SPEARFISH - Corey Wheeler was just winding down with teammates at the end of another intense football practice. Players were taking turns kicking the football, trying to make field goals from all over the field. Not surprisingly, most of them did not find the mark.

Most of them except Wheeler's efforts which consistently kept splitting the uprights.

"We do some games at the end of the week to keep it light and here it is this receiver starts nailing them," Black Hills State head football coach John Scott said.

Wheeler, a three-year starter for the Yellow Jackets, hasn't struggled to find a way onto the field since he got to Spearfish, but Saturday the junior from Cheyenne, Wyo., found yet another way to contribute in a 29-24 win over Jamestown College.

Wheeler capped a breakout day - which included three catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns including the game-winner - with a 26-yard field goal. It was an impressive feat for a football player who hadn't done much kicking outside of practice in high school or college.

"It was a short field goal which helped and I have been working on it," Wheeler said of the kick. "I have played soccer my whole life as well."

Wheeler's first field goal of the year came after the Yellow Jackets' regular kicker, Micah Nielsen, was injured earlier in the game pressing Wheeler into extra duty on the fourth-down play.

Wheeler continues to pay dividends for BHSU even if the process of getting to Spearfish took a little while.

"I visited a bunch of schools when I was looking at colleges and Black Hills was actually the last visit I made," he said. "I just liked the campus, the coaches and the team."

As big as Wheeler's game can be on the field, his coach said his actions off it can be just the opposite.

"He's very unassuming, very quiet and he doesn't show a lot of emotion one way or the other," Scott said. "I think that is what his teammates like most about him because whether he takes one 70 yards or drops a pass he is always the same. He doesn't really change."

Wheeler, Joe Beehler and Jamie January give the Yellow Jackets a talented trio of wide receivers that have stepped up their play this season and were key in helping BHSU snap a recent two-game slide with the victory over Jamestown.

"This is the best receiving corp that I have played with," Wheeler said. "I get to play with some talented guys."

The Yellow Jackets have turned their focus to their regular season finale against rival South Dakota Mines on Saturday in Rapid City. BHSU does not have the opportunity to go for its third straight Dakota Athletic Conference title, but that doesn't mean the game loses any importance to Wheeler.

BHSU (6-3 overall) enters the game with the confidence of knowing it defeated the Hardrockers, 33-13, earlier in the season, but nothing less than a season sweep will do for the Yellow Jackets.

"I think this is a very important game because we are finally playing the kind of football that we are capable of," he said. "For us to end the season on a high note would be real big."