The CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves are the RMAC’s new drama kings.
Roman Fuller found receiver Marcellus Honeycutt Jr. for a 19-yard walk-off touchdown pass in double overtime to lift the fifth-ranked ThunderWolves to their second straight RMAC football title with a 30-27 victory over No. 22 Chadron State on Saturday inside the ThunderBowl.
CSU Pueblo rallied from a double-digit deficit for the third week in a row, following up record-breaking comeback wins over Western Colorado (24-21) and Colorado Mines (41-34, OT) with another afternoon of drama that pushed them to 10-1 on the season and 9-0 in RMAC play.
Fuller, CSU Pueblo’s senior quarterback, finished with 442 yards and three touchdowns on 40-of-66 passing, with Reggie Retzlaff catching 14 of those passes for 166 yards and two scores. Loveland High product Zack Rakowsky had 11 catches for 118 yards, while George Washington High’s Honeycutt had four receptions for 81 yards and the game-winning TD.
Chadron State (8-3, 8-1) took a 14-3 lead on Wyatt Sprague’s 3-yard touchdown run with 3:32 left in the second quarter before Pueblo finally punched back with a nine-play, 75-yard march that ended with Fuller finding Retzlaff for a 10-yard score and 14-10 deficit at the break.
Kiahn Martinez gave the ThunderWolves their first lead since the first quarter on a 1-yard plunge with 3:15 left in the third quarter, but Chadron State kicker Wilson Yee answered with a 57-yard field goal that knotted the score at 17 with 13:47 left in regulation and set up the overtime drama to come.
The two teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime, with Retzlaff’s second TD reception of the game immediately followed by Jake Marschall’s 5-yard scoring run for Chadron State. The ThunderWolves then forced a 40-yard field goal on Chadron State’s second OT possession, allowing Fuller to Honeycutt to end it in walk-off fashion.
CSU Pueblo will now have to wait to see where it lands in the NCAA Division II playoffs during Sunday’s selection show at 4 p.m. on NCAA.com.
RMAC football
Saturday’s scores
Colorado School of Mines 55, Fort Lewis 21
Western Colorado 42, Colorado Mesa 28
South Dakota Mines 45, Adams State 21
Black Hills State 55, New Mexico Highlands 28
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