By: Con Marshall
CSC Sports Information
Two football teams that are hoping to be much more successful this fall will open their seasons Saturday afternoon at 1 o’clock in Greeley, where the Chadron State Eagles will meet the Northern Colorado Bears in a non-conference contest.
The Eagles played many of their games close last season, losing five times by a touchdown or less, while finishing with a 3-8 record. The Bears went 1-11, defeating only Weber State 21-17.
Naturally, both teams and their coaches want to win much more often this autumn.
Not much is known about the Bears. A Google search merely says the 2025 outlook is uncertain but shows potential with the addition of a new placekicker and punter. It adds that the team’s performance will depend on new talent and the leadership under Head Coach Ed Lamb.
No direct comments from Lamb, who is beginning his third season at Northern Colorado, could be found.
Before coming to Greeley, Lamb had been the assistant head coach and special teams coordinator at Brigham Young for seven seasons. Prior to that he was the head coach at Southern Utah for eight seasons, inheriting a team that had suffered 18 straight losses, but he led the Thunderbirds to two conference championships before going to BYU.
Chadron State Coach Jay Long, who is in his 25th year as a college coach and his 14th as the Eagles’ head mentor, has been vocal about his team’s chances this fall.
He has high expectations for the Eagles. He points out that the defense, which returns eight mainstays and nearly all of the alternates from a year ago when it ranked second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in total defense and third in scoring defense.
Long also believes the offensive line, which has four new starters, is much improved and is elated that senior quarterback DJ Ralph, who was superb last fall when he was healthy, has fully recovered from shoulder surgery and has performed extra well during the preseason.
The Eagles also possess one of the conference’s top receivers in Tommy Thomas, who has caught 91 passes for 1,327 yards and 14 touchdowns in the past two seasons, despite missing three games and most of a fourth last fall.
And, the Eagles didn’t need to replace their kickers. Punter Brodie Eisenbraun and placekicker Wilson Yee are seniors who rank among CSC’s all-time bests when it comes to booting the ball.
While the Eagles have an array of assets and Northern Colorado’s program has struggled the past 20 years when it has won only 50 games and lost more than 165. But the Bears are a Division I team that plays in the Football Championship Subdivision. They are members of the Big Sky Conference made up of teams such as Eastern Washington, Idaho, Idaho State, Montana and Montana State and Northern Arizona.
Those schools, including UNC, have more scholarships than DII programs like Chadron State. That usually means they have more size and speed. Dating back to 1993, the Eagles have tangled with nine such teams and won just twice.
The first win was in 2006 when Chadron State upset Montana State 35-14 the next game after the Bobcats had shocked the University of Colorado in the season-opener. The second was in 2007, when the Eagles went to Greeley and overwhelmed Northern Colorado 31-0. (See additional story.)
Since then, the Eagles lost to Montana State 33-6 in 2012 and visited St. George, Utah, in 2022, were tied with Utah Tech 7-7 at halftime, but lost 56-10 after the Trailblazers intercepted four passes in the second half and returned two of them for touchdowns.
The Chadron State coaches say they don’t know much about this year’s Northern Colorado team.
“It’s usually this way going into the season-opener,” CSC Defensive Coordinator Clint Sasse explained. “We’re preparing for everything. It helps that our offense is a pretty versatile, so we’ve seen different formations and plays in our practices, but it’s always difficult to get ready for a team we don’t usually play and it’s the first game on the schedule.”
The teams traded two-deep depth charts on Tuesday. Something that stands out about the Bears is that all five starters on the offensive line are at least 6-foot-3 and weigh at least 300 pounds.
Both tight ends are also monsters. Fisher Clements is 6-7, 265 and Charlie Garrrison is 6-5, 260, and caught 15 passes for 196 yards last season. The major pass receiving threat, however, is Brayden Munroe, a 6-2, 200-pound junior, who led the Bears with 37 catches for 447 yards and three TDs last year.
The starting quarterback is listed as Peter Costelli, who is 6-3, 220. He played in five games a year ago, completing 39 of 72 passes for 591 yards and four touchdowns.
The probable starter at tailback is Mathias Price, a 6-2, 215-pound sophomore who carried just seven times for 24 yards last season. Aliou-Rocco Traore, 6-0, 196, is No. 2 on the tailback list and was a defensive back last year, when he made 54 tackles.
Last fall’s leading tackler was Cam Chapa, 6-1, 193, a freshman when he participated in 83 tackles, 45 of them solos, and had four of the team’s six interceptions. He was named to the FCS Football Central Freshman All-American team and was placed on this year’s Big Sky Preseason All-Conference Team.
The returning defenders also include Keenan Gutherie, 6-2, 240, who was third on the 2024 tackle chart with 73 stops. Strong safety Darrell Bryant II, 5-11, 200, was sixth with 52.
During the 2024 season, the Bears were outscored 37.8 to 11.3 points per game and outgained 472 to 285 yards per game.
Chadron State’s probable starters are
Offense
WR—Tommy Thomas, 6-2, 190, Sr., Rollin George III, 6-1, 185, Jr., and Garet Schlabs, 6-0, 180, So.
TE—Preston Pearson, 6-2, 225, Sr.
OT—Tristan Randall, 6-4, 285. R-Fr., and Corben Holler, 6-5, 300, R-Fr.
OG—Levi Banuelos, 6-4, 290, Sr., and Jal Chan, 6-3, 320, Sr.
C—Dominic Castanon, 6-0, 280, Jr.
QB—DJ Ralph, 6-3, 205, Sr.
RB—Daytuawn Pearson, 5-7, 180, Jr.
PK—Wilson Yee, 6-0, 190, Sr.
Defense
DL—Griffin Clubb, 6-3, 270, So., Tanner True, 6-3, 300, Sr., and Andrew Calderon, 6-4, 270, Jr.
LB—Logan O’Brien, 6-4, 220, Sr., Reed Henkel, 6-1, 225, Jr., and William Stemler, 6-2, 240, Jr.
CB—Jadon Bowen, 5-11, 175, Sr., and AJ Scurlock, 6-0, 195, Jr.
S—Dax Yeradi, 6-0, 195, Sr., Sutton Pohlman, 6-1, 215, Sr., and Tucker Peterson, 6-1, 200, Jr.