SPEARFISH - Subtlety is not a big part of the Black Hills State game plan. The Yellow Jackets' 4-1 start to the football season has been led by the running game which is a combination of punishing force and big-play ability.

The Yellow Jackets attack is led by sophomore Tanner Ehrlich who ran for 223 yards in Saturday's

37-14 win over Dakota State. That effort raised his season total to 702 yards through five games and has him well on the way to outdoing his freshman year total of 983 yards. His big-play ability has led to runs of 67, 42 and 39 yards as well as a short pass he raced 50 yards for a score already this season.

"He takes a lot of pressure off a defense when he is able (to break a big play)," BHSU head coach John Scott said. "It makes it so you feel like you don't have to throw it over the top to get that."

Ehrlich's efforts have him just nine yards short of leading the Dakota Athletic Conference in rushing.

With the emergence of Clint Nicholes at fullback, the Yellow Jackets are able to give opponents two different kinds of running backs to deal with.

"We like to consider ourselves the base of the offense because we have a lot of good running backs," Nicholes said. "We know that we can always come back to the running game.

"If we can establish the running game, we can play action off of that and open up our receivers."

Nicholes thinks of himself as another lineman in BHSU's running game often leading the way for Ehrlich, but Nicholes' power game showed how valuable it was Saturday when he scored a pair of touchdowns against Dakota State.

"We know he can run and I think it was good for him to bust a trap and a couple of zones because he is developing into our first real running fullback running threat," Scott said.

Keeping the duo of Ehrlich and Nicholes healthy will be key for the Yellow Jackets who have seen numerous runners go down with injury already this season.

"It is catastrophic for us as far as being injured, nicked," Scott said. We lost Mike Jager (on Saturday), we had Joe Beehler (a wide receiver) back their today, and we actually had (defensive back) Darrell Neiman taking reps this week as an emergency back before he went out."

The lack of runners has the BHSU head coach looking at all areas of his team for answers to add depth to the strength of his team.

"We have pulled the redshirts off of anyone we can and I don't know if it will be looking at a defensive player," he said.

While Ehrlich has proven to be the workhorse of the Yellow Jackets' running game it is his improvement in another area that has impressed his coach the most.

"Last year, if we left him in the backfield and he had to block we cringed, but this year his blocking has improved to the point … that when he needs to finish a block he can do it," Scott said.

Ehrlich's willingness to pound the ball between the tackles to get the tough two or three yards instead of always looking to bust the big play has made him an even more valuable player this season.

Value is what BHSU has found in its running attack that has it thinking big once again.

The Yellow Jackets are in search of their third consecutive Dakota Athletic Conference title, and they will do it with a running game that seems to keep them right on schedule.