Black Hills State football is set to take on Southwest Baptist at 11 a.m. MT (12 p.m. CT) on Saturday, Sept. 9.
BHSU played tough in their week one matchup against DI St. Thomas, falling 36-26, but starting the season out strong, nonetheless.
BHSU is building off a 2022 season which saw them finish 7-4 overall, and 5-4 in the RMAC for a fifth-place finish. After going 5-0 to open last season, Black Hills State football received votes on the Week 6 AFCA Division II Coaches' Top 25 Poll on Oct. 10 for just the second time in program history, and the first time since Oct 10, 2016.
A win on Saturday would give the Yellow Jackets their first of the season and put the team at 1-1 going into RMAC play.
Southwest Baptist
The Bearcats finished last season with a 6-5 overall record, and 4-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. After going 3-5 over their first eight games, SBU won its final three to secure their first winning record since 2016.
This season they got off to a strong start with a 65-7 win in week one over Oklahoma Panhandle State University, an NAIA school.
Series History
This is the first-ever meeting between these two programs.
Coverage
Yellow Jacket fans can catch Steve Ammerman on KDSJ 980 AM/103.5 FM, or live online at https://listen.streamon.fm/kdsjam. Ammerman is the voice of the Yellow Jacket Athletics and can be heard for every football, and women's and men's basketball game throughout the year.
A live video stream of the game can be viewed free at tommiesports.com/watch.
Yellow Jackets' Last Time Out
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.
Tommies' Last Time Out
The SBU football team began their 2023 season this evening as they traveled to 'no man's land' to take on Oklahoma Panhandle State.
The Bearcats controlled the entire game, winning by a final score of 65-7. This gives them an opening season win for the second straight season.
Southwest Baptist had a near perfect first half on defense holding the Aggies scoreless forcing them to punt the ball six times.
On the offensive end, they scored three touchdowns and Logan Turner nailed a 42-yard field goal. The Bearcats continued to put on the pressure in the second half tagging on 41 more points with two field goals and 5 touchdowns.Â
As a team, the Bearcats ran for over 300 yards and broke an SBU single game record for yards per rush averaging 9.5 per carry. They had 570 total yards, nearly 400 more than the Aggies. Six of their eight touchdowns were on the ground, tying a Bearcat single game record.Â
Nearly every player in a Bearcat uniform contributed to the victory but one had a game for the ages in junior kicker Logan Turner. Turner went a perfect 8-8 in extra point attempts moving him into fourth place in SBU career PAT's, nearly 20 away from the record.
He also nailed all three of his field goal attempts, each from beyond 40 yards. He now has 20 in his career and is 7 away from breaking the SBU record.
-BHSUAthletics.com-
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