VERMILLION, S.D. — On Dakota Days on the campus of the University of South Dakota, it would be the Coyote football team (5-1, 3-0 MVFC) who used a season-best 321 passing yards and three passing touchdowns in a 42-17 Homecoming win over the Northern Iowa Panthers (2-4, 0-2 MVFC).
South Dakota has now scored 40+ points in four-straight games and doing so in front of the home crowd every game so far this season. The Yotes would score a touchdown on their first six possessions of the contest, responding to Northern Iowa’s early punch. Senior running back Travis Theis (Sr., Pratt, Kan.) also became just the third Coyote to rush for 3,000 yards in their USD career this afternoon.
“Happy D-Days everybody! That’s a great win in front of a great crowd. I couldn’t be prouder of our football team,” commented head coach Bob Nielson. “Northern Iowa is a very good football team, a team that will give everyone in the league a problem.”
It was the Northern Iowa Panthers who came to play early on. The Panthers took the opening possession down the field for a touchdown, taking the second play from scrimmage with a 49-yard pass over the middle deep into Coyote territory. UNI would finish the drive with a touchdown, making it 7-0 early.
The South Dakota offense wasted no time themselves in responding in a packed Dome. A 29-yard connection from Aidan Bouman (Jr., Buffalo, Minn.) to JJ Galbreath (Sr., Arvada, Colo.) would set the Yotes up at midfield. Just six plays later, Bouman would find Galbreath again, as Galbreath would leap over a Panther to knot the game up at 7-7.
UNI would tack on a field goal early in the second quarter to take a 10-7 lead, but it would prove to be their final lead of the afternoon with USD going on to score 28 unanswered points throughout the rest of the first half and into the third quarter.
The rest of the second quarter would be summed up with two words: Travis Theis. Theis would secure his second receiving touchdown of the season with a 49-yard connection down the sideline that would give USD their first – and final – lead of the day.
Galbreath and Theis are now the only two Coyotes with multiple receiving touchdowns on the season.
Following a three-and-out from the Coyote defense, Theis would scamper in for a three-yard rushing score to make it 21-10. In a set package with just a couple minutes left in the first half, Nevan Cremascoli (So., Winnetka, Ill.) would complete his first pass as a Coyote, finding a wide-open AJ Coons (Sr., Solon, Iowa) for Cremascoli’s first USD touchdown pass and Coons’ first USD touchdown reception.
UNI would get the ball with under two minutes left in the first half and put on display their effective two-minute offense. Starting on their own 25-yard line, the Panthers would push the ball all the way down to the South Dakota 16-yard line in just nine plays. But it would be Gary Bryant III (So., Baltimore, Md.) with his first-career interception to keep the Panthers off the board before the half and give the Yotes the momentum firmly in their favor.
South Dakota would take a 28-10 lead into the locker room. The two teams would trade scores in the third quarter, as Charles Pierre Jr. (So., Orlando, Fla.) picked up his first rushing score five minutes into the second half to cap off a five-play, 75-yard drive. Later in the frame, Pierre Jr. would cap off an 80-yard Yote drive with a 20-yard touchdown run to bring his season total up to 10 rushing scores.
“The guys love playing inside the Dome and I hope that the fans that came today said, ‘man, that’s a fun team to watch’ and I hope they keep coming,” noted Nielson.
Pierre Jr., seeing a large majority of carries in the second half, picked up his second 100-yard rushing game of the season. South Dakota has now seen a 100-yard rusher in the last three games and four times this season.
Up Next: South Dakota be on the road for the rest of the month of October, beginning with a trip to eastern Ohio next weekend against the Penguins of Youngstown State on October 19 at 5:00 p.m. (CT).