SACRAMENTO, Calf. – South Dakota State is moving on. The Jackrabbits went up 24-0 against No. 4 seeded Sacramento State and held off the Hornets comeback to come away with a 24-19 victory in the second round of the FCS Playoffs.
“I’m really proud of our team,” said SDSU head coach John Stiegelmeier. “I love them. I thanks god for them every day and it ended up being a battle, but they’re winners in every sense and I’m just excited for them.”
SDSU forced a three-and-out to start the game. The Jacks then got on the board with a five-yard touchdown from Pierre Strong Jr. Cole Frahm added the extra point and it was 7-0 SDSU with 10:28 left in the first quarter.
The Jacks then forced another punt on the Hornets next possession. SDSU made it to the Hornet 28 yard line, but the drive stalled out. Frahm came on and hit a 45-yard field goal to make it 10-0 with 4:25 left in the first quarter.
Sacramento State then drove to the SDSU 18 yard line, but faced a third and 15. Jake Dunniway heaved one to the end zone and it was picked off by SDSU’s Don Gardner and the Jacks took over.
“We were in a cover two,” Gardner said. “I was just playing off the quarterback. I saw a guy behind me and I was thinking, he’s going to try to get it to him and he threw it and I just robbed him. It was a good call.”
The Jacks were unable to do anything with the turnover and were forced to punt. SDSU’s defense stepped up again though and the Hornets were forced to punt as well.
SDSU then drove 88 yards in seven plays and the drive was capped off with a seven-yard Isaiah Davis touchdown run. Frahm added the extra point to make it 17-0 with 9:34 left in the first half.
Sacramento State drove to the SDSU 23 yard line, but Dunniway was picked off by SDSU defensive lineman Cade Terveer. It was the second interception of the playoffs for Terveer and SDSU took over with 5:58 left in the first half.
This time the Jacks would take advantage of the turnover. Davis capped off an eight-play 73-yard drive with six-yard touchdown run. Frahm knocked in the extra point and it was 24-0 SDSU with 1:37 left in the first half.
Sacramento State added a field goal as time expired so SDSU was up 24-3 at halftime.
SDSU was forced to punt on its first possession of the second half. The Hornets then put together a 14-play 87-yard drive to pull within two scores. Dunniway found Pierre Williams from three yards out with a little under five and a half minutes remaining in the third quarter to make it 24-10.
The Jacks were forced to punt once again on their next possession and the Hornets took over at their own three with 2:08 left in the third quarter. Sacramento State made it to the SDSU 46 and faced a fourth and seven. Dunniway completed a pass to Marshel Martin, but he was two yards short of the line to gain and the Hornets turned it over on downs.
The Hornet defense stood tall again as they forced a three-and-out. Sacramento State made it to the SDSU 20 on their next possession, but a holding penalty and a sack pushed them back to the 42. Kyle Sentkowski was forced to attempt a 48-yard field and he connected to make it 24-13 with 9:49 left.
SDSU picked up a pair of first downs before its drive stalled out and the Jacks punted with 6:28 left in the game. Stiegelmeier said
“[Sacramento State] blitzed a lot [in the second half],” Stiegelmeier said. “A couple of times they go to [Oladokun] without a blitz, but they brought some pressure. We had some bootlegs going and he had a guy in his face at least two times, maybe three times. In the chess game of football, they were on and we were a little off.”
The Hornets would keep the game alive when Isaiah Gable ran it in from one yard out. They failed to convert on the two-point conversion, so it was 24-19 SDSU with 2:33 remaining.
Sacramento State went for the onside kick and it went right to SDSU’s Dalys Beanum and the Jacks took over with 2:32 left to play.
With a little over a minute left in the game, the Jacks faced a fourth and one. They decided to go for it to try to put the game away. SDSU quarterback Chris Oladokun pretended like SDSU wasn’t going to run a play and started to walk towards the sidelines. Davis then took a direct snap and ran it up the middle and gained two yards to pick up the first down. Oladokun then took a knee and that was the game.
“We’ve been practicing that play since I’ve been here and they always tell me, the first time I ever ran it they told me my acting was awful,” Oladokun said. “I mean I really do hope to be an actor one day, so I was like you know what, we’re in California, might as well put on a grand performance. I’m interested to see how it looks on film because I feel like I look sort of goofy, but I’m just glad our offensive line got those guys off the ball and Isaiah finished it for us.”
SDSU had 363 total yards of offense. The Jacks had 205 yards rushing, with Davis leading the way. He had 108 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Strong had 73 yards and a score on 14 carries.
“Those guys are phenomenal,” Oladokun said. “Having Isaiah back, now defenses not only have to game plan for Isaiah, but they also have to game plan for Pierre too. I think you’ve seen the past two weeks how much our offense feeds off of not only Pierre, but Isaiah too, and then our passing game and the 605 hogs doing their thing at the offensive line. So it’s really good to have [Davis] back.”
Oladokun finished the game 12-of-23 with 158 yards. Tucker Kraft led SDSU in receiving with three catches for 49 yards. Jadon Janke had five catches for 43 yards.
Isaiah Stalbird led the Jackrabbit defense with nine tackles. Logan Backhaus had eight tackles. Michael Griffin II and Don Gardner each had seven tackles.
The Hornets had 480 total yards. Dunniway finished the night 26-of-43 with 331 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He also led Sacramento State in rushing with 41 yards on 10 carries.
Williams had 100 yards and a score on seven catches. Martin had 59 yards on six catches. Jared Gipson had four catches for 96 yards.
The Jacks were the only unseeded team and the only road team to win in the second round of the playoffs. Stiegelmeier said he was proud of how his team handled themselves on the road.
“[I’m proud of] going on the road and winning. It was a long plane flight. Sit in the hotel, take the filed and play as well as we did in the first half. We need play two half’s of football, but we went on the road and get to play another play and another week,” he said.
SDSU will travel to Philadelphia, Pa. next to take on No. 5 seeded Villanova in the quarterfinals. Kickoff between the Jackrabbits and Wildcats is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday. SDSU beat Villanova 10-7 in the second round of the 2016 playoffs.
“We were blessed to play them in coach [Andy] Talley’s last year and were lucky enough to get a close win on a cold day. We’re looking forward to going out there. The travel is going to be tough there too, but we have a mature football team and we’re really looking forward to it.”
