YOUNGSTOWN – After a disappointing first half, No. 3 South Dakota State scored 35 points in the second half and defeated the No. 17 Youngstown State Penguins 38-28 Saturday.
SDSU (5-1, 2-0) scored on its first drive of the game with a 36-yard field goal, but that was the only points they scored in the first half. The Jacks trailed 14-3 heading into the locker room.
The game changed when SDSU cornerback Donald Gardner intercepted a tipped pass and ran 42 yards to the end zone to cut the lead to 14-9 with 10:53 left in the third quarter.
“I read quarterback and actually Logan Backhaus tipped the ball. So I was thinking ‘man he took my pick.’ But I saw it go off his hands and I scooped it and just thought that I had to get to the end zone,” Gardner said.
Head coach John Stiegelmeier said that play jump started his team’s comeback.
“That was huge. That was unbelievable. A huge play. Anytime you score instantly like that on defense it just energizes everybody. Even though it didn’t put us ahead, it energized us,” Stiegelmeier said.
Another big play came with 11:04 left in the game and the Jacks were trailing 21-16. That’s when quarterback J’Bore Gibbs found Cade Johnson wide open for an 81-yard touchdown.
“We prepped that play a bunch, not too much in practice, but we knew it was the right call at that moment. I was reading the safety and as soon as he stayed down a little bit, enough for me to do a double move for Cade on the safety and it worked out nicely,” Gibbs said.
The Jacks then ran a trick play where Johnson threw a pass to tight end Blake Kunz for a two-point conversion to make it 24-21. C.J. Wilson scored on a 13-yard run to make it 31-21 with 6:13 left in the game. The Penguins cut the lead back to three with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Joe Craycraft to Miles Joiner with 2:54 left.
Gibbs then delivered the dagger when he ran 63 yards to paydirt on third down and nine to make it 38-28 with 55 seconds left.
“We were in turtle, so I was supposed to actually slide in like the 15-yard range,” Gibbs said. “I started to slow down at like the 20. So I was thinking ‘am I supposed to slide?’ I slowed down and saw green grass ahead of me and wasn’t going to let the behind me catch me and I kept the pace and kept going.”
Gibbs was named Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive Player of the Week after finishing 14-for-26 for 210 yards and a touchdown. He also had 75 yards rushing with two touchdowns. Stiegelmeier said Gibbs reminds him a lot of previous quarterback Taryn Christion.
“He’s so much like Taryn. I’m not gonna say that ever again, but he learned a lot from Taryn. That’s the cool thing about it, whether we’re behind or ahead, he just takes every play in the present. He does what we preach and he does it really well. I thought he played a great second half,” he said.
SDSU continued to run the ball well as they ran for 213 yards as a team. Pierre Strong had 61 yards rushing and Wilson had 48. Johnson finished with three receptions for 93 yards and Adam Anderson had three receptions for 44 yards.
The Jackrabbit defense gave up 412 yards, which was the most this season, but they stepped up when they had to. Dyshawn Gales had his first career interception in the fourth quarter. The Jacks have now had an interception in every game this season.
Senior linebacker Christian Rozeboom had a team-high 13 tackles. That was the most tackles he’s had in a game this season. Rozeboom went down multiple times and had to come of the field because of injuries, but finished the game. Stiegelmeier said that shows how tough he is.
“Christian is a great leader and great football player. He plays his tail off. It’s hard to get him off the field, but it doesn’t matter tonight. He’s a better person than all those things, just an unbelievable person. Guys respect him so much and he’s just a fun guy to be around,” Stiegelmeier said.
One thing Stiegelmeier was not happy about was the amount of penalties SDSU had. The Jacks racked up nine penalties for 105 yards. Eight of those penalties came in the first half for 90 yards.
“It was totally baffling,” Stiegelmeier said. “It wasn’t like we were being bad guys. It was like we were playing without a brain. So disappointed in the interference on the punt and then pushing the guy. That type of thing just isn’t Jackrabbit football. They’ll hear about it on Monday that’s for sure.”
The Jacks will head back on the road next week when they travel to Terre Haute, Ind., to take on the Indiana State Sycamores. ISU topped Western Illinois on Saturday 20-10 to improve to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the MVFC. Kickoff is slated for 12 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
No. 3 SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 38, YOUNGSTOWN STATE 28
SDSU (5-1, 2-0) 3 0 13 22
YSU (4-2, 0-2) 7 7 7 7
First Quarter
SDSU – Chase Vinatieri 36 FG, 7:49
YSU – Nathan Mays 28 run (Colten McFadden kick), 1:13
Second Quarter
YSU – Mays 1 run (McFadden kick), 10:49
Third Quarter
SDSU – Don Gardner 42 interception (J’Bore Gibbs pass failed), 10:53
YSU – Joe Alessi 45 pass from Mays (McFadden kick), 7:17
SDSU – Gibbs 2 run (Vinatieri kick), 0:40
Fourth Quarter
SDSU – Johnson 81 pass from Gibbs (Kunz pass from Gibbs), 11:04
SDSU – C.J. Wilson 13 run (Vinatieri kick), 6:13
YSU – Miles Joiner 17 pass from Joe Craycraft (McFadden kick), 2:54
SDSU – Gibbs 63 run (Vinatieri kick), 1:59
SDSU YSU
First Downs 19 24
Plays-Yards 66-423 72-412
Rushes-Yards 40-213 37-145
C-A-Int.-Yards 14-26-0-213 20-35-3-267
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties-Yards 9-105 3-32
Punts-Avg.-I20-TB 3-36.7-1-0 3-35-1-0
Kickoffs-Avg.-TB 7-62.3-5 5-53.4-1
Punt Returns-Yards-TD 2-34-0 0-0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards-TD 3-64-0 2-38-0
INT Returns-Yards-TD 2-42-1 0-0-0
Fumble Returns-Yards-TD 0-0-0 0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards 0 0
Possession Time 30:08 29:52
Third-down Conversions 7-14 5-11
Fourth-down Conversions 1-3 1-2
Red Zone Chances-TD-FG 3-3 2-4
Sacks By-Yards 3-21 4-25
Field Goals 1-2 0-0
RUSHING: SDSU – J’Bore Gibbs 12-75, Pierre Strong Jr. 8-61, C.J. Wilson 13-48, Mikey Daniel 6-26, Cade Johnson 1-3. YSU – Joe Alessi 17-72, Nathan Mays 13-58, Turner Christian 5-8, Mark Waid 2-7.
PASSING: SDSU – J’Bore Gibbs 14-26-0-210. YSU – Nathan Mays 14-24-2-176, Joe Craycraft 6-10-0-91.
RECEIVING: SDSU – Cade Johnson 3-94, Adam Anderson 3-44, Pierre Strong Jr. 3-33, Jaxon Janke 4-32, Blake Kunz 1-8. YSU – Miles Joiner 5-81, Joe Alessi 3-55, Jermiah Braswell 4-53, Samuel St. Surin 4-49, Ryan Emans 2-17, Zack Torbet 1-9, Christian Turner 1-3.
DEFENSE: SDSU – Christian Rozeboom 13 tackles; Logan Backhaus 8 tackles, FF; Don Gardner 5 tackles, INT; Michael Griffin 6 tackles; Seven Wilson 6 tackles; Dyshawn Gales 3 tackles, INT. YSU – Cash Mitchell 10 tackles; Ray Anderson 8 tackles; Zaire Jones 7 tackles; Kyle Hegedus 5 tackles; Dee Ford 5 tackles; Craig DeMarko 5 tackles.
A – 12,381
Missouri Valley Football Conference
MVFC Overall
STATS/Coaches W-L PF/PA W-L PF/PA Strk
1/1 North Dakota State 2-0 37/3 6-0 206/58 W27
3/3 South Dakota State 2-0 28/10 5-1 168/58 W5
South Dakota 2-0 83-10 3-3 180/170 W3
11/10 Illinois State 1-1 24/44 4-2 137/112 W1
Indiana State 1-1 20/48 3-3 107/127 W1
14/15 Northern Iowa 1-1 35/60 3-3 125/138 L1
Missouri State 1-1 47-76 1-4 100/206 L1
19/18 Youngstown State 0-2 42/59 4-2 220/133 L2
Southern Illinois 0-2 17/49 2-4 144/168 L3
Western Illinois 0-2 41/57 0-6 109/182 L8
Note: The following regular-season matchups will not take place in 2019: SDSU-WIU, NDSU-InSU, YSU-MSU, UNI-SIU and IlSU-USD. … The Bears are playing 11 regular-season games this year … North Dakota joins the conference in 2020.
WEEK 7 – Saturday, Oct. 12
South Dakota State 38, Youngstown State 28
North Dakota State 46, Northern Iowa 14
South Dakota 45, Missouri State 10
Illinois State 21, Southern Illinois 14
Indiana State 20, Western Illinois 10
Notable games
Idaho State 55, North Dakota 20
WEEK 8 – Saturday, Oct. 19
South Dakota State at Indiana State, Terre Haute, noon (ESPN3)
Illinois State at Western Illinois, Macomb, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)
Youngstown State at Southern Illinois, Carbondale, 2 p.m. (ESPN+)
Missouri State at North Dakota State, Fargo, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
South Dakota at Northern Iowa, Ceder Falls, 4 p.m. (ESPN+)
Notable games
North Dakota (3-3) at Cal Poly (2-4) 7 p.m.
• North Dakota State 46, Northern Iowa 14
FARGO – The No. 10 Panthers hung around with the No. 1 Bison in the first half, but NDSU outscored UNI 28-0 in the second half.
The Bison took a 15-0 lead in the first quarter after quarterback Trey Lance threw touchdown passes of 36 and 19 yards. The Panthers struck back with two touchdowns of their own to make it 18-14 at halftime.
NDSU’s Noah Gindorff caught a 30-yard pass two minutes into the third quarter to make it 25-14. The Bison put things out of reach with two touchdown runs from Adam Cofield and a 50-yard touchdown run from Kobe Johnson in the fourth quarter.
Lance finished the day 10-for-18 with 145 yards and three touchdowns. He also had 83 of the Bison’s 347 rushing yards on the day. Cofield led the way for NDSU with 104 yards on 15 carries with two touchdowns. Johnson carried the ball nine times and had 95 yards and a touchdown.
Will McElvain went 15-for-29 with 233 yards and one touchdown for the Panthers. UNI had 106 yards rushing with Tyler Hoosman leading the way with 54 yards and a touchdown. Isiah Weston had five receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown.
The No. 1 Bison will play host to Missouri State on Saturday and the Panthers will return home to play South Dakota.
• South Dakota 45, Missouri State 10
SPRINGFIELD – Austin Simmons threw for 228 yards and four touchdowns as the Coyotes cruised to 2-0 in the MVFC.
Peyton Huslig threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Murray to put the Bears up 7-0. That would be the only touchdown MSU would score in the game as USD rattled off 45 unanswered points.
Caleb Vander Esch opened up the scoring for the Coyotes with a 56-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter. Simmons threw two touchdowns in the second quarter that went for eight and 29 yards. Kai Henry capped off the first half with a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 31-7 at halftime.
Simmons threw his fourth touchdown of the game in the third quarter when he found Ben Klett for 14 yards and Canaan Brooks had a 6-yard touchdown run to make it 45-7. The Bears shutout the Coyotes in the fourth quarter, but it was already too late.
Vander Esch finished with four receptions for 96 yards and two touchdowns. Dakarai Allen had three receptions for 43 yards. Klett had 69 yards on five carries and Henry finished with 57 yards on 15 carries. USD outgained MSU 452-248.
Huslig went 21-for-40 with 184 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He also had 20 yards rushing. Tyler Currie caught nine passes for 87 yards and Demoriea Vick had six receptions for 83 yards.
• Illinois State 21, Southern Illinois 7
CARBONDALE – The No. 13 Redbirds jumped out to a 14-0 lead and used good defense to pick up their first win the MVFC.
James Robinson gave ISU a 7-0 lead in the first quarter with a 2-yard touchdown run. Austin Nagel increased the lead to 14-0 in the second quarter when he caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Brady Davis.
The Salukis got on the board in the third quarter when Romeir Elliot had 74-yard touchdown run to make it 14-7. The Redbirds then answered with a 6-yard run from Davis to make it 21-7. That would be the final score of the game as neither team scored in the fourth quarter.
Davis finished the game 13-for-19 with 171 yards and a touchdown. Robinson led the Redbirds on the ground with 31 carries for 150 yards and a touchdown. Kacper Rutkiewicz caught three passes for 80 yards and Braxton Haley had five receptions for 72 yards.
SIU’s Kare Lyles went 20-for-30 for 199 yards with an interception. Elliot finished with 109 yards on nine carries with one touchdown. Sam Bonansinga caught five passes for 82 yards.
The difference in the game was the two turnovers from the Salukis. ISU barely outgaines SIU 370-347.
The Redbirds will travel to Macomb to face the Leathernecks on Saturday and SIU will host Youngstown State.
• Indiana State 20, Western Illinois 10
TERRE HAUTE – After trailing 10-0 at halftime the Sycamores shutout the Leathernecks and scored 20 points to pick up their first win the MVFC.
After each team was held scoreless in the first quarter, Connor Sampson found Jared Drake for a 23-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter. Nathan Erickson then added a field goal for WIU with 1:39 left in the first half.
The Sycamores scored their first touchdown of the game with 7:29 left in the third quarter when Kurtis Wilderman found Dakota Caton for a 3-yard touchdown. ISU tied the game just before the end of the third quarter when Jerry Nunez made a 20-yard field goal.
ISU took its first lead of the game when Wilderman found Caton again, this time from six yards out. Nunez added his second field goal of the game to make it 20-10 with 2:50 left and that put the game out of reach.
Wilderman only had 74 yards passing on 10 completions. Gunnar See went 7-for-12 with 51 yards for the Sycamores. ISU ran for 191 yards and Peterson Kerlegrand had 70 yards on 12 carries. Titus McCoy ran the ball 13 times for 62 yards.
Connor Sampson went 15-for-34 with 102 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Max Norris ran for 46 yards and Drake had two catches for 32 yards.
The Sycamores will host SDSU on Saturday and the Leathernecks will host Illinois State.
