FARGO, N.D. — Cam Miller and Bryce Lance connected on three touchdown passes, including the game-winner with 4 minutes and 2 seconds remaining, to lift North Dakota State to a 28-21 victory over South Dakota State in the semifinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs Saturday at the Fargodome.
The second-seeded Bison improved to 13-2 overall in advancing to the national championship game Jan. 6 in Frisco, Texas. SDSU, seeded third, had its season end with a 12-3 record while making its fifth consecutive appearance in the semifinal round.
Lance opened the scoring by hauling in a 21-yard touchdown pass from Miller on NDSU’s opening drive of the game.
SDSU responded with scores on each of its next two drives, starting with a 10-play, 75-yard march. The Jackrabbits converted on a pair of third-down plays on Mark Gronowski passes of 17 and 35 yards to Griffin Wilde and Logan O’Groske, respectively, before the SDSU signal-caller plunged in from a yard out for the first score.
The Jackrabbits bridged an 11-play, 86-yard touchdown drive between the end of the first quarter and start of the second quarter, taking what would be their only lead of the game on a 39-yard touchdown run by Amar Johnson.
The SDSU defense came up with another stop, but the momentum shifted when the Bison came up with the only takeaway of the game by forcing and recovering a fumble at the Jackrabbit 23 late in the second quarter. The Bison capitalized, scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run by Miller.
In a scoreless third quarter, the two squads combined for five punts and NDSU took over after another Jackrabbit punt early in the fourth. The Bison then needed only three plays to take the lead as Miller found Lance deep over the middle for a 47-yard touchdown.
However, the Jackrabbits answered with another long drive, covering 90 yards on 10 plays. Once again, Gronowski came up big on third-down plays as he moved the chains with strikes of 27 yards to Griffin Wilde and 14 yards to Greyton Gannon before Johnson picked up 31 yards on a short pass over the middle that put the ball at the NDSU 16. Three plays later, Gronowski hit Grahm Goering over the middle for a 14-yard, game-tying touchdown.
Miller started the Bison rally on the ensuing possession with a 25-yard run down the left sideline that had 15 yards added to it on a personal foul penalty. He finished off the drive by finding Lance for a second time in the right corner as the Bison receiver made a one-handed catch that originally ruled incomplete before being overturned into a touchdown after video review.
Lance ended the day with six catches for 125 yards. Miller completed 13-of-19 passes for 179 yards and was the leading rusher for NDSU with 93 yards on 15 carries.
SDSU’s last attempt to tie or win the game stalled after an offensive facemask penalty near midfield. The Bison sealed the victory by sacking Gronowski on a fourth-and-17 play.
The Jackrabbits held a narrow 333-329 advantage in total offense. Gronowski finished 14-of-25 passing for 204 yards in his final collegiate game and also gained 50 yards on 15 carries. Johnson led the ground game with 77 yards on 15 carries, while Wilde tallied a team-high four catches for 66 yards.
Adam Bock registered eight tackles to lead SDSU, followed by seven stops each by Colby Humphrey and Daeton Mcgaughy. Logan Kopp notched 10 tackles to lead all players for NDSU.
NOTES
- NDSU leads the all-time series, 65-47-5, including a 5-1 mark in the FCS playoffs
- The Bison recorded 10 tackles for loss, compared to six by SDSU
- Hunter Dustman punted four times for an average of 49 yards
- Dustman ended his Jackrabbit career fifth in scoring with 350 points
- Bock closed out this career second on the SDSU all-time tackles chart with 446
- Gronowski ranked second in SDSU history in passing yards (10,309), total offense (12,076 yards) and passing touchdowns (93)
- Gronowski passed and rushed for a touchdown in the same game for the 26th time in his career
- Johnson closed his career eighth in rushing for the Jackrabbits with 3,194 yards
- Wilde finished his sophomore season tied for sixth on the SDSU single-season charts for receiving touchdowns (12), ninth in receiving yards (1,147) and tied for 10th in receptions (70)
- Attendance was 17,849