It wasn’t pretty in the first half but when the dust settled, the South Dakota State football team won their 29th consecutive game and was standing on the podium for the second consecutive year after defeating Montana, 23-3, in the FCS national championship game.
First-year head coach Jimmy Rogers was the first to hoist the trophy over his head as the sea of Jackrabbits fans that overtook the field cheered him on.
“That first one was just really, really sweet because it was the first one and we got to see the other team do it three years ago, be up on that stage where we weren’t,” quarterback Mark Gronowski said after the game. “And all the guys that have put in so much work. As coach was saying earlier, we have so many six-year guys that gave so much to this program and to do it for them is probably the sweetest part of it.”
South Dakota State took an early 7-0 lead but never looked comfortable in the first half. Montana put together a strong first drive, carving up the typically smothering Jackrabbits defense, and was a yard away from scoring on fourth down before Adam Bock came up with the stop of the game right outside the end zone.
“Jason (Freeman) did a good job of setting that edge there, and I knew I had the next fit after that,” Bock said of the game-changing play. “I’ve been on too many of the wrong side of those. It was just huge to come up with that in a big-time game.”
A few plays later, Gronowski threw an uncharacteristic interception and Montana capitalized on great field position with a field goal. After that field goal, it became a defensive showdown with neither team able to score in the rest of the first half.
The Jackrabbits’ defense was largely stellar throughout the game, apart from that first Montana drive, but the offense finally started to get going in the second half.
On the second drive of the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/south-dakota-state-football-dominates-220719038.html
Author : Argus Leader
Publish date : 2024-01-07 22:07:19
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