South Dakota State Defeats North Dakota State 29-24

www.gobison.com

South Dakota State Defeats North Dakota State 29-24

Courtesy: Associated Press Release: 11/17/2007

South Dakota State 29, #1 North Dakota State 24 (Box Score)

Article Audio/Video

Listen South Dakota State 29, North Dakota State 24

Tyler Roehl rushed for two touchdowns in the 29-24 loss at South Dakota State on Saturday.

A season that started with three straight losses ended a lot better for South Dakota State on Saturday.

The Jackrabbits won their first conference title in 44 years, drew an all-time record crowd and reclaimed the traveling Dakota Marker Trophy by downing North Dakota State 29-24 for the Great West Football Conference title.

Brock Gentile's interception with 1:19 left preserved the win - the fifth straight - for SDSU (7-4, 4-0 GWC) in its 94th meeting with North Dakota State.

It was the first loss of the year for North Dakota State (10-1, 3-1 GWC) and broke a 14-game winning streak dating to the 2006 season.

It was a final Great West Conference game for both teams, which are ending the transition from NCAA Division II to the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly 1AA) and will both join the Gateway Football Conference next season.

The play of special teams was a big factor for SDSU. The Jackrabbits blocked a punt that led to their first TD two plays later, scored on a long punt return and recovered a North Dakota State fumble on the second-half kickoff.

SDSU scored on its first three possessions to lead 13-3.

"Anytime you have a punt block that's a concern. Not only a punt block but a punt taken back for a touchdown - that's a 14-point swing and that's pretty big," said NDSU coach Craig Bohl.

"We also fumbled the kickoff, so a lot of points in the special teams was disappointing, so it certainly didn't help our effort in winning."

An all-time record home crowd of 16,345 saw Paul Aanonson come close to a record of his own. His 94-yard scoring run on a punt return put the Jackrabbits ahead 20-3 midway through the second quarter. The school record for a punt return touchdown is 95 yards.

"That might have been the biggest play of the game right there because they had a little bit of momentum and were stopping us on offense," said SDSU quarterback Ryan Berry. "Then he does that and shifts momentum all the way back in our favor, and that was huge."

"We tell our players whether you get two reps on special teams or get 60 reps on defense or offense, anytime you're on the field you have a chance to affect the football game," said SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier. "Our players take that to heart when they take the field and they expect to make a difference. And they did that today."

NDSU's only lead was 24-23 on a 6-yard pass from Steve Walker to Jerimiah Wurzbacher early in the fourth period.

Cory Koenig rushed for 131 yards on 22 carries and scored on runs of 1 and 42 yards for SDSU. The 42-yard TD scamper, with 9:10 left, put South Dakota State (7-4, 4-0 GWC) ahead by the final score.

North Dakota State had two more possessions, but the first ended in a lost fumble with 7:20 to play and the second ended with the Gentile interception. In between, South Dakota State's Parker Douglass, who earlier had field goals of 31, 29 and 27 yards, missed a 41-yarder with 1:51 remaining.

Tyler Roehl rushed for 79 yards and scored twice for North Dakota State, previously rated No. 1 in the FCS coaches poll and still holding a 51-38-5 advantage in its series with SDSU.

Quarterback Walker was 16-28 in passing for 173 yards, giving him a school record 2,327 yards for the season. Alex Belquist had five catches for 58 yards and Kole Heckendorf five catches for 54 yards. Heckendorf has now caught at least one pass in 25 straight games and in 32 of 33 career games.

A week earlier, NDSU scored 22 points in the final 10 minutes to beat Cal Poly 31-28.

"It's not every time we can pull that out," said NDSU senior linebacker Joe Mays, who was in on a team-leading 11 tackles. "We've had the privilege of doing that, but today was not our day from beginning to end."

"I feel like someone hit me in the stomach. It hurts, man."