CHADRON --- The South Dakota Mines football team fell to the Chadron State Eagles, 41-25, Saturday night during the Rivalry Renewed: Battle For The Eagle-Rock Trophy in Chadron, Nebraska.

In their home opener, and new stadium opener, the Eagles were humming in all three phases of the game. The home team scored three touchdowns in the first half before the Hardrockers got on the board at the end of the half with a 43-yard field goal from Enis Sefa.

South Dakota Mines got to work in the second half and after a back-and-forth third quarter, capped off a seven-play, 74-yard drive with a Jayden Johannsen 20-yard run into the endzone to make the score, 21-10.

The fourth quarter became more of what the fans have become accustom to over the past few years – a shootout. The Eagles were able to score two touchdowns to open the period and with 8:33, held a 35-10 edge.

The Hardrockers answered right back with a 65-yard pass from Johannsen to Colin Zur that ended in the endzone. A Johannsen two-point conversion made the score 18-35 with 8:22 remaining in the game.
CSC took one more trip to the endzone at the three-minute mark to take a 45-81 advantage.

The 'Rockers had one final successful drive that spanned 79 yards over eight plays capped off by a five-yard rush from Ahmad Lewis in for a TD.
Sefa was 2-2 on PATs.

As a team, the Hardrockers tallied 488 yards of total offense, while Chadron collected 599. The Hardrockers had 202 yards rushing and 236 yards passing. They also racked up 24 first downs.

Individually for South Dakota Mines, Johannsen led the team with 115 rushing yards on 12 carries and a rushing TD and passed for 246 yards on 17-30 attempts with a passing TD. Zur led the receiving corp. with eight catches for 139 yards and score, while Isaiah Eastman collected three passes for 63 yards and Joe Luebbers hauled in three catches for 26 yards.

Defensively, Will Carroll led the team with nine tackles --- including one sack, Adrian Eastman had nine total tackles and Kyante Christian tallied eight tackles and a sack. Bryan Akunna registered two sacks and Casey Knutsen recorded an interception and returning it 15 yards.