Box Score Sept. 20, 2014
Final Stats
VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota rushed for 304 yards and intercepted three passes en route to a 28-21 win against No. 23 Northern Arizona Saturday on Hall of Fame Day at the DakotaDome.
Coyote quarterback Ryan Saeger rushed for a career-high 108 yards and scored touchdowns on a pair of 1-yard sneaks in the first quarter. He also threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Eric Shufford on the second play of the fourth quarter to make it a two-touchdown game, and gained 33 yards on 3rd-and-4 with three minutes to go as South Dakota (2-2) ran out the clock.
Northern Arizona (2-2) trailed 20-0 at halftime, but scored twice in the first six minutes of the second half to trim the lead to six. A muffed punt set the Lumberjacks up in Coyote territory and Casey Jahn ran in from 3 yards out three plays later to make it 20-7. Less than three minutes later, Nick Butier caught a 6-yard pass from Kyren Poe that made it 20-14.
Poe completed 11 of 22 passes for 174 yards, but was intercepted three times and was replaced midway through the fourth quarter. Steve Tellefsen and Sean Bredl stopped Northern Arizona's first possessions with picks and the Coyotes capitalized on both of them, driving 68 yards for their first score and 42 yards for the second to lead 14-0. Miles Bergner added field goals of 31 and 22 yards before halftime.
Bergner pinned Northern Arizona with a 53-yard punt with five minutes left in the third quarter. South Dakota's defense forced a three-and-out and the Coyotes took over from their 47. USD ran seven straight times to get inside the 10 before Saeger hit a diving Shufford in the back of the end zone on 2nd-and-goal from the 9 that made it 26-14.
South Dakota faked the extra point attempt and Shufford, the holder who spent a year at quarterback in high school, threw a strike to fullback Drew Potter who was wide open in the end zone for the two-point conversion. The score made it 28-14 with 14:09 remaining.
Northern Arizona backup quarterback Chase Cartwright threw a 38-yard pass to Ify Umodu on fourth down to reach the 3-yard line with 4:30 to go. Jahn ran in from three yards out to make it 28-21 with 4:16 to go. Jahn led the Lumberjacks with 61 yards on 16 carries.
The Lumberjacks kicked deep and never got the ball back. Saeger's 3rd-and-4 conversion preceded two hard runs by Trevor Bouma that iced the game.
In addition to Saeger's 108 yards, Bouma carried 21 times for 89 yards, Jordan Roberts ran 13 times for 56 yards and Jasper Sanders had five carries for 59 yards before leaving in the first half with a shoulder injury. Saeger completed 6 of 15 passes for 85 yards.
South Dakota improved to 2-0 at home and is off next week. The Coyotes begin their eight-game MVFC schedule Oct. 4 at Southern Illinois.
