South Dakota State put the clamps on an explosive Incarnate Word offense and came up with big plays of its own in the passing game to steamroll its way to the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals with a 55-14 victory Saturday at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
In reaching the FCS semifinals for the fifth consecutive season and seventh time in the last eight years, the third-seeded Jackrabbits improved to 12-2 overall. SDSU will travel to second-seeded North Dakota State on Dec. 21 for an 11 a.m. matchup with a trip to the national championship game in Frisco, Texas, on the line.
For the second week in a row, the Jackrabbits were able to recover from losing a fumble on their opening possession of the game. After forcing UIW into a three-and-out on the ensuing possession, SDSU broke into the scoring column late in the first quarter. Jackrabbit quarterback Mark Gronowski extended the drive with a 9-yard run on third-and-7, then connected with Griffin Wilde on a 35-yard pass in the left corner of the end zone.
The Gronowski-to-Wilde connection continued early in the second quarter as the Jackrabbits struck for 24 points. Gronowski found Wilde open deep over the middle for a second 35-yard touchdown to start the scoring binge.
Gronowski added two more touchdowns on the ground in the stanza, finding paydirt from 3 yards and 1 yard. His first touchdown was set up by a interception and 32-yard return by Matthew Durrance to the UIW 17.
The Jackrabbit defense came up with another takeaway later in the quarter when Steven Arrell punched the ball loose from a Cardinal receiver and Tucker Large recovered at the UIW 31. Hunter Dustman’s 36-yard field goal with a second remaining in the half pushed the Jackrabbit lead to 31-0.
SDSU gained further separation on the opening drive of the second half when Gronowski rolled left on a third-and-2 play and looped a pass to a wide-open David Alpers for a 59-yard touchdown. It mark the first collegiate touchdown for the tight end from Sioux Falls.
UIW, which ended the season 11-3 overall and had its 10-game winning streak snapped, began to find some rhythm offensively in the third quarter, putting together a pair of scoring drives. Cardinal quarterback Zach Calzada directed a 15-play, 69-yard march that ended with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Roy Alexander for the first score, then Calzada scored on a 1-yard run on the next Cardinal drive.
The Jackrabbits took advantage of several short-field situations in the fourth quarter to put up 17 more points. Backup running backs Kriby Vorhees and Brenden Begeman each scored on 1-yard runs following a 30-yard field goal by Dustman. Begeman’s first collegiate touchdown was set up by a 29-yard pass from Jon Bell to Kentrell Prejean.
SDSU held a 476-345 advantage in total offense, rushing for 273 yards and passing for 203 more yards on only eight completions. Amar Johnson paced the rushing attack with 132 yards on 18 carries while Gronowski completed 7-of-16 passes for 174 yards and three scores.
Wilde ended the day with three catches for 67 yards, with freshman Lofton O’Groske adding three catches for 48 yards.
A finalist for the Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in the FCS, Calzada completed 37-of-51 passes for 258 yards. Alexander was his top target with 13 catches for 92 yards, followed by nine catches and 66 yards from Jalen Walthall. Lontrell Turner was UIW’s leading rusher with 41 yards on six carries.
Senior linebackers Adam Bock and Graham Spalding registered 11 and 10 tackles, respectively, in what likely will be the final home game of their careers. Arrell added a career-high eight tackles, with Tucker Large also notching eight stops.
Mason Chambers led sixth-seeded UIW with nine tackles.
NOTES
- The Jackrabbits lead the all-time series, 2-0, with both games played in Brookings this season (SDSU won 45-24 on Sept. 7)
- SDSU improved to 24-12 in FCS playoff games, including a 16-1 mark at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, and has won 10 consecutive postseason games
- The Jackrabbits extended their overall home winning streak to 29 games
- Gronowski topped 10,000 yards passing for his career, ending the day with 10,105 yards
- Gronowski tied North Dakota State’s Easton Stick for the most career wins by an FCS quarterback with 49, including a 31-0 record in home games
- Johnson posted his ninth career 100-yard game and moved into eighth place in career rushing at SDSU with 3,117 yards, passing both Cory Koenig (2,990 yards from 2004-07) and Les Tuma (3,018 yards from 1970-73)
- Bock turned in the 17th double-digit tackling performance of his career and upped his career total to 438, overtaking Greg Osmundson (435 tackles from 1986-89) for second place in program history
- Dustman punted three times for an average of 53.7 yards, including a career-long 69-yarder on his final attempt
- SDSU has outscored the opposition 231-43 in the second quarter of games this season, including a 130-12margin during its current seven-game winning streak
- UIW was 4-of-15 on third-down attempts and 1-of-6 on fourth-down plays
- Attendance was 8,671