RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota School of Mines football team is going international this weekend as the Hardrockers cross the border to Canada for a non-conference game against the Simon Fraser Clan in Burnaby, British Columbia, Saturday night in a 7 p.m. (MDT) kickoff.
SD Mines is looking for its first win of the season after a heartbreaking Week 1 loss to Colorado Mesa (37-33) followed by an upset by Western Colorado University last week (27-7).
"Now it's time to turn the page and we are ready for a unique trip to Simon Fraser," said Hardrocker football head coach
Zach Tinker. "A lot of these players have not been in an environment like this but it is a great opportunity for our team and we are excited about the trip."
Logistically, it's not an easy trip. The Hardrockers loaded buses Thursday afternoon and traveled to Denver, Colorado, where they boarded a plane bound for Seattle, Washington. Once there they got back on buses to cross over into Canada for yet another three-hour trek to the campus.
The Clan are also looking for their first win of the season after Canada's only NCAA Div. II program dropped its opener to Portland State University, 70-7, and then got overwhelmed by Angelo State University, 68-7.
Saturday will be the home opener for Simon Fraser. The game will be streamed live at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LjG9fxQs28 ; with livestats at:
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/sfu/stats.htm?eventId=548010&streamType=video ; or for the local play-by-play from Fox Sports Rapid City, log onto:
https://foxsportsrapidcity.com/ .
The Hardrockers and the Clan have just a short program history – (just three games) first meeting when SD Mines was a member of the Great Northwester Athletic Conference (Oct. 18, 20-14). The 'Rockers though lead the series 3-1 and last played a year ago where SD Mines won the contest at O'Harra Stadium, 52-28.
Individually for the Hardrockers, junior transfer
Ahmad Lewis has been taking the bulk of the carriers, netting 154 yards on 40 carriers over the first two weeks. The receiving group is led by
Carson Hunt who has 104 yards over two games while
Joe Luebbers,
Ira Murphey,
Collin Zur and
Anthony Ullrich have all contributed as well.
The defense is led by
Cole Peterson who has 27 total tackles this season including a sack while
Kyante Christian has tallied 17 tackles and
Justin Broekemeier has collected 16.
Dominick Jackson has picked up right where he left off last season and already has two interceptions this year, one that went in for a touchdown.
Kendahl Johnson also has two picks and
Adrian Eastman has one.
