CHADRON – The Chadron State College football team will be trying to put the finishing touches on an outstanding regular season and also take the season into the playoffs on Saturday when it hosts Colorado Mines at Elliott Field. Kickoff will be at noon.

The game will be broadcast live on Double Q Country 97.5 FM in Chadron and 105.9 FM in Alliance.

The Eagles began the season with considerable uncertainty.  A coaching change had been made and the fact that seven of the 11 games were on the road was another potential stumbling block. However, things have worked out well.

The coaching staff made up of head coach Jay Long and defensive coordinator Jeff Larson, both new in those positions, along with holdovers Chris Stein, the offensive coordinator, and Craig Jersild, the secondary coach and special teams coordinator, has melded well and devised numerous ways to use the team’s outstanding talent.

The Eagles also have proven to be great road warriors. Their only losses through 10 games have been to NCAA Division I-AA Montana State, now 8-1, and Colorado State-Pueblo, which is 10-0 and ranked No. 1 in Division II.

The loss to Pueblo was 45-38 in overtime.

After winning eight of their last nine games, the Eagles finally broke into the American Football Coaches Association’s Top 25 this week at No. 21. More important, they held on to their No. 3 ranking in Super Region 4 which determines playoff pairings.

Pueblo and Ashland College of Ohio, also 10-0, have the top two regional slots, in that order, followed by CSC, Midwestern State of Texas, the University of Indianapolis and West Texas A&M.

The top six teams in each of the four regions advance to the playoffs with the No. 1 and 2 teams receiving first-round byes.

Missouri S&T is the No. 7 team on this week’s regional list.
Chadron State athletic director Brad Smith, who is a member of the regional selection committee, said if the Eagles win and the other five top teams in the region also are victorious Saturday, he anticipates CSC will host West Texas A&M, which is 8-2, on Saturday, Nov. 17.

Colorado Mines will be striving to dash the Eagles’ hopes, and the Orediggers’ pass-happy offense is dangerous.

Mines, which is 6-4 overall and 4-4 in the RMAC after losing to Adams State 36-25 on Saturday, leads the conference in scoring offense at 41.8 points a game and is averaging 473.4 yards a game.

Matt Brown, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound sophomore, is the Orediggers’ trigger man. He has averaged 56 passes a game, connecting on 333 of 567 for 3,741 yards and 31 touchdowns. He has thrown 13 interceptions.

Mines has rushed for just 825 yards while averaging 3.2 yards a carry.  However, the Orediggers have scored 17 touchdowns on the ground.

The Orediggers’ top receiver is tight end David Pawelek, who has 81 catches for 1,007 yards and five touchdowns.  Two weeks ago during a 45-6 win over Western State, Pawelek caught 16 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns.

Next on the Mines’ receiving list is Jerrod Doucet, a 6-1, 185-pound senior who has 78 catches for 851 yards and eight TDs.

Through eight games, the team’s top receiver was another senior, Cody Renken, an RMAC preseason all-star selection.  He had 65 receptions for 777 yards to lead the RMAC. Renken was injured in the eighth game, a 34-7 win over Colorado Mesa, has not played the last two weeks and is not on the two-deep depth chart that coach Bob Stitt and his staff sent out this week.

Pawelek also was on the conference’s preseason all-star list.

Another Mines’ standout is senior punter Taylor Accardi. He led the nation in punting last season with a 48.5-yard average and is averaging 51.8 yards this year. Twenty-six of his punts have been at least 50 yards and 13 have been downed inside the opponents’ 20.

CSC’s Long notes that the Orediggers would like nothing better than to upset the Eagles.

“A win against us would validate their season,” he pointed out. “They’ll pull out all the stops. It could be quite a shootout. We’d better be ready.”

The last three games in the rivalry, which dates back to 1938, long before the Eagles were playing most of the Colorado schools now on their schedule, have been donnybrooks.

Mines won in overtime 30-27 in 2009, the Eagles won 38-31 two years ago when Glen Clinton returned a kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown with 63 seconds remaining and the Orediggers prevailed 31-24 last year by scoring the only touchdown in the fourth period.

Lincoln – Lindsey Moore scored a game-high 15 points to lead the No. 18 Nebraska women’s basketball team to a 68-50 win over North Carolina A&T on Friday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

The Huskers won their season opener for the eighth straight season and the 37th time in 39 all-time games.

Moore, a 5-9 senior point guard from Covington, Wash., hit 4-of-9 shots from the field, including 2-of-5 threes while adding 5-of-7 free throws. She also dished out three assists and grabbed three rebounds while adding two steals.

Sophomore forward Hailie Sample added one of the best games of her career with 10 points, six rebounds and three assists. Fellow sophomore Brandi Jeffery added double figures of her own with 10 points, two rebounds and an assist in the first start of her career.

Nebraska got contributions across the board, as 10 Huskers scored in the game, including seven points, a game-high nine rebounds and a career-high four assists from junior Jordan Hooper. The 6-2 forward from Alliance, Neb., went just 3-of-13 from the field for the game, including 0-of-6 in the first half. She was just 1-of-8 from three-point range, but supplied big contributions at the defensive end with eight defensive rebounds and one steal.

Sophomore forward Emily Cady added seven points, four rebounds, two assists, a game-high two blocks and a steal. She went 3-for-5 from the floor with both of her misses coming from long range.

Senior forward Meghin Williams supplied big production off the bench with six points and four boards in just 10 minutes, while freshman Sadie Murren pitched in five points in the first game of her career. Fellow freshman Rachel Theriot added a three-pointer at the buzzer to close the first half to send the Huskers to the locker room with a 35-25 lead.

JaQuayla Berry led North Carolina A&T with nine points and eight rebounds, while Ariel Bursey scored all nine of her points in the first half for the Aggies. A&T had nine players find the scoring column, but no one managed double figures for a team that featured five returning starters, including three who averaged double figures a year ago.

Nebraska jumped to an 11-4 lead in the first five minutes, before A&T rallied to tie the game at 14 off a jumper from Bursey with 11:23 left in the first half. Bursey capped a 9-0 A&T run with another jumper to give the Aggies an 18-14 edge with 8:45 left in the opening period.

Moore ended the run by knocking down her second three just six seconds later, and gave the Huskers the lead back with a pair of free throws to make it 22-20 with 5:42 left. Tracy King answered with a three to give the Aggies their final lead of the game at 24-23 with 4:02 left in the half.

Nebraska held North Carolina A&T without a field goal the rest of the half, as NU went on a 13-2 surge in the final 4:02, capped by Theriot’s three off a pass from Moore to make it 35-25 at the break.

The Huskers pushed the lead to 14 off a three-point play from Sample and five straight points from Hooper off assists from Sample to make it 43-29. But the Aggies, who returned 11 players with starts from a team that won 15 games a year ago, continued to fight. A&T used a 7-0 run to cut NU’s edge to 45-38 with 15:20 left.

Nebraska responded again with a 13-5 surge over the next seven minutes to increase its lead to 58-43 with 8:30 left on Murren’s backdoor layup off an assist from Williams. Nebraska’s lead grew to 19 points at 66-47 on an Adrianna Maurer free throw with 1:37 left, as the Huskers held the Aggies to just one field goal during an 11-minute stretch in the second half.

Nebraska hit just 39.7 percent (23-58) of its shots for the game, including just 19.2 percent (5-26) from three-point range. The Huskers won big at the free throw line though, hitting 17-of-24 shots while holding A&T to just 7-of-13 shooting. NU outrebounded A&T, 43-36, while winning the turnover battle, 20-16.

The Huskers held the Aggies to just 35.2 percent (19-54) shooting from the field, but A&T hit 35.7 percent (5-of-14) threes on the night.

Nebraska returns to home action on Sunday when the Huskers play host to Temple. Tip-off between the 1-0 Huskers and 1-0 Owls at the Devaney Center is set for 2:05 p.m. Live radio coverage will be provided by the Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and 93.3 FM in Omaha, along with free live audio on Huskers.com. A live video stream of the game will be available to subscribers of BTN.com.

Official Basketball Box Score
North Carolina A&T vs Nebraska
11/09/12 7:06 p.m. at Bob Devaney Sports Center- Lincoln, Neb.

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VISITORS: North Carolina A&T 0-1
TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
13 BERRY,JaQuayla…… f  3-12   0-5    3-4    3  5  8   1   9  2  0  0  1  38
30 DAVIS,DeAndra……. f  1-5    1-1    0-0    1  1  2   1   3  2  0  0  0  20
44 GORHAM,Nikia…….. c  0-2    0-0    0-0    2  1  3   3   0  0  2  1  1  16
11 NAZARIO,Adriana….. g  3-6    0-0    0-1    1  5  6   3   6  2  6  0  1  17
24 BURSEY,Ariel…….. g  4-7    1-1    0-2    1  3  4   2   9  0  1  0  0  23
05 LYONS,Jessica…….    1-4    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   2  3  4  0  2  19
12 KING,Tracy……….    2-7    2-5    0-0    0  4  4   2   6  0  1  0  2  24
14 CALVIN,Amber……..    1-7    1-2    4-4    0  2  2   1   7  1  2  0  2  17
23 ADAIR,Tiffanie……    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   2  0  0  0  0   2
43 PARKER,Jasmine……    0-0    0-0    0-1    0  0  0   3   0  0  1  1  0   8
50 ROSS,Eboni……….    3-3    0-0    0-1    1  2  3   4   6  0  1  0  1  16
TEAM…………….                         2  2  4             2
Totals…………..   19-54   5-14   7-13  11 25 36  21  50 10 20  2 10 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-27 37.0%   2nd Half:  9-27 33.3%   Game: 35.2%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-7  42.9%   2nd Half:  2-7  28.6%   Game: 35.7%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  2-5  40.0%   2nd Half:  5-8  62.5%   Game: 53.8%    2

——————————————————————————–
HOME TEAM: Nebraska 1-0
TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
23 Cady, Emily……… f  3-5    0-2    1-1    1  3  4   2   7  2  0  2  1  25
35 Hooper, Jordan…… f  3-13   1-8    0-0    1  8  9   1   7  4  0  0  1  28
00 Moore, Lindsey…… g  4-9    2-5    5-7    0  3  3   2  15  3  3  0  2  26
03 Sample, Hailie…… g  4-6    0-0    2-3    3  3  6   0  10  3  2  0  0  25
13 Jeffery, Brandi….. g  2-8    0-3    6-8    2  1  3   4  10  1  1  0  1  19
01 Laudermill, Tear’a..    0-3    0-1    0-1    2  0  2   3   0  0  2  0  0   8
10 Williams, Meghin….    2-2    0-0    2-2    1  3  4   1   6  1  1  1  0  10
14 Simon, Katie……..    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   2  0  0  0  0   2
21 Murren, Sadie…….    2-6    1-5    0-0    1  2  3   0   5  1  2  0  0  18
22 Aitken, Courtney….    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  1  0  0  0   5
24 Theriot, Rachel…..    1-3    1-2    0-0    1  1  2   2   3  0  5  0  1  19
55 Maurer, Adrianna….    1-2    0-0    1-2    1  1  2   2   3  0  0  1  1  15
TEAM…………….                         2  3  5
Totals…………..   23-58   5-26  17-24  15 28 43  18  68 16 16  4  7 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-26 38.5%   2nd Half: 13-32 40.6%   Game: 39.7%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  4-14 28.6%   2nd Half:  1-12  8.3%   Game: 19.2%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 11-14 78.6%   2nd Half:  6-10 60.0%   Game: 70.8%    2

——————————————————————————–
Officials: Felicia Grinter, Kevin Pethel, Erika Herriman
Technical fouls: North Carolina A&T-None. Nebraska-None.
Attendance: 5584
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
North Carolina A&T…………   25   25  –   50
Nebraska………………….   35   33  –   68