RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota Mines football team will begin ticket sales for the 2023 season shortly (May 1), but before we get there, they hosted their spring game on Saturday afternoon in front of a great crowd.
 
The Hardrocker defense had fun in the annual South Dakota Mines Spring Football Game at Dunham Field at O'Harra Stadium.


Crowd on Hand for Spring Game 

The scrimmage closed the spring football season and gave the defense a little more momentum to build off heading into the summer workouts and fall season. With the special scoring system that had the defense winning 42-19, the 'Rockers had a pair of interceptions in the contest, including one in the end zone.
 
With a lot of banter between the two sides of the football on the field and the sidelines, the Hardrocker defense backed up their animated talk against their offensive rivals.
 
That's just football, junior linebacker Hunter Newsom said.
"It is a business, but with these games, we've been working hard all spring, so this is our time to have fun, especially with our defense," Newsom said. "We play a lot better when we're loose and when we're having fun. We're just trying to keep that energy up and stay loose and keep getting after it. I was very proud with how the twos and threes stepped up today and were able to play fast, as well as our ones; it's good to see us firing on all cylinders. We have mistakes that we have to fix and look at, but that's for everything."
 
Although Newsom's day was done in the third quarter, he sprinted down to the end zone and celebrated like he was part of the play after freshman defensive back Omar Ali tipped a pass to another frosh DB, Noah Borchard, for the interception.
 
"We emphasize doing everything as a team," he said. "I was just running down there to celebrate with those young guys."
 
South Dakota Mines' head coach Charlie Flohr was happy with Saturday and how they closed the spring season. He said he was especially pleased with how the defense played.
 
"They came out and flew around and had a lot of energy. They had some interceptions and didn't give up a whole lot of explosive plays, which is something we have talked about all spring," he said.
 
"Offensively there is still a lot of work we have to do from the standpoint of throwing the football and consistently getting better with the run game. Overall, I was very happy with the spring game and just how our kids came out and competed for a full 60 minutes.
 
Flohr said that from day one of the spring practices until now, the biggest thing for the coaching staff was to get their younger players game-time reps. That was the case on Saturday.
 
"Today we wanted to make sure those guys could play under the lights a little bit," he said. "The first quarter was mainly our starters, but the second quarter and the second half was our younger kids. We'll reassess, watch the film and see where they are at from a schematic standpoint."
 
Senior quarterback Jayden Johannsen had limited play in the game, basically in the first quarter, and said he was happy to see the younger Hardrockers get out on the field in a game situation.
"It is great to evaluate a lot of those younger guys," Johannsen said. "The defense did a great job; they threw a lot of stuff at us. We have a lot of stuff we need to fix, but it was good to see."
 

Jake Martinelli scrambling out of the pocket.

The game was a 60-minute contest and was officiated. The lone touchdown came in the third quarter with redshirt-freshman Diego Cervantes hit a wide-open junior wide receiver Isaac Freitag for a 25-yard score.
 
The offense had a couple of other drives and a 25-yard field goal by Spencer Skeesick, but the day belonged to the Hardrocker defense, which forced numerous punts.
 
On the Hardrocker defensive sidelines, the chant of money was prevalent. As has been the case in years past, the defense yells money on the sideline on third and fourth down as they are the money downs.
"That's how we get off the field and get our offense back on," said Newsom, who led the team last season with 81 total tackles. "It was nice to see the dominance and everything, but obviously we still want our O to do good. I keep emphasizing our twos and threes, so it's good seeing those guys work through this spring because we lost a whole bunch of older guys this past fall. It's good to see those young guys starting to step up, fill some positions and making plays."
 
The Hardrocker defense lost some talented personnel from last season, including defensive backs Adrian Eastman and Tony Monroe, as well as All-RMAC first team linebackers Kyante Christian and Gavin Chaddock.
 
"We're losing some key guys from last year, but we have some good personnel on that side of the ball, guys that really want to come out and play hard. We'll be just fine," Flohr said. "Coach (Vance) Winter does a really good job of finding what we have within our personnel and fitting his scheme around that. We feel we might be more athletic than what we were the last couple of years. Maybe we're a little smaller, but our guys can run a lot more. That is what I am excited about, just to see where the guys fit within our role of what we are doing defensively."
 
Offensively, the Hardrockers lost the best receiving tandem in the RMAC and possibly in the country in Jeremiah Bridges and Isaiah Eastman. Bridges (79 catches, 1,233 yards12 TDs) graduated and Eastman (86, 1,104, 10) entered the transfer portal and is playing for FCS Northern Arizona.
 
Johannsen, who was the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week three times this past season and second-team all-conference, was 249-of-394 passing last season for 3,199 yards and 28 TDs. He said they will be young at the receiver position, but he is excited about their potential.
 
"I feel very good about where we are going and what direction we are heading in," Johannsen said. "Max (Hoatson, 9 catches, 118 yards last season) has stepped up; he played behind JB (Bridges). We have a good newcomer in Ben Noland (40 catches, 642 yards, 7 TDs at Northern State last season) and Mason (Galbreath, 22, 281, 2) has stepped up big-time."
 
The three South Dakota Mines quarterbacks -- Johannsen, junior Jake Martinelli, and Cervantes -- unofficially combined to complete 17-of-36 passes for 200 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. Freitag led the way with four catches for 61 yards and the one score, while Galbreath caught three passes for 54 yards. Tight end Caden Vinduska also brought down a 51-yard pass from Martinelli.
 
On the ground, Hardrocker running backs ran the ball 34 times for 96 yards. Defensively, freshman linebacker Tyree Beasley had the other pass interception.
 
As a team and individually, Johannsen said it has been a good spring.
 
"I wanted to focus on some things this spring and I think I improved on those. I'm ready to get back to work," he said.
 
Flohr said that for the rest of the semester, the players will be locked in mentally, getting ready for finals. He said this summer they will probably have about 70 percent of their players all over the country doing internships and co-ops, learning from some of the best people in the corporate world. After the Fourth of July, they'll start coming back and getting focused on the football season.
 
"If we are going to continue to get better we have to take those big strides in the summer, even when they are doing internships," he said. "We have great senior leadership. Our leadership council has done a great job of explaining that stuff to them. I'm really excited for our guys coming back and reporting in August.
 
Both Newsom and Johannsen will be interning this summer while working on their game. It is all part of being a South Dakota Mines student-athlete.
Newsom will be heading back to his hometown of Kansas City, Mo., this summer for an internship. He said head football strength coach Reggie Overton does a good job of having workouts on team builder for them.
 
"As long as we stay diligent on that, we'll get better over the summer and communicate with him," he said. "I'd be nice to stay here to work with all the guys, but my internship took me elsewhere and it's good to be back home over the summer a little bit. Coach always said that we are built different because we have a different course load than most schools in the RMAC and we're not always here over the summer. You have to be a different type of athlete to play here. It makes us different, it makes us have an edge."
 
Johannsen will be doing an internship with a Denver construction company this summer.
 
"I had been fortunate to have some internships in Rapid the last two or three summers," he said. "I'll have to find a place to work out, find some people to throw the football with. It will be a new challenge, but I am not too worried about it."
 
The Hardrockers have shown some consistency under Flohr, going 2-2 (Covid season), 6-5, and 7-4 last year.
 
Both Newsom and Johannsen are optimistic they can continue in the right direction.
 
"I've seen it every year that I have been here, the guys are more hungry, ready to work," Johannsen said. "I'm excited for the season. I think we're going to shake some trees and surprise some people. I'm very, very excited."
 
South Dakota Mines opens the season at home Sept. 1 against Valley City State, before facing Truman State on the road the following week. They'll begin RMAC play Sept. 16 at home against Colorado Mesa.
"I'm definitely looking forward to keeping it going," Newsom added. "I want to keep building on this program. It's meant a lot to me and I'm proud to call myself a Hardrocker. We want to keep making a name for ourselves in the RMAC as a team."
 
Tickets for the South Dakota Mines football season go on sale to the general public on May 1. You can purchase those at the link here or the top of the page.

About South Dakota Mines
The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and NCAA Division II offering 11 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic programs. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 members, as well as four associate members, located in the states of California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah.