SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Western New Mexico University football team will hit the road for their longest trip of the season when they travel to Spearfish to face Black Hills State University this Saturday.


The Yellow Jackets (1-7, 1-5 RMAC) are coming off of their first win of the season in a shootout over New Mexico Highlands in Las Vegas, 48-45, this past weekend. BHSU threw for 273 and rushed for 127, while also forcing five turnovers. This will be the fourth home game for the Yellow Jackets, having faced Colorado Mines (62-22), Chadron State (43-13) and CSU-Pueblo (51-17) and are 0-3 at home.


Quarterback Ward Anderson has carried most of the offensive load both in the air and on the ground as he has thrown for 2,114 yards and 14 touchdowns, while also rushing for 293 yards and seven touchdowns as he leads the team in all of those categories. Luke Whalen has the most receptions and yards, pulling in 42 passes for 580 yards with three touchdowns. On defense, Trent Bonner, coming off of his RMAC Defensive Player of the Week award, leads the team in tackles with 88, with 42 coming solo. He also has 11 tackles for loss, .5 sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.


Last season in Silver City, BHSU started early, jumping out to a 14-0 lead. They would still hold a lead of 21-10 when WNMU fought back to within four at 21-17 and within three at 27-24, before the Yellow Jackets scored nine unanswered for the 36-24 victory.


WNMU (2-6, 2-5 RMAC) will look to snap a two-game slide and record their first road victory of the season. Sophomore quarterback Mitch Glasmann (Temecula, CA/Chaparral) has completed 171-of-324 for 2,275 yards for 20 touchdowns. Senior Ronnell Pompey (Los Angeles, CA/Fairfax Senior HS) is still one of the top targets in the nation, as he is sixth nationally in receiving yards per game at 124.5. In addition, he has 52 catches for 996 yards and nine touchdowns, leading the team in each category. Junior Donald Byrd (Long Beach, CA/Long Beach Poly) also has 49 receptions for 536 yards and three scores.


On defense, senior Jerrald Hines (Los Angeles, CA/) leads the team in most categories posting 53 tackles, 26 solo, along with seven tackles for loss, two sacks, a forced fumble and fumble recovery in starting each game this season.


WNMU and BHSU will kickoff this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Lyle Hare Stadium. Live video and audio will be available and will be listed on wnmumustangs.com