Top-seeded South Dakota State scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to shake loose from No. 8 Holy Cross, 42-21, in a Football Championship Subdivision quarterfinal playoff game Saturday at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
With their 12th consecutive victory, the Jackrabbits improved to 12-1 overall and advanced to the semifinal round of the FCS playoffs for the fifth time in the last six seasons. SDSU will host No. 4 Montana State at 3 p.m. next Saturday (Dec. 17) in a rematch of a national semifinal game a season ago.
Holy Cross suffered its first loss of the season, ending the year with a 12-1 mark.
Tied at 21-all entering the fourth quarter, Holy Cross’ attempt to take the lead on the first play of the final stanza came up empty as a 39-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left.
The Jackrabbits took over at their own 22-yard line and regained the lead with a nine-play, 78-yard scoring drive. Quarterback Mark Gronowski hooked up with Jadon Janke for a 19-yard pass play on the first play of the drive and concluded the march with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Jaxon Janke with 10 minutes and 8 seconds remaining. In between, Isaiah Davis picked up 39 yards on the ground as the Jackrabbit running back would tally 76 of his 154 yards in the fourth quarter.
Gronowski put the Jackrabbits up two scores with an 18-yard touchdown run around left end with 2:39 to play, then hooked up with Jadon Janke on a 21-yard catch and run for the final tally with under a minute remaining.
After SDSU missed a 42-yard field goal on the opening drive of the game, Holy Cross took an early lead behind the play of dual-threat quarterback Matthew Sluka, who opened the scoring on a 56-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter. Sluka’s rush was the longest of the season against an SDSU defense allowing only 70.8 yards per game on the ground entering Saturday’s contest.
The Jackrabbits settled for Hunter Dustman field goals of 29 and 23 yards on their first two trips to the red zone to close out the opening quarter.
Holy Cross extended its lead to 14-6 six minutes into the second quarter by converting on a fourth-down play with a bit of deception. Running back Tyler Purdy took a handoff on fourth-and-1 from the SDSU 27, but stopped short of the defensive front and lofted a jump pass over the middle to a wide-open Sean Morris for a touchdown.
SDSU appeared to wrest the momentum away from the Crusaders in the closing minutes of the first half with a pair of touchdowns four minutes apart. First, Davis capped an eight-play, 67-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run, tied knotted the game by running in the two-point conversion.
The Jackrabbits took their first lead of the game with 68 seconds remaining in the half when linebacker Jason Freeman picked off a pass that went through a receiver’s hands and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown.
However, Holy Cross dominated the third quarter, running 24 offensive plays to only three by the Jackrabbits. The Crusaders could only put seven points on the board, however, tying the game at 21-all on a 1-yard touchdown run by Peter Oliver. Sluka, who escaped pressure most of the day, set up Oliver’s touchdown with a 36-yard scamper to the SDSU 1 after digging the Crusaders out of a hole with a 21-yard gain earlier in the 11-play, 83-yard drive.
Sluka would finish the game with 213 yards on 26 carries and completed 12-of-26 passes for 125 yards, giving him 338 yards of total offense on the afternoon. Overall, Holy Cross held a 413-393 advantage in total yards.
For SDSU, Gronowski ended the day 12-of-22 passing for 177 yards, with Jaxon Janke posting 82 yards on four receptions and Jadon Janke adding three catches for 49 yards.
Jalen Coker led Holy Cross receivers with five receptions for 63 yards.
Liam Anderson registered a game-high 10 tackles for Holy Cross, with John Smith adding eight stops.
The Jackrabbit defense was led by Saiveon Williamson with nine tackles, followed by eight tackles and two pass breakups from Dalys Beanum.
NOTES
• SDSU leads the all-time series, 2-0, with both matchups occurring in the FCS playoffs
• The Jackrabbits improved to 16-11 in FCS postseason games
• SDSU established a new school record for wins in a season with 12 and extended its school-record winning streak to a dozen
• Holy Cross became only the third team to rush for more than 100 yards against the Jackrabbits this season
• Davis recorded his 14th career 100-yard game, seven of which have come in playoff games
• Davis moved into ninth place on the SDSU career rushing charts with 2,709 yards, overtaking both Darwin Gonnerman (2,598 yards from 1966-68) and Brady Mengarelli (2,677 yards from 2014-17) on Saturday
• Davis scored a rushing touchdown for the eighth consecutive game and moved into a tie with Scott Nedved (1998-2002) for seventh place in career rushing touchdowns by a Jackrabbit with 30
• Gronowski rushed and passed for a touchdown for the eighth time this season and 12th time in 23 career starts
• Gronowski moved into eighth place for single-season touchdown passes with 21 and took over 10th place on the SDSU single-season passing yardage chart with 2,555 yards – one more than Mike Busch’s total of 2,554 yards in 1985
• Jaxon Janke broke a tie with Dallas Goedert (2014-17) with his 22nd career touchdown reception, which is good for sixth place in program history
• Freeman became the 10th different Jackrabbit to record an interception this season and his pick-six was the second by an SDSU defender this season (DyShawn Gales at North Dakota on Oct. 22)
• SDSU scored a defensive touchdown for the second consecutive playoff game
• Adam Bock returned to the lineup at linebacker in a reserve role Saturday after missing the last four games due to injury
• Dustman had made his previous nine field goal attempts before his first-quarter miss
• Attendance was 6,549
