PUEBLO, Colo. (Sept. 24, 2021) - The Colorado State University Pueblo football team (1-2, 1-0) heads out to Rapid City, S.D. for its second Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) battle of the season to face the Hardrockers of South Dakota Mines (2-1, 0-1).

This will be the second consecutive matchup between the two that will take place in Rapid CIty with the Pack emerging victorious in their last match-up against the Hardrockers, 21-13 back in 2019. 

THE GAME 

The ThunderWolves are entering week four after  holding off a fourth quarter comeback from Black Hills State and emerging 1-2, 1-0.

The Pack are 4-0 vs. South Dakota Mines since 2012 and have only had a single game decided by a single score.

The ThunderWolves are 63-13 when playing at home since 2008, only losing three RMAC home competitions in the same time frame.

The stifling defense on the season by the Pack has limited the two high powered offenses to low passing efficiencies and limited yardage.

CSU Pueblo and South Dakota Mines are each facing their second RMAC opponents of the season with the Hardrockers entering the fourth week at 2-1, 0-1.

South Dakota Mines started the season 2-0 with wins over Missouri S&T (34-31) and Mayville State University (52-7). The Hardrockers fell to Chadron State in their RMAC opener 31-20 to snap their best start since 2017.

South Dakota Mines ranks fifth in the nation and second in the RMAC in kick returns - averaging 33 yards per return.

Head Coach Charlie Flohr starts his first full season with South Dakota Mines in 2021 after an abrievated first year at the helm of the Hardrocker Football program. Flohr spent 14 years as the offensive coordinator for Northwest Missouri State. The team won four NCAA titles, captured 11 MIAA titles and went 133-11 in conference play and appeared in seven national championship games during Flohr's tenure.

SERIES NOTES

The ThunderWolves and Hardrockers are meeting for the fifth time since 2008. The Pack enter the week four match-up 4-0 against South Dakota Mines. 

CSU Pueblo has not allowed more than 14 points in each of the four match-ups against the Hardrockers. 

The Pack have never won by fewer than eight points over the Hardrockers.

The ThunderWolves took the most recent game between the two, 21-13 in 2019 in Rapid City, S.D.

LAST TIME OUT 

CSU Pueblo clinched its first win of the season over RMAC foe Black Hills State at the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl.

In the win over Black Hills, the Pack passed for 252 yards with the help of freshman QB Steven Croell stepping into his new role under center.

Croell passed for 133 yards and two touchdowns after taking over in the second quarter.

In the RMAC opening season win, the Pack rushed for a season-high 137 yards to help balance out the offensive efforts.

In the receiving category, the Pack distributed the wealth to nine different receivers, accounting for 252 yards.

WR Dionte Sykes had three catches for 43 yards. Sykes highlighted the game with a miraculous one-handed catch in the corner of the end zone while fighting off a physical Yellow Jackets defender.

Sykes' catch proved to be the difference in the shifting of the momentum in the game flow.

WR Max Fine highlighted the receiving efforts by grinding out five catches and 62 yards while also lighting it up on punt returns. 

Along with Fine and Sykes, WR Nigel Mitchell was able to notch his first touchdown reception of the season with a wide open nab in the second half.

The Pack special teams was highlighted by Fine's 54 yards off punt returns as he capped it off with a 22-yard return to mark his longest of the season thus far. Fine's 22-yard run was almost a house call until he was tripped up by his shoelace by the last man to beat.

The ThunderWolves recorded three tackles for loss that saw half tackles for loss by DL Trey Botts, LB Max Gonzales, LB Wilde Germano, and DL Cody Ramming.

Gonzales led the Pack with 10 tackles on the day to total the most in a single game by any CSU Pueblo defensive player this season.

P Justin Dwinell managed another impressive outing, logging five total punts and two inside the 20. Dwinell booted two balls over 50 yards which included a 60-yard punt. Both 50-yard punts pinned the Yellow Jackets inside their own 20-yard-line.

The ThunderWolves kicked off their season with a defensively dominated 12-6 loss to No. 8 Texas A&M-Commerce.

Week two featured a hostile road trip to No. 14 Grand Valley State where the Pack fell to the Lakers 34-14 in front of a rambunctious crowd of 11,000 strong.

The Pack did not compete in 2020 after the RMAC and the NCAA deciding to cancel the NCAA Division II Fall Championships due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

SCOUTING SOUTH DAKOTA MINES

This is the fifth time that the Hardrockers and the Pack will meet.

The ThunderWolves are traveling to Rapid City for the third time. This is the second straight match-up at the South Dakota Mines' stomping grounds.

South Dakota Mines began their season 2-0 for the first time since 2017 with a pair of wins over Missouri S&T (34-31) and Mayville State University (52-7) in their non-conference season. The Hardrockers fell to Chadron State to end the hot start in the first weekend of RMAC play.

South Dakota Mines are averaging 35 points per game through their first three games and have been able to establish a strong ground-game with 193.7 yards rushing per game. The Hardrockers average 5.2 yards per rush to stand as the second-best rushing team in the RMAC at this point in the season.

The offense has averaged 361 yards of total yardage per game through the first three games of the season.

So far, the offense has struggled with ball control as they have five fumbles lost on the season while forcing five lost fumbles on the defensive side of the ball.

The Hardrockers' defense has a ball-hawking secondary as the team has already notched four interceptions to sit at second in the conference in the category.

Despite the aggressive secondary, the Hardrockers give up a large chunk of offense per game, currently averaging 366 yards allowed per game. 

RB Jayden Johannsen  is the leading rusher for the Hardrockers and has racked up the seventh-most yards in the RMAC this season with 218 yards on 23 attempts.

Head Coach Charlie Flohr starts his first full season with South Dakota Mines in 2021 after an abrievated first year at the helm of the Hardrocker Football program. Flohr spent 14 years as the offensive coordinator for Northwest Missouri State. The team won four NCAA titles, captured 11 MIAA titles and went 133-11 in conference play and appeared in seven national championship games during Flohr's tenure. 

CSU PUEBLO POSITION NOTABLES

OFFENSE 

QB Steven Croell has emerged as a consistent player under center for the Pack. The freshmen took on the majority of the offensive snaps in the loss to the Lakers and took over duties in the second quarter of the Black Hills State game due to injury. 

Croell burst onto the scene with a stellar first outing in the 12-6 loss to Texas A&M-Commerce. Croell used his arm to start 5-5 throwing which included a 35-yard dart to WR Nigel Mitchell against the Lions. Croell finished the two drive appearance with 6-9 throwing and 58 yards.

The freshman quarterback came through in the clutch for the Pack as he stepped in for the injured QB against Black Hills State. Just in his second pass of the game, Croell fired a touchdown pass to WR Dionte Sykes. Croell finished with a pair of touchdown passes to Sykes and Mitchell. Croell finished the game with 133 yards passing and two touchdown passes to bring his season total to three touchdowns and 273 total yards through the air.

RB Michael Roots was able to have a breakout game against the Yellow Jackets. Roots compiled 64 yards off 11 carries with a game-long 17-yard rush.

Roots broke the century mark on the season with his best performance of the year. The Central Washington transfer leads the Pack with 137 yards on the ground off 32 total rushes.

WR Max Fine led the Pack with five catches for 53 yards in the win over the Yellow Jackets.

Fine has led the Pack in receptions for two consecutive weeks now and leads the ThunderWolves with 12 catches for 121 yards. The junior also has racked up 102 yards on special teams off 10 total punt returns. 

TE Preston Guerra comes back to the Pack as one of the most experienced members, now entering his sixth year at CSU Pueblo.

Guerra scored the team's first offensive touchdown at Grand Valley State. The senior bobbled the catch over the heads of defender while he pounded his way into the end zone. 

WR Nick Williams emerged as one of the top receivers for the Pack back in 2019. In the win over Black Hills State, Williams pulled in three receptions while racking up 62 yards and logging a game-high 34-yard catch. Williams has 93 yards on the season to sit in second on the team in the category. 

The senior is still seeking his first touchdown reception of the 2021 season despite the surplus of yards over the course of the last two games.

CSU Pueblo ranked 4th in the league in sacks allowed at 1.83 per game in 2019 and allowed two in the season opener against Commerce.

DEFENSE

The Pack have owned one of the most stingiest and unforgiving defenses in the nation the past eight seasons. Since 2011, the ThunderWolves have finished the season in the top 22 nationally in scoring defense, which includes leading the country in 2011 and 2014. CSU Pueblo has also ranked in the top 21 in turnover ratio (or turnovers gained) in all but one season in that span with the nation's best mark in 2014 and in 2018.

The defense in week one shut down the Texas A&M-Commerce offense and prevented the Lions from marching down the field. The Lions were only able to muster up 214 total yards on 64 plays. 

Commerce's quarterback was only able to pass for 84 yards on 9-16 passing. The CSU Pueblo defense broke up five passes and forced two quarterback hurries.

S Cory McLellan nabbed the Pack's first interception for a touchdown on the season in the loss to Grand Valley State. McLellan's pick-six almost shifted the tide against the Lakers, but not enough to overturn the final result.

Since 2008, the Pack have totaled 45 interception returns for a touchdown. The most in a season is eight, occurring in 2019. The ThunderWolves produced  five in 2010, 2014 and 2017.

The ThunderWolves had eight interceptions for touchdowns in 2019 to set the program record. CSU Pueblo totaled three in one game against Adams State. With nine defensive touchdowns since the beginning of 2019 (recovered fumble in the end zone on special teams), the Pack are 1st nationally. 

 In the first quarter of the Commerce battle, the CSU Pueblo defense did not allow a single first down and limited the Lions to just two yards in the period. In the opening quarter, the Pack were also able to force the lone lost fumble of the game for the Lions.

CSU Pueblo's rushing defense was established on game one of the program re-boot in 2008. The Pack allowed 13 yards rushing against Oklahoma Panhandle State (Sept. 8, 2008) and since have held their opponent to less than 50 yards rushing on 26 more occasions. 

Nine times since 2008 the ThunderWolves allowed 10 or fewer rushing yards, with the all-time record standing at -68 yards this season at New Mexico Highlands. The previous record was -11 yards last season at Black Hills State. This season against Fort Lewis, the Skyhawks finished with -3 yards. Last week, Augustana rushed for just 14 yards. 

DL Ikenna Onwuasoanya highlighted the defensive efforts for the Pack against Texas A&M-Commerce as he finished with 2.5 tackles for loss and added on a sack to his line score. Onwuasoanya headlined his Pack debut with seven tackles. The senior transfer now has four tackles for loss on the season to the lead the Pack. 

DB Cory McLellan has eight tackles on the season to lead all defensive backs. He had a quiet night in the tackle category vs. GVSU, but logged an interception for a touchdown to tally the first CSU Pueblo touchdown of the season. 

McLellan finished the game vs. Commerce with two pass break ups. His second included a break up in the end zone which preserved the one score deficit and allowed the Pack to remain competitive. McLellan was named to the All-RMAC Honorable Mention team in 2019. He finished with 50 tackles (31 solo), three interceptions, and seven passes defended . His three inceptions had a season-long return of 36 yards.

LB Patrick Howell logged seven tackles on the season opener. He also tallied a tackle for loss and a pair of quarterback hurries to keep the Commerce QB on edge throughout the night. Howell is now second on the team with 21 tackles for the season including 1.5 tackles for loss.

OLB Trevor Philio finished with six tackles 1.5 tackles for loss (-2 yards) in the opening weekend game. He also tacked on two pass break ups. 

SPECIAL TEAMS

K Dean Faithfull leads the RMAC with the most field goals made this season at five. He kicked two field goals as the only points for the Pack in the loss to Texas A&M-Commerce and tacked on another in the win over Black Hills State. Faithfull knocked through a 29-yard FG and a 33-yard FG against the Lions.

Faithfull joins the Pack in 2021 after returning to collegiate athletics after a long hiatus since his time as a soccer player at Florida Tech. Faithfull graduated from Florida Tech in 2010 after playing four years with the Panthers as a defender.

Redshirt sophomore punter Justin Dwinell took over punting duties in 2019 and placed 29 punts inside the 20. He averaged 41.0 yards per kick to rank third in the RMAC and 23rd nationally. He has 14 50+ yard punts and a long of 77 yards, which is the 5th longest in NCAA Division II this season. 

In the first week vs. Commerce, Dwinell punted seven times for 244 yards while fighting harsh windy conditions. The Dwinell punts averaged 34.9 yards per attempt. Dwinell logged a punt that soard 62 yards and then tacked on two punts that landed inside the 20 yardline. 

In week two, the punter stood out as a key player on special teams, logging eight punts for over 350 yards and tallying two punts over 50 yards.

Once again against Black Hills State, Dwinell shined. He logged five punts for over 200 yards while pinning the Yellow Jackets inside their own 20-yardline twice.

He had a touchdown in the 2019 season after picking up a fumbled snap on a punt attempt, Dwinell returned it 80 yards for a touchdown against CMU.

Dwinell had four RMAC Special Teams Player of the Week awards and two D2Football.com Special Teams Player of the Week honors in the 2019 season. 

The punter was the key in the victory against A&M-Commerce in 2019 and earned RMAC Special Teams Player of the Week. He had two 50-plus yard punts, which included a long of 61 yards that went out of bounds at the one yard line. He also had four of his seven punts land inside the 20. He totaled 297 yards for an average of 42.4 yards per punt. His efforts helped limit eventual All-American Lion returner Dominique Ramsey to two returns for 24 yards. Ramsey entered the game fourth in Division II in punt returns with 24.7 yards per return and was just one week removed from returning a punt 55 yards for a score.

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