November 11, 2017
Photos credits by Lori Waldner
MADISON, S.D. – Tied 7-7 early in the second quarter Saturday afternoon at Swisher Field, Dakota State (S.D.) went on to score 45 straight points to spoil Presentation's (S.D.) Senior Day for a 59-21 victory. It was the final regular-season North Star conference game for both teams.
Dakota State finished their 2017 regular-season with the most impressive overall record of 8-3, as well as 6-2 record in the North Star conference games. It was the most victories since 1998 for DSU and the most conference victories since joining the North Star conference in 2013. Dakota State finished as a runner-up in the North Star conference standing behind the conference's leader Dickinson State (N.D.).
The Trojans, receiving votes' recognition in the latest NAIA Football Coaches' Top 25 national poll, closed out the regular-season schedule with five victories in the last six games. DSU tied the season-high points with 59 (defeated Waldorf, Iowa on Oct. 7 at Trojan Field). The Trojans also finished their North Star conference road games with an undefeated 4-0 record.
Presentation suffered their third straight defeat to drop their overall record to 4-6 and 3-5 NSAA conference record.
FIRST QUARTER
Dakota State kicked off the game with a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The Trojan used eight plays for 73 yards in 3 minutes, 38 second sin the scoring drive as Jacob Giles threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Austin Opdahl. DSU produced three consecutive first-down plays in the first scoring drive, including a 24-yard pass from Giles to Mitchell Galloway. Brywn Ractliffe's PAT extra-point kick was good as DSU gained a seven-point lead with 11:22 on the clock.
Dakota State held a 7-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.
SECOND QUARTER
Presentation knotted the game at 7-7 in the early second quarter. PC started their drive late in the first quarter and continued its drive in the early second quarter with 10 plays for 46 yards in 3:38. Austin Eggl threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Hawkins. Jaiden Machuca's PAT extra-point kick was good with 14:15 left in the second quarter.
The Trojans quickly answered back with a touchdown on the ensuing possession. DSU took advantage of three 15-yard penalties committed by the Saints that resulted in first-downs for DSU in the scoring drive. Giles rushed for a 2-yard touchdown, followed by Ractliffe's PAT extra-point to give Trojans a 14-7 lead with 12:29 on the clock. Dakota State recorded 8 plays for 69 yards in 1:46 in the scoring drive.
Dakota State extended their lead to 17-7 after a 21-yard field goal by Ractliffe with 3:35 to go in the second quarter. The highlight in the scoring drive was a 49-yard pass from Giles to Mason Leighton from DSU's 40-yard line to PC's 21-yard line.
Baily Edwards intercepted Eggl's pass at DSU's 35-yard line and returned it for 32 yards to PC's 33-yard line with 1:38 remaining in the second quarter. Five plays later, Dakota State widen their lead to 24-7 when Giles connected to Brendon Waldner for a 23-yard touchdown. Ractliffe's PAT extra-point kick was successful with 51 seconds remaining before intermission.
Dakota State outscored Presentation 17-7 in the second quarter.
THIRD QUARTER
After Presentation went three-and-out to start the third quarter, Dakota State took advantage of the starting position at PC's 41-yard line. The Trojans used 5 plays for 41 yards in 1:57 as Giles recorded a 15-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell Galloway with 11:24 on the clock. DSU's lead ballooned to 31-7 after Ractliffe converted a successful PAT extra-point kick.
The Saints were forced to punt after their second straight three-and-out in the third quarter. DSU's Brock Reinhiller blocked Machuca's punt on PC's 23-yard line and returned it for a touchdown with 10:08 remaining in the third quarter. Ractliffe followed up with a successful PAT extra-point kick as DSU's lead grew to 38-7.
Dakota State continued its outburst as they recorded their third touchdown of the third quarter. DSU registered 7 plays for 59 yards in 3:30 as Brodie Frederiksen rushed for a 10-yard touchdown. Ractliffe added the PAT extra-point kick as the Trojans expanded their lead to 45-7 with 2:23 left in the third quarter.
By the end of the third quarter, Opdahl broke the DSU's single-season record for most receiving yards after a 24-yard completion from Giles. He accumulated a total of 1,121 receiving yards this season, breaking the previous record holder by former NAIA All-American Tommy Hofer with 1,097 receiving yards in 2005.
Dakota State shut down Presentation 21-0 in the third quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER
Giles threw his fourth touchdown of the game in the early fourth quarter as Dakota State's lead grew to 52-7. He threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Galloway, followed up by Ractliffe's PAT extra-point kick with 14:04 remaining. The Trojans recorded 7 plays for 67 yards in 2:04 in the scoring drive.
Presentation ended their scoring drought on the ensuing possession with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Eggl to Maurice Whiters. Machuca added the PAT extra-point kick to cut DSU's lead to 52-14 with 8:42 left. The Saints registered 13 plays for 71 yards in 5:22.
PC took advantage of DSU's fumble on Trojan 34-yard line on the next possession. The Saints quickly scored with a 34-yard touchdown pass from Zachary Sebern to Jesse Babcock. The PAT extra-point kick by Machuca was good as the Trojans maintained a 52-21 lead with 7:50 remaining.
Dakota State made it 59-21 when Jared Richardson threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Leighton. Ractliffe added the PAT extra-point kick with 6:28 left in the game.
The Trojans prevented the Saints to score again. Daidrick Kibbie intercepted Eggl's pass at the DSU 1-yard line with less than four minutes remaining in the game.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Giles finished the game by completing 31 passes in 49 attempts for a total of 357 yards for Dakota State. He threw four touchdown passes. He rushed four times for 15 yards and a touchdown. Richardson added 4-of-5 for 80 yards with a touchdown.
Eight DSU players recorded a catch in the game, led by Leighton with 7 catches for a season-high 170 yards with a touchdown. Waldner added 6 receptions for 82 yards and a touchdown. Galloway had six catches for 63 yards and two touchdowns. Opdahl recorded 5 receptions for 40 yards with a touchdown. Trever Listman had four catches for 25 yards. Hagan Hines recorded 3 catches for 24 yards. Eric Gauer had three receptions for 17 yards, while Josh Giese recorded a catch for six yards.
Hines rushed nine times for 50 yards for the Trojans. Frederiksen added five rushes for 25 yards and a touchdown.
Marcus Vanden Bosch led DSU's defense with 10 tackles (9 solo). Dereck DeVries added eight tackles and recorded a forced fumble. Curt Boeke and John Trout each added six tackles. Boeke had three sacks for 21 yards loss, while Trout added two sacks for 9 yards loss.
Boeke recorded two pass deflections in the game for Dakota State. Edwards and Kibbie each had an interception. Reinhiller had a blocked punt and returned it for a touchdown.
Eggl was 23-of-48 for 218 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions for Presentation. Sebern was 1-of-1 for 34 yards with a touchdown. He also rushed eight times for 50 yards and caught four passes for 24 yards.
Whiters had five receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown for the Saints. Austin Carr added five receptions for 58 yards.
Adail Froome, Bezhawn Hill and Anointe Marshall each led PC's defense with seven tackles. Gabe Medrano and Skyler Miller each added six tackles.
TEAM COMPARISONS
Dakota State racked up a total of 550 yards (77 plays – 7.1 yards per play) in the game, the seventh time this season that the Trojans had piled up over 500 offensive yards. Presentation registered 324 offensive yards in 78 plays (4.2 yards per play). The Trojans had 437 passing yards compared to the Saints 252 passing yards. DSU outrushed PC 113-72.
Dakota State recorded 30 first-downs in the game while Presentation had 23 first-downs.
DSU converted 10-of-15 on third-downs. PC was 10-of-19 third-downs. The Trojans were 6-of-6 on red-zone conversions. The Saints were 2-of-3 red-zone conversions.
DSU maintained the ball for 28 minutes, 44 seconds. PC recorded a time possession of 31 minutes, 15 seconds.
DSU RECORDS SET
Numerous Dakota State football records are set after the completion of the game.
Jacob Giles set a single-season record for most completions with 243 (previous record holder was set by Brandon Large with 234 completions in 2012). Giles also broke the single-season record for most passing yards with 3,133 yards, which was previously held by Large with 2,883 yards in 2012.
Giles set his previous single-season record in touchdown passes, throwing 39 touchdown passes this season for the Trojans. It was 11 more touchdown passes than his previous record in 2016 (28 touchdown passes).
Giles broke the DSU single-season record for most offensive yards with 3,311 yards (previous record holder was set by Large with 2,946 total offensive yards in 2012).
Giles completed his stellar 4-year career with DSU's all-time records of 8,736 passing yards, 98 touchdown passes, 664 completions, 1,152 passing attempts and 9,354 total offensive yards. All of those old records were previously held by Justin Thielke from 1997-2000.
Austin Opdahl set a single-season record for most receiving yards this season at Dakota State. He accumulated 1,121 receiving yards in 2017, breaking the previous record set by former NAIA All-American Tommy Hofer with 1,097 receiving yards in 2005.
Opdahl also extended the DSU's all-time touchdown receptions with 41, which is 15 more touchdown catches than the previous record holder by Hofer from 2002-05 and Zach Ely from 2011-14.
Brywn Ractliffe set a new Trojan Football single-season record with 67 total points in kicking (55 PAT extra-point kicks and 4 field goals), breaking the previous record holder by Tanner Hubbard with 60 points in 2014. Ractliffe's 55 PAT extra-point kicks is also a single-season record, which is 16 more PATs than the previous record of 39 PATs by Nic Behrens in 2015).
Brendon Waldner set the DSU all-time record with 46 punt returns (prior record was set by Charlie Flohr with 24 punt returns from 1997-2000).
Dakota State set the single-season team records for the following (previous record listed in parenthesis):
- 426 total points (368 points in 2015)
- 260 first downs (257 first-downs in 2015)
- 257 pass completions (239 pass completions in 2012)
- 3,311 passing yards (3,022 passing yards in 2102)
- 5,308 total offensive yards (5,035 total offensive yards in 2015)
FINAL GAME FOR 17 DSU TROJAN FOOTBALL PLAYERS
Saturday's game marked the final career collegiate football game for 17 Dakota State's seniors. They are Alex Babcock, Dereck DeVries, Eric Gauer, Jacob Giles, Danny Jordan, Daidrick Kibbie, Mike McAlister, Austin Opdahl, Justin Pontarelli, Brywn Ractliffe, David Riehle, Brock Reinhiller, Greg Rodriguez, Nick Van Roekel, Hunter Smith, Ron Tortorello and Brendon Waldner.
The Trojan Football senior class had recorded four consecutive seasons for the first time since 1970's (eight winning seasons during their dominance in the former South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference). DSU also accumulated a total of 26 wins.
Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director
