September 5, 2015
Photos courtesy by Donald Weidler
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
MADISON, S.D. – Trailing 24-21 in the fourth quarter versus Dordt (Iowa), Dakota State (S.D.) rallied back for their first football victory of the game after the Trojans used 12 plays for 75 yards in 4 minutes and 7 seconds Saturday evening at Trojan Field. Jeremy Christner rushed for a game-winning touchdown with 3:03 remaining and Trojans' defense stopped Dordt in the final possession, hanging on for DSU's 28-24 victory.
It was the second straight meeting victory for Dakota State, who defeated the Defenders last season in Sioux Center. DSU improved their overall record to 1-1. Dordt was playing their first game of the 2015 season Saturday.
A total of three turnovers were committed in the first 11-and-half minutes in the opening quarter. The Trojans could not take advantage first when DC fumbled the ball on their first possession of the game (Andre Williams fumbled on the DSU's 42-yard line and was recovered by Cooper Hausmann).
Later in the first quarter, the Trojans committed a turnover during the punt return team where Brendon Waldner fumbled on the DSU's 18-yard line and recovered by DC's Glen Thompson.
Dakota State would answer back after another fumble committed on the ensuing drive, which was recovered by Eric Tieszen and returned for touchdown. However, a penalty flag committed by the Trojans occurred on DC's 42-yard line forced DSU to start their drive on their own 42 yard-line with 2:42 left in the first quarter.
DSU earned the first points of the game after using 5 plays for 58 yards in 1 minute as Daveon Banks rushed for a 22-yard touchdown. Nic Behrens added the PAT kick to give the Trojans a 7-0 lead with 1:42 left in the opening quarter.
Dordt quickly scored in the early second quarter, thanks to a 72-yard kick-off return by Xavier Caffee near the end of the first quarter. The Defenders started their drive on DSU's 22-yard line and went on to use 6 plays for 22 yards in 2:53 as Loken VandeVegte rushed for a 2-yard touchdown run.
The PAT kick by DC's Jake Brouwer was no good as the Trojans held on to a 7-6 lead with 13:49 remaining before intermission.
The Defenders added another score after recording 14 plays for 80 yards in 4:55. Taylan Seaman threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Caffee on third-and-five situation with 13 seconds remaining before halftime. Brouwer added the PAT kick as Dordt earned their first lead of the game at 13-7.
Dordt had the ball control for 20 minutes, 7 seconds in the first-half compared to the Trojans' 9:53 time of possession. The Defenders had a 13-7 halftime lead.
The Trojans regained their lead in the third quarter. Starting on their own 16-yard line, DSU used three straight 10-plus rushing plays – two from Christner (19 yards and 10 yards) and Banks (11 yards) – and produced three straight first downs.
As Dakota State moved the ball onto Dordt's territory, Jacob Giles connected to Austin Opdahl for a 21-yard touchdown pass with 7:37 left in the third quarter. Behrens added a successful PAT kick to put Trojans up 14-13. DSU used 10 plays for 84 yards in 3:37 for their scoring drive.
The Defenders answered back on the ensuing possession by using 13 plays for 55 yards in 6:38 to overtake the lead from the Trojans for the second time. Seaman sneaked in for a 1-yard touchdown run with 59 seconds left in the third quarter. Bryce Lidtka rushed for the 2-point conversion as Dordt took a 21-14 lead.
DSU came back and tied the game in the early fourth quarter. Near the end of the third quarter, the Trojans started the drive with two 20-and-more yard plays with Hagan Hines rushing for 20 yards and Giles' 33-yard pass to Opdahl.
Banks rushed for his second touchdown of the game with 14:01 remaining in the game, recording a 2-yard touchdown run. Behrens' PAT kick was good as the Trojans tied the game at 21-21.
Dordt broke the 21-21 tie into a 24-21 lead after Brouwer hit a 40-yard field goal with 7:10 remaining. The Defenders used 6 plays for 45 yards in 2:24, thanks to a 36-yard pass from Seaman to Caffee.
The Trojans mounted a rally on the next possession. DSU used 12 plays – all running plays – on their game-winning drive for 75 yards as Christner rushed for an 11-yard touchdown run. Behrens hit the PAT kick to put Trojans up 28-24 with 3:03 remaining in the game.
During the game-winning drive, Dakota State produced five first-downs and a pair of 19 or more rushing yard plays (19-yard rush and 24-yard rush plays by Christner).
Dakota State's defense prevented Dordt on the final possession of the game. The Defenders fumbled the ball on the second play of the drive, which was forced by DSU's Cole Potter. DC was able to convert their fourth-and-nine situation on DC's 26-yard line as Seaman threw an 11-yard pass to Jason Miller with just about a minute left in the game.
Another fumble by DC's Seaman on their own 34-yard, which was recovered by Seaman on their own 26-yard line. Facing fourth-and-21 situation on DC's 26-yard line, the Trojans secured the game as Potter sacked Seaman with 41 seconds left in the game.
Dakota State outscored Dordt 14-3 in the final quarter.
Christner rushed 24 times for 188 yards with one touchdown for the Trojans. It was his third 100-plus rushing yards during his career at Dakota State, his second most rushing yards in a single game (243 yards rushing at Waldorf, Iowa on Nov. 1, 2014). Hines added 12 rushes for 92 yards. Banks had 7 rushing attempts for 41 yards and rushed two touchdowns.
Giles completed 6 passes in 12 attempts for 78 yards for DSU. He threw a touchdown. Opdahl had two receptions for 54 yards and a touchdown.
Trojan Behrens went 4-for-4 on PAT extra-point kicks. He recorded five punts for an average of 42.2 yards with one touchback and two punts inside the 20-yard line.
Ben Kullos had a game-high 20 tackles for Dakota State. It was his career-high tackles and the fourth most tackles in a single game in the Trojan Football record book. Kullos also had 3.5 tackles-for-loss of 8.7 yards.
Potter added 12 tackles and a quarterback sack for DSU. He recorded two tackles-for-loss of 8.0 yards and a forced fumble. Darion Office had 10 tackles. Hausmann and Tieszen each had a fumble recovery.
VandeVegte rushed 19 times for 65 yards with a touchdown for the Defenders. Lidtka added 16 rushes for 65 yards. Caffee had 8 carries for 37 yards.
Seaman was 7-of-11 for 98 yards and a touchdown for DC. He rushed 21 times for 24 yards with a touchdown.
Dordt's Miller had five receptions for 48 yards. Caffee added two catches for 50 yards and a touchdown.
Alex Vasquez led the Defenders with nine tackles. Danny Stevens added eight tackles. Tebi Njilefack recorded two quarterback sacks.
Dakota State recorded 24 first-downs – 21 first downs were from rushing – compared to Dordt 21 first-downs (16 first-downs from rushing) in the game.
The Trojans used 52 rushing attempts for 302 yards while the Defenders ran the ball 69 times for 215 yards.
DSU outgained DC 384-313 in total offense yards. The Trojans averaged 5.9 yards per play compared to DC 3.9 yards per play.
The Defenders maintained the ball for 36 minutes and 51 seconds. The Trojans had a time possession of 23 minutes and 9 seconds.
Dordt converted 9-of-18 on third-down conversions. DSU was 6-of-13 on third-down situations. DC was 2-of-3 on fourth downs while DSU was perfect in two tries.
Dakota State concludes their three-game home stand next Saturday at Trojan Field. The Trojans open up their North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) conference play versus Waldorf (Iowa) with a kick-off starting at 6 p.m. Dordt plays their home opener versus Northwestern (Iowa) in Great Plains Athletic Conference opener next Saturday at 6 p.m.
Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director
