RAPID CITY - The football season for South Dakota School of Mines freshman Jamie Dale may be over. The running back sustained an injury to his knee during the third quarter of the Hardrockers game with Dickinson State last Saturday and did not return to the game as he had the leg immobilized and was on crutches on the sidelines.

"Jamie looks like he has a sprain and it is going to take a little while to recover from," Mines head coach Dan Kratzer said on Wednesday. "It is not something where we are going to press him back into action."

Kratzer said that the swelling in Dale's knee had gone down enough for him to have an MRI to rule out any more damage, but the results of the MRI were not known as of Wednesday afternoon.

"There is a good chance he won't play the rest of the season, and we are going to err on the side of caution with this," Kratzer said.

Dale has been the Hardrockers primary back during his first year with the program ranking fourth in the Dakota Athletic Conference in rushing with 717 yards and is second in all-purpose yards with 1,222. Dale was also a key to the Hardrockers' special teams where he often returned kickoffs.

Kratzer said that if Dale is unable to return Dustin Rougeau, who is a converted wide receiver, would see more carries and he did not rule out the possibility of playing freshman Rod McKrae who is currently redshirting his freshman season.

The Hardrockers travel to Valley City State this Saturday for another conference game.