The Mountaineers bounced back with a victory over Chadron State on Nov. 9, after the first defeat of the season to Colorado State University Pueblo last week. The senior day win extended Western’s overall record to 9-1.
In the opening quarter, it only took 9 seconds for Western to score a touchdown Saturday afternoon at the Mountaineer Bowl. But, the Mountaineers waited almost 45 minutes before scoring again, rallying to a 21-17 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory over the Eagles.
Safety Drea Thompson swiped a Miguel Larios pass on the first offensive play of the game and raced 25 yards down the right sideline to put Western in front 7-0. Despite the early score, it took Western another 45 minutes to find the endzone again. Both defenses made things tough on the opposing offenses. However, the Eagles nailed a 55-yard field goal late in the second quarter, and then added a pick-6 in the final minute of the half to earn a 10-7 lead.
Each of the first five possessions in the third quarter ended with punts. But a 47-yard catch by Chadron's Preston Pearson on the next possession increased the Eagles' lead to 17-7 with 3:26 left in the third.
The Mountaineer offense finally broke free of its reins following Chadron's score. Western went on an eight-play drive, finishing with a drive-ending 29-yard touchdown toss from quarterback Drew Nash to Victory David.
After the defense forced an Eagle 3-and-out, the offense continued its momentum from the previous drive. The Mountaineers drove 93 yards in 14 plays, and scored the go-ahead touchdown with a 22-yard touchdown pass to Elias Zarate.
The Mountaineer defense forced Chadron to turn the ball over on downs on its next possession, but with 3:44 to play, nothing was certain. A Western fumble on second down was recovered by the Eagles and returned to the Mountaineer 23-yard line. Once again, the defense held firm, stopping a 4th and 6 play at the Western 9-yard line, a Pearson pass knocked down by linebacker Kendall Lightfoot.
This time it was the Chadron defense that stepped up, forcing a Mountaineer punt that was caught with 48 seconds remaining. Chadron earned one first down, but with nine seconds left, threw a desperate pass from the 39-yard line toward the right corner of the end zone. It was intercepted by Kevondrick Carr to clinch the win for Western.
The Mountaineers will close out the regular season with a trip to Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction on Saturday, Nov. 16.
(Gregg Petcoff is the assistant athletics director for communications at Western Colorado University and can be reached at gpetcoff@western.edu.)
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