Adam Zobel

The SDSU Jackrabbit football suffered a disappo inting 39-33 triple-overtime loss at the hands of archrival Augustana last Saturday at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls.

The Jackrabbits allowed a 27-17 lead slip away in the final minutes of the fourth quarter as the Vikings forced overtime.

SDSU once again started the game strong as they built a 14-10 halftime lead and a 27-17 lead going into the fourth quarter.

However, a third-string quarterback making his first collegiate start would ultmately thwart the Jackrabbit plans for victory.

SDSU began the second half with a 70-yard touchdown strike from Dan Fjeldheim to Solomon Johnson to increase their margin to 20-10.

After an Augustana touchdown, Fjeldheim hooked up with Jeff Hesse on a 10-yard pass to reach 27-17 by the end of the third quarter.

Augustana trimmed the SDSU lead to seven with a 26-yard field goal from Adam Brinkman with 3:38 left in the fourth quarter.

The Jacks then went three-and-out on their next possession, allowing the Viking offense to start from their own 42.

They quickly moved down the field with Dan Klumper hauling in a 17-yard touchdown pass from redshirt freshman Graham Van Horn to tie the game at 27 apiece and send the game into overtime, the first overtime game for SDSU since 1998.

Brinkman and SDSU kicker Keith Witt traded field goals in the first two overtime periods to up the score to 33-33.

Van Horn then converted a critical fourth down on a sneak to set up his second touchdown pass, a 13-yarder to Klumper, to put the Vikings ahead 39-33.

SDSU thentook possession only to be thwarted as Fjeldheim threw three consecutive incompletions before being sacked on fourth down to end the game.

“It isn’t that one play that loses a football game,” SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier said to the Argus Leader.

“Collectively, we came up short as a football team.”

Special team mistakes plagued the Jackrabbits throughout the game as they had two punts and a field goal attempt blocked.

They also missed an extra point as the result of a bad snap.

The Jacks’ running attack was stalled with injuries as starting tailback Scott Nedved left the game with a hip pointer and back-up James O’Neill aggravated a torn-muscle injury.

SDSU only netted 17 yards rushing from 27 attempts.

Fjeldheim finished the game 26-for-47 with 277 yards and three touchdowns; however, he was sacked six times by the Viking defense.

Johnson had seven catches for 133 yards to lead the Jackrabbit receiving corps.

Hesse contributed eight catches for 74 yards while Josh Davis added 41 yards on seven receptions.

The Augustana offense outgained SDSU with 394 total yards to 294 as Van Horn threw for 213 yards and the Viking running attack netted 181 yards.

SDSU’s record fell to 3-3 in the season with a 1-3 mark in the NCC.

Augustana upped their mark to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the NCC.

The Jacks look to get back on the winning track Saturday when they host North Dakota State in the annual Shrine Game.

Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m. at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.