SPRINGFIELD, Mo. The South Dakota State Jackrabbits earned a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference championship as they ended the regular season with a 45-9 win over the Missouri State Bears at Robert W. Plaster Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The win combined with South Dakotas last-second 29-28 victory over North Dakota State in Vermillion on Saturday helped SDSU earn at least a share of the MVFC conference title for the third straight season as they split the championship with the Bison and Coyotes.
But while SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers acknowledged his teams accomplishment, he also noted that it’s attention is now turned to another run in the FCS playoffs.
This has been a hard-fought season and Im proud of the guys, but now we enter into another season, Rogers said. We have got to get ourselves ready to go and we have a bye week that will significantly get our legs back underneath of us and clean up any bumps and bruises along the way.
The Jacks started the finale strong, opening the game with a 14-play, 81-yard drive that ended with a nine-yard touchdown run by Amar Johnson to give SDSU a 7-0 lead with 7:53 left in the first quarter.
The score held up into the second quarter when Mark Gronowski threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Brenner that gave SDSU a 14-0 lead with 14:17 left in the second quarter.
Both teams exchanged field goals with Yousef Obeid hitting a 50-yarder and Hunter Dustman making a 40-yard attempt but the Bears found some daylight on the following drive, connecting on a 35-yard pass by Jacob Clark to James Blackstrain and a 27-yard pass from Clark to Luke Dash on a 4th-and-5 to move into Jackrabbit territory.
But SDSUs defense held firm, forcing a 28-yard field goal by Obeid. When Angel Johnson muffed the following kickoff and the Bears recovered at the SDSU two-yard line, the Jacks defense came up strong again, holding Missouri State to a 23-yard field goal by Obeid that closed the lead to 17-9 with 1:43 left in the second quarter.
Weve got the best defense in the country and I was just excited about the response, Rogers said of the goal line stand. Everybody can hang their head and get in their feelings about the muffed kick but they didnt. They came out, did the best they could, which was holding them to three points from the goal line and that alone is a statement.
The Bears would regret not taking advantage as Kirby Vorhees raced in from four yards out to give SDSU a 24-9 lead with four seconds left in the first half. After taking that lead into halftime, the Jacks added to it on their first possession of the second half, adding a three-yard touchdown by Amar Johnson to put SDSU up 31-9.
The following drive featured the kill shot as Gronowski threw his second touchdown pass of the game on a 53-yard screen to Griffin Wilde to put SDSU up 38-9 with 7:47 left in the third quarter.
Gronowski finished by completing 14-of-25 passes for 258 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but its been his connection with Wilde, who caught four passes for 139 yards and a score, and fellow receiver Logan Ogroske (one catch, 15 yards) that has impressed Rogers as the season progressed.
I think Mark and Griffin just continue to build that connection with one another and youve seen Lofton make a couple of grabs, Rogers said. Were just taking what the defense gives us and were executing on offense.
Gronowski took it a step further, suggesting that Wilde has channeled a pair of his favorite targets from the past couple of years, Jadon and Jaxon Janke.
Hes watched the Jankes for a long time and hes trying to take some of those moves so it really looks like the Jankes sometimes, Gronowski explained. Even that bubble screenhe ended going for 50 yards and thats the same thing Jadon did here in 2022. So its kind of cool.
Vorhees scored his second touchdown of the game on a two-yard run with 9:02 remaining to put the finishing touches on the victory.
Brenner had three catches for 28 yards and a touchdown. Kentrell Prjean caught a pair of passes for 35 yards and Angel Johnson had two catches for 23 yards. Lofton Ogroske had a 15-yard reception, Amar Johnson had a 13-yard reception, Davin Stoffel had a five-yard reception and Marcus Preston had a two-yard reception.
Amar Johnson led the Jacks in rushing with 12 carries for 58 yards and two touchdowns. Maxwell Woods had six carries for 51 yards, Angel Johnson had nine carries for 33 yards and Vorhees had eight carries for 30 yards and two touchdowns.
Adam Bock led SDSU with six total tackles. Aaron Wofcale-Holsten also had 1.5 sacks. Bryce Hawthorn had a sack and Reis Kirschenman had a 0.5 sacks.
Clark completed 14-of-31 passes for the Bears, throwing for 186 yards. DVontae Key caught five passes for 70 yards. Jacardia Wright led Missouri State with nine carries for 16 yards.
Michael Teason led the Bears with eight total tackles. Caleb Dietlin and Mitchell Toney each had 0.5 sacks.
The win helped the Jacks close the regular season with a 10-2 record and earn the No. 3 seed in the FCS Playoffs. SDSU will have a bye this upcoming weekend and will host the winner of Saturday’s game between No. 14 Montana and Tennessee State at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings on Dec. 7.
Leave a Reply