Eagles to play season finale at Mesa State

Photo by Daniel Binkard

CHADRON - The Chadron State College football team will wrap up its season Saturday by playing Mesa State in Grand Junction. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

After edging Colorado Mines 38-31 last Saturday on Glen Clinton’s 88-yard kickoff return with 63 seconds remaining, the Eagles are 7-3 for the season and 6-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

The Mavericks are 3-6 for the season and 3-5 in the RMAC. All three wins have been at home, where they have defeated New Mexico Highlands (40-7), Fort Lewis (7-3) and Western State (33-28).

Last Saturday, coach Joe Ramunno’s team lost a heart-breaking 41-34 decision in double overtime at Adams State. Both teams racked up right at 450 yards in total offense.

Mesa State forged a 27-27 deadlock with two minutes to play. Both teams scored a touchdown and kicked an extra point in the first overtime, but Adams State won by completing a 25-yard pass during the first possession in the second OT and Mesa State could not answer.

Earlier this decade, Mesa State often employed a full-house backfield and was primarily a running team. The coaching staff has gradually shifted to a passing offense and the Mavericks now use three wide receivers and a tight end most of the time.

 Sophomore quarterback Mike Mankoff has completed 112 of 214 passes for 1,228 yards and seven touchdowns. He’s been intercepted 10 times. Mankoff’s brother, Matt, is a starting offensive guard.

Six receivers have caught at least 12 passes for Mesa State, but one of them, Buddy Blevins, who has 22 receptions for 192 yards, is sidelined by injuries. That leaves Robert Felberg, who has 20 catches for 289 yards, and Brennan Belloni, who has 19 for 250, at the top of the list.

The leading rusher is James Hamm, a 5-foot-7, 190-pound sophomore. He has carried 129 times for 452 yards.  One of the two seniors on offense, center Ryan Swope (6-0, 300), was a preseason all-conference selection.

Trent deBraga, who also starts in the secondary, is averaging 28.4 yards on 20 kickoff returns and eight yards on 16 punt returns to rank high in the RMAC statistics.

The status of CSC’s starting quarterback, Jonn McLain, was still unknown early in the week. He suffer a bruise in his upper groin during the first half of Saturday’s game with Colorado Mines, tried to return to action in the second half, but could not continue. Senior Garrett Treffer filled the position the rest of the game.

Last year, Treffer guided the Eagles to a 31-7 victory over Mavericks in Chadron. Mesa State managed just five first downs and 102 yards in total offense.