RAPID CITY, S.D. – South Dakota Mines Football attempted a comeback but fell to #5 Western Colorado 13-34 on Saturday.
The Hardrocker defense started the game strong as they forced a turnover on downs on the first drive. In the second Western Colorado drive, they scored a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead. They held that lead to the end of the quarter.
After
Matthew Percival-Quolas forced a fumble at the beginning of the second quarter,
Gage Baker completed a 17 yard touchdown to
Joshua Morales. The Mountaineers held a 7-6 lead after a blocked extra point.
Western Colorado responded with a 56 yard touchdown to DJ Allen Jr. on the next drive.
Mason Breen forced a fumble for the Hardrockers in the middle of the quarter, but the Mountaineers defense stood tall and forced a punt. Western Colorado put up another touchdown as they went into halftime with a 21-6 lead.
The Mountaineer defense shut down the Hardrockers offense in the third quarter. However,
Levi Dickerson blocked a punt, and
Gabe Frerichs recovered it to give the Hardrockers the ball at the 13 yard line. Baker threw another touchdown pass, this time to
Jacoby Ogbonna at the beginning of the fourth quarter. That made the score 13-27.
The South Dakota Mines defense shut down the Mountaineers offense to give the Hardrockers a chance to comeback. Midway through the quarter, the Hardrockers drove all the way down to the one yard line until the Mountaineers forced a fumble to turn the ball over. They took a 34-13 lead off the turnover as that score would hold until the final whistle.
Baker was 28-for-48 with 234 yards and two touchdowns for the Hardrockers.
Mason Galbreath caught five passes for 91 yards. Morales recorded 67 yards and one touchdown. Defensively,
Will Lester led the team with 11 tackles, including six solo tackles.
Jarin Allen,
Lang Gappelberg and
Nathan Kneubuhler all recorded eight tackles. Frerichs picked up four takcles, one sack and a forced fumble. Breen and
Evan Hatton also had a forced fumble, while Percival-Quolas and Breen both recovered a fumble.
With the loss, the Hardrockers dropped to 2-6 overall and 2-4 in the RMAC.
What's Next
South Dakota Mines will take their bye next week. After that, they will host (RV) Chadron State on Nov. 1 at 12 p.m. They will play in their final regular season road game on Nov. 8 at Colorado Mesa at 2 p.m.
