PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo football closed out the 2023 regular season here Saturday afternoon by earning a hard-fought 42-37 victory over Black Hills State in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action on Senior Day at the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl.
With the victory, the ThunderWolves close the regular season with seven consecutive victories and improve its record to 8-3 overall and 7-2 in the RMAC, while Black Hills State concludes its season with a 6-5 overall record and a 5-4 mark in the RMAC. The win helped the Pack finish third in the league standings and kept its slim hopes for a NCAA Playoff bid alive.
"I am just so proud of this staff, and this team. It wasn't easy today, but we found a way against a good Black Hills State team," CSU Pueblo head coach
Philip Vigil said following the game. "We found a way to win today and good teams do that."
The NCAA will announce the 28-team field for the 2023 NCAA Division II Playoffs on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m. MT online at
www.NCAA.com. Entering Saturday's action, the Pack were ranked 11th in the most recent Super Region Four rankings. The Pack earned its ninth NCAA Playoff bid last season after finishing the season that same way they did this season as they lost three of its first four games, before reeling off seven consecutive victories.
"We can only control what we can control and hopefully it's enough to give us another week together," Vigil said about the playoff chances for his team. "I am very proud of this team, their belief, and their fight. There's a lot of teams that would have quit after starting the season 1-3, but these guys didn't quit. They put their nose down and controlled what they could control."
Prior to Saturday's game, the Pack honored its 10-member senior class in a pregame ceremony. The Pack's seniors this season are offensive lineman
Cade Chapman (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Rock Canyon), quarterback
Carter Closson (Longmont, Colo./Silver Creek), defensive back
Donyai Dixon (Baltimore, Md./UNLV), defensive back
Eric Donnell (Fountain, Colo./Fountain-Fort Carson), quarterback
Chance Fuller (Arlington, Texas/Fort Hays State), defensive back
Cory McLellan (Monument, Colo./Palmer Ridge), receiver
CK Poulos (North Port, Fla./North Port), defensive back
Alec Prince (Houston, Texas/Texas Southern), offensive lineman
Tristan Rael (Chandler, Ariz./LA Harbor Collee) and running back
Adrian Soto (Pueblo, Colo./Fort Hays State).
"I can't say enough about these seniors. We're going to miss these guys. They made a huge impact on this team, on this program and on my first year as a head coach," Vigil said when asked about his seniors. "Watching these guys walk through the tunnel, I got emotional, because we're going to miss them and it's hard to replace guys like that."
Perhaps the biggest star for the Pack offense in Saturday's game was one of those seniors – Fuller. For the game, Fuller failed to complete just four passes in the game as he was 29-for-33 for 284 yards and tossed four touchdown passes to push his season total to 34, which bettered the school's single season mark of 33 set by Chris Bonner during the 2013 season. Along with tossing 34 touchdown passes this season, Fuller pushed his career total to 101, which is fourth among active Division II quarterbacks. He is also one of four active quarterbacks in Division II with 10,000 career passing yards, 10,000 career total offensive yards and 100 touchdown passes.
Fuller's record setting touchdown pass sealed came on a 33-yard reception with 3:31 left in the game by redshirt junior receiver
Andrew Cook (Tucson, Ariz./Ironwood Ridge). The touchdown pass to Cook gave the Pack a 42-30 lead.
"I can't say enough about Chance. I am proud of him. He's gotten better and better as the year went on. That last touchdown pass came on a broken play and he finally used his legs for once this season, got out of the pocket and made a big time play to seal the game," said the Pack coach.
Following Cook's touchdown reception, the Yellow Jackets, who ended the season winning two of its final three games, made things interesting as they drove 75 yards in 10 plays and capped the drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Clarkson to Nolan Susel to pull within 42-37 with 63 seconds left in the game.
Trailing by five points following Clarkson's third touchdown pass of the game, the visitors were forced to attempt an on-side kick. The on-side kick failed as junior linebacker
Noa Purcell (Kalihi, Hawai'i/Riverside City College) recovered the kick at the BHSU 46-yard line to seal the victory.
After the two teams combined for just 21 points and 415 yards of offense in the first half, the teams combined to score 58 points and 413 yards of offense in the second half.
In addition to Fuller's big day offensively, Cook also had a big day in the passing game as he caught 11 passes for 149 yards and pushed his career touchdown reception mark to 21, which is second on the school's career chart.
Along with Cook, redshirt sophomore tight end
Tyler Dvorak (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek) caught a career-high eight passes for 54 yard and scored on a 2-yard touchdown pass with 11:13 left in the game to give the Pack a 35-24 lead.
The Pack scored six touchdowns in the game, including five on offense and one on special teams, which was a 100-yard kickoff return for a score with 6:05 left in the third quarter by redshirt freshman running back
Moosah Alsaffar (Aurora, Colo./Grandview). It was third-ever 100-yard kickoff return for a score in school history and the first since Bryan Webb returned a kickoff 100 yards for a score against Western Colorado in 1983. In addition, he is one of 10 Division II players this season with a 100-yard kickoff return.
Alsaffar's return came after the Yellow Jackets scored on its opening possession of the third quarter to tie the game at 21. Alfassar's score gave the Pack a 28-21 lead.
While Fuller was the big star on offense, another senior, McLellan was a star for the Pack on the defensive side of the ball as he finished with 11 total tackles, a tackle for a loss, an interception and he also picked off a two-point conversion attempt by BHSU after pulled within 35-30 with 9:46 left in the game.
"You can't replace No. 3 (Cory). You just can't. Cory is the heartbeat of this team. I mean he is Pack football and we're going to miss him tremendously," the coach stated. "He made some big plays in the game, especially when we needed them."
The Pack got on the scoreboard first in Saturday's game as capped an eight-play, 69-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run by Soto to give the Pack a 7-0 lead with 6:09 left on the opening quarter.
BHSU would get on the scoreboard on the next possession as they drove 75 yards in 11 plays and capped the drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Clarkson to John Noordsy to the game at 7-all.
The Pack, though, would come right back and answer the Yellow Jackets' score thanks to a 3-yard touchdown pass from Fuller to redshirt sophomore receiver
Zack Rakowsky (Loveland, Colo./Loveland) to give the Pack a 14-7 lead with 9:36 left in the second quarter. Rakowsky, though, was not able to finish the game as he suffered an ankle injury late in the second quarter. Rakowsky finished the game with three catches for 23 yards and came just one reception shy of tying Paul Browning's single season school record of 59 receptions in 2013. Rakowsky caught 58 passes this season for 769 yards, which is sixth on the school's single season chart.
Fuller had a strong first half as he was 16-for-18 passing for 165 yards, while Cook caught six passes for 81 yards in the opening 30 minutes of action.
Leading 14-7 at the half, BHSU would tie game on its first possession of the second half thanks to a 13-yard touchdown pass from Clarkson to Hassan Williams. The drive began at the Pack 29-yard line following a 19-yard punt by sophomore punter
Sullivan Moon (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne Mountain).
On the ensuing Pack possession, they gained only seven yards in three plays and were forced to punt and on the punt by Moon, that went 48 yards, BHSU's Jamin Wurtz had the ball bounce off his hands and into the waiting arms of Alsaffar to give the Pack the ball at the Yellow Jackets 20-yard line.
Two plays later, Fuller connected with junior running back
Kiahn Martinez (Denver, Colo./University of Idaho) for a 14-yard touchdown pass to give the Pack a 21-14 lead with 9:58 left in the third quarter.
BHSU, though, answered right back to tie the game at 21 following a 1-yard run by Susel with 6:20 left in the quarter. The touchdown came three plays after Clarkson connected with Williams for a 53-yard pass play. Williams finished the game with eight receptions for 113 yards for the 'Jackets.
On the ensuing kickoff, Alsaffar caught the ball at the goal line and outran everyone down the sideline for a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown. That was the longest play of the season for the Pack.
"The blocking was tremendous and is all I had to do was make the kicker miss," Alsaffar said about his 100-yard kickoff return.
The Yellow Jackets, though, answered right back as they used a 46-yard field goal by Coleman Chapman to pull within 28-24 with 2:10 left in the quarter.
McClellan's interception came with 12:04 left in the fourth quarter to halt a Yellow Jacket scoring drive. The interception was the fourth of the season for McLellan and 10th of his career, which puts his tied for seventh on the school's all-time charts.
The interception would help lead a score for the Pack as they drove 15 yards in four plays following the interception and capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Fuller to Dvoark with 11:13 left in the game.
Once again, BHSU responded as they used a 47-yard drive in four plays to pull within 35-30 following a three-yard touchdown run by Clarkson. The 'Jackets elected to go-for-two following the touchdown, but the two-point conversion failed thanks to an interception by McLellan.
The next Pack possession ended with a punt after driving 20 yards in four plays, but the punt by Moon was downed at the BHSU 1-yard line. It was the second punt of the game that was downed inside the 5-yard line as sophomore
Andre Haddad (Littleton, Colo./University of New England) had hit punt earlier in the fourth quarter downed at the 4-yard line that set up the drive that ended with McLellan's interception.
The Yellow Jackets were unable to gain a first down on their drive that began its one-yard line and were forced to punt. Four plays following the punt, Fuller hooked up with Cook for his 33-yard touchdown that gave the Pack a 12-point cushion at 42-30.
For the game, the Pack was outgained on offense, 471 to 357 as they passed for 284 yards and gained just 73 yards rushing on 24 carries. The Pack offense was held to just 58 plays and averaged 6.2 yards per play.
The Yellow Jackets defense did a good job on Pack junior receiver
Reggie Retzlaff (Corona, Calif./Riverside City College) as he caught just three passes for 29 yards and did not record a touchdown catch to leave his season total at 12, which is tied for Cook for the school's single season school mark for receiving touchdowns. Retzlaff caught 48 passes for a season-high 805 yards are fifth-most on the school's single chart.
BHSU finished with 300 yards passing and added 171 yards rushing. The 300-yard passing game was just the second allowed by the Pack defense this season.
Clarkson went 23-for-34 passing for 300 yards and had three touchdowns and one interception and was sacked twice in the game.
Susel carried the ball 20 times for 109 yards, while Clarkson gained 42 yards rushing on 12 carries and tallied 342 yards of total offense for the Yellow Jackets.
BHSU also finished the game with 27 first downs to 18 for the Pack and the Pack were whistled for 11 penalties for 83 yards. BHSU was flagged six times for 48 yards.
In addition to McLellan's 11 tackles, redshirt junior linebacker
Jon Nuschy (La Junta, Colo./Northern Colorado) also had 11 tackles, while junior cornerback
Eli Pittman (Peoria, Ariz./Liberty) added 10 tackles. The Pack's sacks were collected by redshirt junior strong safety
Daniel Bone III (Colorado Springs, Colo./Pine Creek) and Purcell.
With its two forced turnovers in Saturday's game, the Pack now has a +12-turnover margin on the season, which is second-best in the RMAC and 16th nationally. In addition, the Pack also had 36 sacks on the season, which leads the RMAC and his ninth in Division II.
