RAPID CITY, S.D. – The South Dakota School of Mines football team is looking to shake off a hard-fought M-Day loss last week and now the Hardrockers have their sights on retaining the Homestake Trophy as rivalry week has taken over. SD Mines travels up to Spearfish on Saturday for the Black Hills Brawl, Battle For the Homestake Trophy in a 12 p.m. (MST) kick off.
It's a big Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference matchup at Lyle Hare Stadium in Spearfish, S.D.
Looking back at last week, despite falling to the No. 18 ranked CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves during the homecoming M-Day game at O'Harra Stadium, it wasn't all bad for the SD Mines.
CSU Pueblo defeated SD Mines, 34-14, but the Hardrockers fought until the end and didn't allow any TD's in the second half of play. The 'Rockers are now 2-1 overall on the season, and 1-1 in the RMAC.
The Hardrockers put up over 350 yards of total offense and scored two touchdowns in the first half. A bright spot on the night was freshman
Brandon LaBrie with 151 receiving yards on 12 receptions, while senior running back
Kevin Thompson carried the ball 15 times for 50 yards. The SD Mines defense has been strong only allowing two fourth-quarter touchdowns in all three contests this season.
Junior quarterback
Jake Sullivan of SD Mines leads the way with 819 yards (273 per game), completing 64-of-105 with five touchdowns and five interceptions. Chadron State freshman Dalton Holst is third with 697 yards, completing 58-of-109 with four touchdowns and two interceptions.
For Black Hills State, third-year starter Ryan Hommel is expected to be back on the field after being injured halfway through the second game of the season. The 1-2 Yellow Jackets will need his leadership and ability to try to get back to their winning ways against the Hardrockers.
After Hommel was hurt early in the third quarter against Fort Lewis College, redshirt junior Ben Sjobakken came in and struggled in the team's 17-13 loss to the Skyhawks. Sjobakken started last week against Dixie State, but he too was injured and replaced by redshirt freshman Collin Powers. BHSU struggled offensively and fell to Dixie State 38-16 after leading 10-0 early.
After finishing the 2016 season with the second most interceptions in the nation, the Yellow Jackets are off to a fast start in that category in 2017. The Green and Gold defense had three interceptions against Adams State in week one. The nation's leader a year ago,
Drew Hebel, snagged one INT, while
Sam Garcia, and
Dimitri Butts each pulled an interception down as well.
Last year, SD Mines brought the "Juice" for the game, which is the longest running game in NCAA Div. II football winning the outing in Rapid City, 46-17, and set a new school record (681 yards) of total offense to 415 for BHSU. The Hardrockers collected 312 rushing yards and 369 passing yards. The Hardrockers had 31 first downs in the game to 19 for BHSU.
The Yellow Jackets and Hardrockers will meet for the 132nd time in this week's Black Hills Brawl. SD Mines is 62-58-11 all-time against BHSU.
