South Dakota State finished the 2024 regular season Saturday with a 45-9 victory over the Missouri State Bears.
The Jackrabbits’ trip to Springfield, Missouri, was potentially its last with MSU moving up to the FBS level next season. Still, they made the trip worth it by clinching a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference championship.
“This team has worked really, really hard all season, and the Missouri Valley is the toughest conference in the entire country,” said quarterback Mark Gronowski on clinching a share of the conference title. “Getting a share of the title, it’s a big thing for our team.”
South Dakota State continued its dominant attack on the ground to build an early lead, and a few key first-half defensive stops kept the Bears out of it.
SDSU made a statement on the opening drive with Amar Johnson scoring from nine yards out on a methodical 14-play drive.
The senior out of O’Fallon, Missouri, finished with a game-high 58 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns on 12 carries, catching one pass for 13 yards as well.
After three combined punts the Jacks reached the endzone yet again on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Gronowski to senior tight end Kevin Brenner on a wobbly catch-and-run. Brenner caught three passes for 28 yards and a score in the victory.
The Bears, down 14-0 early in the second quarter, needed to find an answer quickly after mustering -7 yards of total offense in the first 15 minutes, and they did.
Missouri State drove into Jackrabbit territory setting up one of three second-quarter field goals for kicker Yousef Obeid, the first being a long 50-yard boot.
Hunter Dustman matched the field goal with one of his own from 40 yards out but the 17-3 lead didn’t last long. The Jacks’ “bend, don’t break” defense forced a second field goal by Obeid from 28 yards away.
But on the ensuing kickoff, SDSU tailback Angel Johnson muffed the football, allowing the Bears to recover at the Jacks three-yard line with two minutes left in the first half.
A touchdown here and momentum would swing towards the Bears who’d receive the second-half kickoff. But the Jackrabbit defense again forced a stop on three consecutive plays, pushing the MSU offense back three yards in the process, forcing a third field goal.
Allowing just six points in two trips to the red zone was a big first-half win.
“It’s been our mindset all year,” said safety Tucker Large. “Play-by-play, it doesn’t matter what happens, we’re going to stick together, trust the brotherhood, and just rally every single play. That’s kind of what we did during those drives.”
But the half wasn’t over, and the Jacks weren’t just going to roll into halftime on a bad note. The offense drove 61 yards down the field in just 1:45, capping off its third scoring drive of the quarter with a Kirby Vorhees two-yard touchdown run to increase the lead at the half to 22.
“Just having a defense that can step up like that and be one of the best in the country, it’s really positive for us offensively,” Gronowski said. “Knowing that they made that stop, we were going to be able to get another opportunity to go drive down the field and that’s what we did, punching the ball in for seven before half.”
The defense continued that level of play throughout the second half, forcing four punts and a turnover.
On the offensive side, Gronowski and company did what they needed to do to pull away from the Bears.
Amar Johnson scored his second touchdown of the afternoon on a three-yard carry, which preceded the eighth receiving touchdown of Griffin Wilde’s sophomore campaign on a 53-yard screen pass.
“They were trying to load the box on us and give us some opportunities on the outside, and we just took advantage of those,” said Gronowski on the Wilde touchdown. “I think Griffin Wilde had an awesome game, he was making plays for us when they were loading the box.”
Wilde followed up his 140-yard, three-touchdown game last week with another doozy, catching four passes for 139 yards and a touchdown against Mo. State.
Jarod DePriest jarred the football loose from Bears’ quarterback Jacob Clark setting up one final touchdown drive led by backup quarterback Jon Bell, a second touchdown run for Vorhees on the goal line.
Overall, the Jacks tallied 447 total yards in the win, Compared to the standard the Jacks ground attack has set this season, it was a relatively quiet day for the backfield finishing with just 171 rushing yards.
True freshman Maxwell Woods had 51 yards on six carries and Angel Johnson had 33 yards on nine carries along with Amar Johnson’s two-touchdown day.
Gronowski was excellent in the victory as well, completing 14-of-25 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns, rushing five times for six yards.
Linebacker Adam Bock had a huge day in the Jacks’ win, leading the defense with six tackles, one tackle for loss, a fumble recovery and a sack.
“He means everything,” said Large on Bock. “He’s a leader for us, everyone looks up to him. Like I’ve been saying, he’s a dog as well.”
Large had five tackles and three pass breakups, while DePriest, Bryce Hawthorne, and Aaron Wolfcale-Holsten each recorded sacks for the stout SDSU defense that allowed just 34 rushing yards on 26 carries.
“If you can hold somebody to that, it’s a statement in itself. We’ve got the best defense in the country,” said SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers.
With the win the Jackrabbits claim a three-way share of the MVFC title in part because of a stunning 29-28 victory for the South Dakota Coyotes over No. 1 North Dakota State.
Up next
The Jackrabbits turn their attention to the FCS playoffs but will have to wait till Sunday to find out who their first-round opponent will be. The FCS playoff selection show starts at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 24 on ESPNU.
