Playoff run ends in semifinals

Friday, December 14

Fargo, N.D.

7 p.m.

South Dakota State University

10-3

North Dakota State

14-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

South Dakota State

North Dakota State

Photo by: Jason Salzman

12/14/2018 11:10:00 PM | Football

Box Score

FARGO, N.D. – Top-seeded North Dakota State grabbed the lead late in the first half and scored on its first five possessions of the second half to down fifth-seeded South Dakota State, 44-21, in the semifinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs Friday night at the Fargodome.

The defending national champion Bison remained undefeated at 14-0 and will face either Eastern Washington or Maine in the national championship game Jan. 5 in Frisco, Texas. SDSU, which was making its second consecutive national semifinal appearance, ended its season with a 10-3 record.

Bison quarterback Easton Stick scored each of his team's first two touchdowns, opening the scoring with a 5-yard run in the first quarter, followed by a 34-yard run with 1 minute, 35 seconds to play in the second quarter. Stick's second touchdown run came after the Jackrabbits tied the game at 7-all in the final minute of the first quarter on a 30-yard touchdown run by redshirt freshman running back Pierre Strong, Jr.

Strong hit the 1,000-yard mark for the season on only his 100^th carry of the season earlier in the opening stanza.

NDSU carried the momentum into the second half, pushing its lead to 21-7 35 seconds into the third quarter. Seth Wilson broke off a 78-yard run on the first play from scrimmage, then Bruce Anderson plunged in from a yard out.

SDSU responded on its opening drive of the second half, putting together a seven-play, 75-yard drive. Jackrabbit quarterback Taryn Christion connected with Isaiah Hill on a 48-yard catch and run to move the ball deep into NDSU territory. The senior signal-caller then hit freshman tight end Blake Kunz on a slant over the middle of the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown.

It was more Anderson in the third quarter for the Bison, who extended their lead to 35-14 with two more third-quarter touchdowns. First, Anderson scored on a 14-yard pass from Stick, then bolted 41 yards around the left side for his third score of the quarter.

The Jackrabbits scored what would be their final touchdown of the night in the closing seconds of the third quarter on a 52-yard pass down the middle from Christion to Cade Johnson. It was Johnson's school-record 17^th receiving touchdown of the season.

NDSU thwarted any chance of a Jackrabbit comeback, wearing down the SDSU defense with a 15-play, 61-yard drive that bridged into the fourth quarter and ended on a 32-yard field goal by Cam Pedersen after more than nine minutes ticked off the clock.

Stick provided the final blow with a 28-yard touchdown run with just over four minutes to play, ending a night in which he rushed for 147 yards on 16 carries and completed 12-of-15 passes for 169 yards.

The Bison racked up 608 yards of total offense, including 439 on the ground. Anderson gained 79 yards on nine carries.

For the Jackrabbits, Strong posted his fifth 100-yard game in the last six games, tallying 135 yards on 20 carries. In his final collegiate game, Christion completed 10-of-26 passes for 180 yards and added 32 yards on 10 rushing attempts. Johnson led SDSU receivers with three catches for 89 yards.

Defensively, Christian Rozeboom paced SDSU with a game-high 11 tackles, followed by 10 stops from Joshua Manchigiah. Dan Marlette led the Bison with eight tackles.

NOTES

NDSU leads the all-time series, 62-42-5, and has won all four postseason games between the two squads
The Jackrabbits fell to 8-8 in FCS postseason games
Friday's game marked the first time all season SDSU did not score first
The Jackrabbits scored in 46 of 52 quarters – plus an overtime session – this season
Strong became the first SDSU running back to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since Zach Zenner in 2014 and is the first freshman to reach the milestone since Josh Ranek in 1998
The Jackrabbit single-season record for touchdown receptions was previously set by Jake Wieneke in 2014 and matched in 2016 and 2017
Christion topped the 3,000-yard mark passing for the third consecutive year, finishing with 3,020 yards
Christion ended his career atop the Missouri Valley Football Conference charts with 11,535 passing yards, 104 touchdown passes and 13,050 yards of total offense
Johnson finished fourth in single-season receiving yards at SDSU with 1,332 and 10^th in single-season receptions with 67
Rozeboom registered double figures in tackles for the fifth time this season and 19^th time in 40 career games
NDSU held a 34:44 to 25:16 advantage in time of possession after the teams were nearly equal at halftime
Attendance was 18,286