It appears the No. 9-ranked Chadron State Eagles reloaded in the backfield after losing running back Danny Woodhead.

Woodhead, now on injured reserve with the New York Jets, was a two-time Harlon Hill Trophy winner, an award given to the top player in NCAA Division II football.

Aaron Cooksley appears to be more than an adequate replacement for Woodhead. Cooksley, a 5-foot-9, 200-pound junior carried the ball 22 times for 120 yards and a touchdown in a season-opening 37-17 victory over the University of Mary on Thursday night at the Community Bowl.

"I learned a lot from Danny," Cooksley said. "It helps a lot that we have everybody back. It means a lot to start the season like this. It sets the tone. I give my line a lot of the credit."

Cooksley talked to Woodhead before the game and received some sound advice from his former teammate: Keep your head up because there will be good plays and bad plays.

While Cooksley put up impressive stats, he did lose a fumble toward the end of the second quarter, so Woodhead's advice did come in handy.

"Aaron is a great running back," Chadron State coach Bill O'Boyle said. "The biggest thing now is himself. He gets down on himself. He has to learn how to bounce back from adversity, but I'm happy with what he did."

Chadron State finished the contest with 369 yards of offense with 190 coming through the air and 179 on the ground. The Eagles' defense was equally impressive, holding U-Mary to minus-23 yards rushing and 195 passing for 172 total yards.

"Their defense did a good job of disguising blitzes," U-Mary coach Myron Schulz said. "They used different defenses. We will learn from it. We will learn where we are in the big picture."

The Eagles scored on their first three possessions and jumped out to a 20-0 lead at 14:10 of the second quarter. Quarterback Joe McLain scored on a 1-yard run and threw a 5-yard touchdown strike to Isaac Stockton. Cooksley broke two tackles for a 24-yard score.

But the Marauders started to get into a rhythm and scored 17 unanswered points. Quarterback Jesse Kozak found Roman Penirian up the middle at 13:35 of the second quarter for his first completed pass and the Marauders' first first down.

Starting at 9:30 of the second, U-Mary put together a 10-play, 48-yard touchdown drive which was capped off by a 2-yard run by Kozak. The Marauders received a break on a third-and-14 when receiver Mike Williams was tripped in the end zone.

After the kickoff, Chadron State ran one play, and McLain fumbled. U-Mary defensive back Tim Brown recovered at the Chadron State 31 at 2:08.

Ten plays later, U-Mary kicker Rett Thibodeaux booted a 28-yard field goal.

Chadron State got the ball back with 26 seconds to play in the half. Instead of taking a knee to run out the clock, Cooksley received a handoff and fumbled, which was recovered by U-Mary defensive back Marcus Parence at the Chadron State 23. On the next play, Kozak threw a touchdown strike to Brady Martin to cut the deficit to 20-17.

"That was stupid on my part," O'Boyle said. "We got greedy. We were kind of flat, and we knew that weakside was crashing down on us, and it was going to be there. Aaron just turned it up and should have just kept going to the sideline. The ball got punched out. Instead of just falling on it, he tried to scoop it up."

Schulz was pleased with the way his team didn't give up after spotting the Eagles a 20-0 lead.

"Games are usually separated by a few plays," Schulz said. "It teaches you that every play is important."

Chadron State kept U-Mary out of the end zone in the second half. McLain threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Harrington in the third quarter. John Ritzen added a 14-yard run, and Travis Atter added a 42-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

McLain finished the contest completing 13 of 25 passes for 184 yards. McLain threw two touchdown strikes and rushed for one.

Kozak completed 18 of 35 passes for 195 yards. Kozak threw one touchdown pass and ran for one. Martin had four grabs for 68 yards. Jamal Lomax had 13 carries for 29 yards.

The Marauders open up their Northern Sun schedule Sept. 6 when they travel to Fayette for a game against Upper Iowa.

CS 14 6 7 10 - 37

UM 0 17 0 0 - 17

First Quarter

CSC-Joe McLain 1 run (Travis Atter kick), 11:09. (6 plays, 48 yards, 2:43).

CSC-Aaron Cooksley 24 run (Atter kick), 6:38. (4 plays, 49 yards, 1:37)

Second Quarter

CSC-Isaac Stockton 5 pass from McLain (run failed), 14:10. (11 plays, 88 yards, 5:08).

U-Mary-Jesse Kozak 2 run (Rett Thibodeaux kick), 3:06. (10 plays, 48 yards, 6:24).

U-Mary-Thibodeaux 28 field goal, 0:30. (7 plays, 22 yards, 1:38)

U-Mary-Brady Martin 23 pass from Kozak (Thibodeaux kick), 0:11. (1 play, 23 yards, 0:06).

Third Quarter

CSC-Brandon Harrington 10 pass from McLain (Atter kick). (9 plays, 77 yards, 5:28).

Fourth Quarter

CSC-Atter 42 field goal. (6 plays, 7 yards, 2:31).

CSC-John Ritzen 14 run (Atter kick) (3 plays, 22 yards, 1:00).

CS UM

First downs 18 13

Rushes-yards 34-179 26-(minus) 23

Comp.-Att.-Int. 14-26-0 18-35-0

Passing yards 190 195

Total yards 369 172

Punts-yards 4-35.5 8-37

Penalties-yards 6-43 2-10

Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: CS-Aaron Cooksley 22-120, Joe McLain 6-33, John Ritzen 3-22, Mark Haag 2-4. UM-Jamal Lomax 13-29, Jesse Kozak 12-(minus) 35, team 1-(minus) 17.

Passing: CS-McLain 13-25-0 184, Garrett Treffer 1-1-0 6. UM-Kozak 18-35-0 195.

Receiving: CS-Tyler Watson 4-60, Brandon Harrington 5-58, Isaac Stockton 3-16, Cooksley 1-41, Mark Haag 1-15. UM-Roman Penirian 6-54, Mike Williams 5-54, Brady Martin 4-68, Jamal Lomax 2-10, Alex Gilbertson 1-9.

Records: CSC 1-0, U-Mary 0-1.