GUNNISON, Colo. – Black Hills State football dropped its Saturday matchup with No. 14 Western Colorado, 35-20.

The Yellow Jackets (4-3, 3-2 RMAC) outpaced their ranked opponent in first downs (16) and passing yards (208).

Tanner Clarkson completed 18 of 40 passing attempts for 208 yards and a touchdown, which was a 50-yard pass to Cameron Goods.

That was Goods' lone catch of the afternoon, as he also finished with 24 yards on the ground on four rushing attempts.

Nolan Susel rushed 12 times against WCU's strong rush defense for 15 yards and a touchdown, and added one catch for 45 yards.

Hasaan Williams hauled in six catches for 23 yards while Connor Boyd and TJ Chukwurah each had three catches.

Mitch McKibbin rushed three times for 30 yards in addition to having two receptions for six yards.

Defensively, Aaron Thiele led the team with seven tackles which included 2.5 for a loss. Kellen Collier made six tackles, including three for loss, a sack and a forced fumble.

Zecheriah Rodriguez-Brown made four tackles to go along with a fumble recovery and a pass breakup. Sebastian O'Farrell also tallied a breakup and Cooper Brown registered two QB hurries.

On special teams, Coleman Chapman was good for two field goals of 35 and 47 yards on the day.

WCU opened with a touchdown on their first drive to take a 7-0 lead before adding on to make it 14-0 with 5:17 to go in the first quarter.

A forced fumble by Collier in the final seconds of the first quarter that was snatched up by Rodriguez-Brown led to a 35-yard field goal to make it 14-3 early in the second. But another touchdown from WCU midway through the second half made it 21-3.

Chapman added a 47-yard field goal at 4:33 in the second to cut the WCU lead to 21-6, but an 83-yard touchdown rush on their ensuing drive extended the Mountaineer lead to 28-6 that held into halftime.

Neither team scored in the third quarter, but at the end of the third, WCU drove into BHSU territory before opening up the fourth quarter with a touchdown to move up 35-6.

Midway through the fourth, the Yellow Jackets scored a touchdown on a Susel 2-yard touchdown rush to make it 35-12.

Then in the final minutes of play, a 50-yard touchdown catch by Goods and a converted 2-pt try on a Clarkson pass to McKibbin made it 35-20. The Yellow Jackets would run out of time, though, going on to fall by that score.

Up Next
The Yellow Jackets return to Spearfish for next weekend's game, hosting the current No. 2 ranked Colorado School of Mines on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 1 p.m.