ST. PAUL, Minn. – Black Hills State football fought hard against Division I St. Thomas in a 36-26 loss to open the 2023 season.

In the program's first matchup with a DI opponent since 2015, the Yellow Jackets (0-1, 0-0 RMAC) outperformed St. Thomas in total yards 366 to 334, and in passing yards, 325 to 109.

Quarterback Tanner Clarkson completed 17 of 25 attempts for two touchdowns and 280 yards.

Nolan Susel rushed seven times for 22 yards and a touchdown on the ground while adding four catches for 71 yards and a receiving touchdown.

TJ Chukwurah had one reception on the day, but it was for a 17-yard touchdown.

Cameron Goods totaled 31 yards on nine carries on the ground and hauled in a 40-yard catch.

Jamin Wurtz hauled in four passes for 71 yards, Hasaan Williams caught five for 50 yards and Mitch McKibbin had 38 yards on two receptions.

John Noordsy had a catch for 31 yards while Connor Boyd also finished with a catch for seven yards.

Coleman Chapman was two-of-two on field goal tries, booting through one from 36 yards out, and one from 21. He was also two-of-two on extra point tries.

Defensively, Doodles Quinones tallied 10 tackles including one for loss, and two pass breakups.

Ryder Blair finished with nine tackles, Nicc Quinones had seven and Jayden Marquez had six.

Zechariah Rodriguez-Brown broke up two passes with Deunte Moody, Lovenski Simon and Chase Stewart each with one.

Cooper Brown and Nikolas Arnold came up with a blocked kick each.

St. Thomas took a quick 14-0 lead in the first six minutes of play. The Yellow Jacket offense showed flashes with a big 31-yard reception from Noordsy, and a Clarkson 16-yard rush up the middle, but couldn't string plays together early against a tough Tommies defense.

Later up 22-0, St. Thomas lined up for a 20-yard field goal, but it was blocked and picked up by Quinones who returned it to the BHSU seven-yard line with under six minutes to play in the second.

From there, BHSU was able to kick the offense into gear, using a 51-yard touchdown pass from Clarkson to Susel to get on the board and make it 22-7 with 1:36 to go in the first.

The Jacket defense stepped up with a big 3-and-out to allow the offense one more drive before halftime, which resulted in a 36-yard Chapman field goal to make it a 22-10 game at the midway point.

BHSU continued their momentum, blocking another St. Thomas field goal try before moving down the field to add points on another Chapman field goal, this one from 21-yards out, to make it 22-13 with 5:30 to go in the third.

The fourth quarter saw back-and-forth action, starting with a St. Thomas touchdown that put them ahead 29-13 six minutes into the final period.

The Yellow Jackets continued to have answers, though, as Susel punched in a 1-yard run to complete a 63-yard drive and pull closer once again, 29-19 with 6:11 to play.

After another Tommies' score, BHSU answered once again with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Clarkson to Chukwurah to make it 36-26 with 2 minutes left.

Immediately after, Ryan Ewing executed a successful onside kick that was picked up by Doodles Quinones to give the Yellow Jackets one more drive late, but there wouldn't be enough time, and the game eventually went final 36-26.

Notes

• 26 points scored is the most ever by the Yellow Jackets against a NCAA DI opponent, besting the 10-point performance at Montana State in 2014.

Up Next
The Yellow Jackets have one more non-conference matchup next weekend at Southwest Baptist on Saturday, Sept. 9 at 11 a.m. MT in Bolivar, Mo.