SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Missouri State rode a career-best rushing day from Calan Crowder and a gritty defensive performance to nip Chadron State by a 21-13 score and hand Dave Steckel his first victory as head coach before a sellout crowd of 17,835 Saturday afternoon at Robert W. Plaster Stadium.
Crowder racked up 164 rushing yards on 23 carries to lead a Bears offense that totaled 279 yards on the ground. Breck Ruddick also delivered in his first home start as MSU’s quarterback, gaining 197 yards of total offense, including the game-clinching 55-yard scoring scamper late in the third period.
MSU’s defense repeatedly shut down CSC at critical times, stopping the Eagles on 13 of their 17 combined third and fourth down tries. The Bears secondary came up with two second-half interceptions deep in their own territory to wipe out prime scoring opportunities as well. Dylan Cole paced the Bears defense for the second straight week, totaling 11 tackles, while MSU’s starting quartet on the defensive line–James Barnes, Cecil Bratton, Colby Isbell and Brad Pryor–combined for 24 stops, including 2.5 for losses.
Ruddick completed a career-high 19 passes in 34 attempts for 128 yards and one touchdown, including five completions to Malik Earl. Eric Christophel hauled in an 11-yard scoring pass to put the Bears on top for good and finished with four catches for 26 yards.
The Bears (1-1) got their offense going midway through the opening period, as Crowder performed the heavy lifting during a 12-play, 74-yard drive. The sophomore ran for 39 yards on five carries, before Ruddick and Ryan Heaston combined forces to cover the final 23 yards. Heaston’s seven-yard rush capped the drive that saw the Bears total 63 yards on the ground to take the early 7-0 lead.
Chadron State (1-1) took advantage of a short field to even the score early in the second quarter, as Cody Paul turned in a pair of big gains to set up Derek Jackson’s 14-yard scoring run with 13:19 left on the first-half clock. Jackson struck again on the Eagles’ next drive by escaping a Missouri State defender and breaking free for a 73-yard run that set up a Randy Wentz 23-yard field goal that handed the visitors a 10-7 advantage.
MSU’s offense sputtered deep in its own territory on the ensuing drive and Chadron State appeared to be on the cusp of extending its lead after taking over at the MSU 48 following Chris Sullens’s fifth punt of the half. But the Bears shut down the Eagles’ ground game on a third-and-short play at the 39, as Cole and Daryl Coburn teamed up to trap Kevin Coy behind the line for a short loss.
The Bears benefited from a short punt to take over at their own 24, and Ruddick promptly went to work on engineering the go-ahead drive. The redshirt freshman would complete 5-of-6 passes for 42 yards on the drive, including three straight completions to Earl to set the wheels in motion. Crowder gashed the Eagles on the ground again, rushing four times for 29 yards, and an encroachment penalty on fourth and short at the 21 kept the drive alive. Two plays later, Ruddick found Christophel for an 11-yard touchdown strike that put the Bears on top again with just 1:20 left in the half.
CSC threatened on its opening drive of the second half, moving the ball 41 yards to the MSU 26 before Vashon Landers stepped in front of a T.D. Stein pass and returned the interception 31 yards.
It would be the Eagles’ turn to thwart a promising offensive drive midway through the third period, as Tyler Kiess fell on a loose ball at the MSU 38 after Cole Montgomery stripped it from Earl’s grasp following a short completion. Jackson’s two carries for nine yards set up a 36-yard field goal by Wentz that pulled CSC to within one point with 4:28 left in the quarter.
But the Bears answered the Eagles on their next drive, thanks once again to the combination of Ruddick and Crowder. Completions to Willis Chambers and Christophel, as well as a pair of eight-yard rushes by Crowder moved the Bears into CSC territory, before a holding penalty briefly slowed MSU’s progress. Then, on second and 20 at the MSU 45, Ruddick dropped back to pass before spotting daylight and breaking free to outrace the Eagles defense for a 55-yard touchdown run.
The Eagles would mount a pair of scoring threats in the fourth quarter, twice advancing the ball inside the MSU 30, only to come up empty in each instance thanks to a stingy Bears defense. After CSC drove the ball 68 yards to the MSU 20, Anthony Upchurch intercepted Stein at the goal line with 7:30 left in the game to squash the first scoring chance.
After stopping the Bears deep in their own territory, the Eagles once again generated a late charge, using a 19-yard Stein pass to Danny O’Boyle to set up one final push. But Cole hurried Stein on an incompletion on a second-down play, then teamed up with Bratton to stop Zac Bargen three yards short of the first-down marker on the Eagles’ fourth-down attempt.
From there, Crowder salted the game away by totaling 51 yards on five carries in the final 3:36 to help the Bears run out the clock on their second home-opening victory in as many years.
Jackson led the Eagles with 133 rushing yards on 18 carries, while Stein completed 17-of-31 passes for 167 yards for CSC. Ryan Wood led all tacklers with 16 stops for the Eagles, and Montgomery logged 12 tackles–three for losses–to go along with a forced fumble.
Missouri State returns to the road next Saturday (Sept. 19) for a 6 p.m. non-conference game against Arkansas State at Centennial Bank Stadium in Jonesboro.
— MSU Athletics —
