chapman made both field goal attempts on the night.

On defense, the team forced three fumbles, and Aaron Thiele grabbed his first interception of the season.

After holding CSC to an early field goal, the Yellow Jacket defense forced a turnover on downs on the Eagles' second possession. The BHSU defense held tough the rest of the first as the game went into its second quarter, 3-0 in favor of CSC.

The second quarter opened with a long Yellow Jacket drive, going 61 yards on 15 plays that took over seven minutes off the clock, eventually evening the score at 3-3 with a 27-yard field goal.

CSC drove down the field on their ensuing drive, where on a third-and-goal at the BHSU 7-yard line, the Yellow Jacket defense forced a goal-line fumble. However, an Eagle lineman was able to jump on top of it in the endzone for a touchdown, putting CSC ahead 10-3 with 4:09 left in the first half.

The Yellow Jackets would get the ball back for the final drive before halftime and used big gains from Jamin Wurtz and John Noordsy through the air to get into the red zone in the final seconds of the half. BHSU finished that drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Williams in the back of the end zone to make it a 10-10 game at the break.

BHSU continued to move the ball in the second half, answering a CSC missed field goal with another scoring drive. A big 28-yard reception from TJ Chukwurah helped get the team down field, and an 18-yard catch and run from Williams capped the touchdown drive to give BHSU its first lead of the game, 16-10.

The Yellow Jackets continued their momentum on the ensuing kickoff, forcing a fumble on the CSC return which was recovered by Jake Pape at the CSC 33. BHSU would capitalize on the opportunity as Willard found McKibbin at the goal line for a 3-yard touchdown, making it a 23-10 lead late in the third quarter.

Both the offense and defense were clicking in the second half for BHSU. After back-to-back scores, Thiele picked off an errant CSC pass early in the fourth to put the Yellow Jacket offense back on the field.

That turnover turned into three more points for the Yellow Jackets on a 41-yard Chapman field goal, following a nearly five-minute drive, to make it a 26-10 BHSU lead with 9:38 left in the game.

The Eagles found the endzone for the first time in the second half with 7:14 remaining, but after deciding to go for the 2-point try, failed to convert and BHSU held a 26-16 lead.

CSC continued to creep back as they scored another touchdown late to make it a one possession game, 26-23, with 3:21 left in the game.

BHSU got great field position on their next drive, though, as the Eagles squibbed their kickoff. That would be just what the Yellow Jackets needed as they were able to run down the clock before icing the game on a 29-yard touchdown run from Susel, and win 32-23.

Up Next
The Yellow Jackets return home for next week's homecoming game as BHSU hosts Colorado Mesa on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 1 p.m.