South Dakota State Football tops Incarnate Word to advance to FCS semifinals

A lot has changed since South Dakota State football and Incarnate Word last met in early September.

At this point, the breeze was not as frosty and there was no snow around the SDSU field. With a team from Texas on the road, the Jackrabbits took advantage of the weather to prepare for Saturday’s quarterfinals, and it paid off.

South Dakota State football coach Jimmy Rogers said the team practiced outside Monday night when temperatures reached freezing. Another outdoor training session took place on Friday morning when temperatures dropped to -7°C. With that in mind, Saturday’s 32 degrees felt a bit warm for SDSU. While the Cardinals seemed to struggle with the weather, the Jackrabbits embraced it and played with great joy and energy. SDSU quarterback Mark Gronowski even played the game without arm sleeves.

“You know, this is sick, but there’s a little bit of joy in other people’s misery,” Rogers quipped after the game. “I just think if we want to play in the elements, we have to practice in the elements… That didn’t feel like something for our guys.”

South Dakota State took advantage and dismantled Incarnate Word 55-14 to advance to the FCS semifinals.

A 24-point performance by SDSU in the second quarter put the game out of reach early. Gronowski finished the first half with four touchdowns – two passing and two rushing. On defense, the Jackrabbits made all the key plays, overwhelming the Cardinals on downs twice in the first half and five times overall. Matthew Durrance also had an interception and Steven Arrell forced a fumble.

Gronowski completed seven of his 16 passes for 174 yards and three touchdowns. The quarterback also had a few rushing touchdowns. Griffin Wilde was SDSU’s leading receiver, recording 67 yards and two touchdowns on three receptions. Amar Johnson led the Jackrabbits in rushing yards with 132 on 18 carries.

Here are a few takeaways from South Dakota State’s win over Incarnate Word.

The offensive explosion in the second quarter sparked the win

South Dakota State held a 7-0 lead after one quarter of play. They then added 24 unanswered points to put the game out of reach.

Gronowski threw his second spectacular touchdown pass of the day to Wilde in the second quarter, this time for 35 yards, to double their lead. A few minutes later, Durrance intercepted a pass from Incarnate Word and ran it to the 15-yard line, giving the Jackrabbits excellent scoring position. The Cardinals did a good job holding off South Dakota State’s running game on the first few plays until Gronowski reached the end zone on a three-yard touchdown run.

Gronowski capped another SDSU drive in the second quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run, and then the Jackrabbits added three more points after converting a 35-yard field goal in the final seconds of the quarter to take the tie gave us a lead of 31 points at halftime.

South Dakota State’s defense came up with key fourth-down stops

The few times Incarnate Word looked dangerous or was in dangerous positions, South Dakota State’s defense came through. The Cardinals may have shot themselves in the foot in the first quarter by punting on fourth down from a dangerous position instead of trying, but they didn’t have much better luck actually trying.

The second quarter began with Incarnate Word in a dangerous position near their end zone, but that push ended with SDSU turning the Cardinals over on downs. The Jackrabbits stopped Incarnate Word twice in the first half and five times in the entire fourth-place game.

“That’s huge,” Dalys Beanum said as he stopped the Cardinals on fourth down. “When a team thinks they can get it done in the fourth and the defense ends up stopping them, that’s a huge dynamic change, especially when we give (the ball) to our explosive offense.”

Gronowski on the edge of FCS history

With the win, Gronowski tied Easton Stick of North Dakota State for the most FCS wins by a starting quarterback with 49. With a win in the semifinals next week, Gronowski has the chance to become the sole record holder.

South Dakota State will face the winner of the North Dakota State Mercer quarterfinal in next week’s semifinals.

Breaking News

Dellupodisabato

South Dakota State Football tops Incarnate Word to advance to FCS semifinals

Leave a Reply Cancel reply