The South Dakota State Jackrabbits pulled off a 35-30 comeback win in Ohio on Saturday against the No. 24-ranked Youngstown State Penguins.
The Jackrabbits now find themselves at 5-0 with three of those wins against ranked teams. On the other side, Youngstown State now falls to 3-2 on the season.
YOUNGSTOWN STATE
Chase Mason had a solid game, completing 14 of 29 passes for 181 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Mason also added 40 yards on the ground.
Julius Loughridge had a dominant performance. Loughridge carried the ball 25 times for 176 yards and found the endzone four times.
Alex Bullock also had a big night in the receiving game. He didn’t find the endzone but he did haul in 10 passes for 162 yards. Which was 152 more than the Jacks’ second leading receiver.
For the Penguins quarterback, Beau Brungard had a big game. Brungard completed 29 of 44 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns. Rushing Brungard tallied 130 yards and one touchdown.
All three of Brungard’s passing touchdowns were caught by Youngstown State senior receiver Max Tomczak. Tomzak caught eight passes for 92 yards and had three touchdowns on the night.
The Jacks started the game off at a pretty big deficit, falling behind 14-0 in the second quarter after Beau Brungard passed for and ran in a touchdown.
The Jackrabbits answered later in the second quarter with a four-yard touchdown pass from Chase Mason to Greyton Gannon to cut the lead to just 7, making the score 14-7.
But just as you thought, SDSU might have some momentum, Beau Brungard would scramble for 74 yards down to the SDSU eight-yard line on the first play of the Penguins’ ensuing drive. But the SDSU defense would hold the Penguins and Youngstown State would settle for an Andrew Lastovka 29-yard field goal to extend the lead to 17-7.
With just over a minute left in the half, facing a third and six, Chase Mason targeted Jack Smith but the ball got popped up in the air and was picked off. The Penguins returned the ball to their own 47. But the SDSU defense would once again get a stop. This time it was a strip sack by Dawson Ripperda that denied Youngstown State any points before the half. So the Jackrabbits went into the half down 17-7.
Youngstown State started the second half with the ball, but punted it away and the Jackrabbits responded with a two-play touchdown drive. The first play was a 51-yard bomb from Chase Mason to Alex Bullock. The second play was a three-yard touchdown run by Julius Loughridge to put the score at 17-14 with SDSU still trailing.
Youngstown State drove down and attempted a 48-yard field goal, which they missed to give the ball back to SDSU. The Jackrabbits once again capitalized with a drive capped off by a Loughridge touchdown, this time from 14 yards out to give the Jacks their first lead of the game at 21-17.
Once again, another empty drive from the Penguins gave the Jacks the ball and like clockwork, Julius Loughridge ended the drive with a two-yard touchdown to put the Jacks up 28-17.
The first Youngstown State score of the half came in the fourth quarter when a 29-yard Beau Brungard pass was caught by Max Tomczak for a touchdown to cut the deficit to one score at 28-24.
SDSU and Youngstown State would then trade punts before the Jackrabbits drove down and Julius Loughridge got his fourth touchdown of the day on a 24-yard run to put the Jacks back up by two scores, leading 35-24.
Youngstown State would score again on another Brungard to Tomczak touchdown. The Penguins wouldn’t convert the two-point conversion and found themselves down 35-30 with less than a minute left in the game.
SDSU would recover the onside kick attempt and win the game to move to 5-0.
SDSU will now host the University of Northern Iowa Panthers on Saturday, Oct. 11th at 2 p.m. on Hobo Day.
NORTHERN IOWA
Some guys to look out for during this Hobo Day matchup include senior quarterback Chase Mason has gotten off to a pretty good start to open the season. Mason has recorded 1,099 passing yards, nine passing touchdowns, a passer rating of 156.83 and just one interception on the season. Mason has also tacked on 163 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown.
Senior running back Julius Loughridge has gotten off to a fast start in his first year with the Jacks. Loughridge has rushed for 560 yards and six touchdowns in his first five games of the season. True freshman James Basinger also has three rushing touchdowns in just five games.
Alex Bullock and Lofton O’Groske are the Jackrabbits’ two-headed monster at receiver. Bullock leads the team in receiving yards with 329 while also finding the endzone twice. O’Groske leads the team in receiving touchdowns with three, while also hauling in 25 passes for 312 yards while playing just four games.
Defensively, junior linebacker Cullen McShane leads with 43 total tackles, with 5.5 tackles for loss.
Another junior linebacker in Joe Ollman, has also stood out for the Jacks with 28 total tackles, including three sacks, while also forcing three fumbles.
On the other side of the field, the Panthers have gotten off to a little bit of a slow start in the 2025 season. The Panthers currently sit at 2-3. The only ranked team UNI has faced came in their most recent game when they lost to the University of North Dakota 35-7 on the road.
The last time these two teams met was in 2024, with SDSU coming out on top with a 41-3 victory.
Redshirt Junior quarterback Mathew Shcecklman leads the offense with 1,041 passing yards with seven passing touchdowns, four interceptions and a passer rating of 128.55. Shcecklman has also added 95 rushing yards on the season.
The UNI offense has also struggled running the ball, with only 579 total rushing yards as a team. The team’s leading rusher, redshirt senior Harrison Bey-Buie, has 234 yards on the ground and two rushing touchdowns, which are the only rushing touchdowns for the team.
The Panthers’ leading receiver on the season is six-foot-three redshirt senior receiver Tyson Kershaw. Kershaw has tallied 270 yards and two touchdowns on 16 catches in 2025.
Close behind Kershaw is redshirt sophomore Ayden Price, who is averaging over 20 yards per reception with 251 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 12 receptions.
Defensively, Panther linebacker Ryan Crandall leads the team in tackles with 42 total tackles, with 5.5 of them being for loss and adding one forced fumble.
After hosting UNI, the Jacks will then travel to Kentucky to play the Murray State Racers on Oct. 18th at 6 p.m. You will be able to listen to the game on the Jackrabbit Sports Network.
