Spearfish, South Dakota - Black Hills State handed the Cowboys a season ending 55-28 loss on Saturday afternoon. NMHU ends the season at 6-5 overall and 4-5 in the RMAC while the Yellow Jackets finish at 3-8 overall and 3-6 in conference play.
Freshman
Jeffery Jones broke the New Mexico Highlands Single Season Rushing record on his second carry of the afternoon when he ripped off a 75 yard touchdown run five minutes into the game to give the Cowboys a 7-3 lead. The previous record was 1,621 yards set by former Cowboy great Thelbert Withers in the 1992 season.
The Cowboys had their final lead of the game at 14-10 late in the opening quarter when
Collin Stucki found
Maurice Collier Jr on a 22 yard scoring strike.
BHSU scored 21 second quarter points to take a 38-21 lead at the halftime break and put the game away with ten unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
Jones finished the game with 174 yards on just twelve carries averaging 14.5 yards per carry on the afternoon. He added a 19 yard receptions to give him 193 yards of total offense.
Collin Stucki was six of nineteen through the air for 111 yards and a pair of touchdown passes.
Mike Jones had two catches for 42 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively,
Kaleb Sells and
Kaleb Harris each had interceptions for the Cowboys.
Black Hills State out gained the Cowboys 513 to 410.
NOTES
The Cowboys finish with the most wins in a season since the 2012 team won eight games.
NMHU posted a 4-1 record at Sanchez Family Stadium, the first home winning record since 2018.
Defensive back
Trevor Romaldo led the RMAC this season with seven interceptions.
Jeffery Jones (15) and
Tevita Valeti (13) combined for 28 rushing touchdowns this season.
Jones finished as the RMAC's top rusher with 1,723 yards on the season. He also led the conference at 10.8 yards per carry and was second in overall scoring at 9.6 points per game.
