GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KELO.com) — North Dakota special teams accounted for nine points and that proved the difference in the Fighting Hawks’ 28-19 win against South Dakota Saturday inside the Alerus Center.
It was the 100th meeting between the old NCC rivals. North Dakota protected its home turf for the 15th consecutive time in the series dating back to a win in 1987. The Hawks (7-3, 5-2 MVFC) took a big step in securing an at-large playoff bid with the win. South Dakota (3-7, 2-5) fell to 0-6 on the road this season. The Coyotes host UNI on Senior Day next week in their season finale.
A blocked punt right before halftime turned a 13-7 South Dakota lead into a 14-13 deficit. The Coyotes also missed their first extra point, had their second deflected but sail through the uprights anyway, and had their third extra point blocked.
Instead of two teams standing with three touchdown drives apiece, South Dakota found itself trailing by two scores in the fourth quarter and couldn’t rally back.
Coyote quarterback Aidan Bouman passed for 151 yards and three touchdowns. Carter Bell caught six passes for 50 yards and two scores. Wesley Eliodor caught a touchdown for the fourth consecutive game and had 47 yards on four receptions.
On the other side, it was Hawk quarterback Tommy Schuster who completed 24-of-28 passes for 243 yards and three touchdowns. Bo Belquist had seven catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns. Isaiah Smith was all alone on a screen pass for an 11-yard score.
Both running backs were terrific. Travis Theis ran 14 times for 95 yards and caught three passes for 37 yards. Tyler Hoosman carried 23 times for 80 yards and hauled in six passes for 28.
Both teams produced long scoring drives to start the game. South Dakota went 65 yards on nine plays on its opening possession. North Dakota countered with a 14-play, 79-yard touchdown drive. That pretty much accounted for the first quarter.
South Dakota went 75 yards on 13 plays on its second drive to make it 13-7. North Dakota reached the Coyote 2 on its second drive, but got a stop in the form of a Da’Raun McKinney interception on a 4th-and-goal play from the 2.
By that point, just 2:21 was left on the first half clock and South Dakota began from its 20. A backside hold erased a 27-yard run by Shomari Lawrence on the first play of that drive. That was the start of a disastrous sequence for USD.
Now backed up to the 10, USD ran down the clock to produce a 4th-and-8 from its 22 with 20 seconds left and with UND out of timeouts. But Jayson Coley blocked the punt, Nate DeMontagnac recovered on the 2, and Schuster threw a 2-yard strike to Belquist with 10 seconds left.
Just like that, the lead was gone and never regained. North Dakota marched 61 yards on the opening drive of the second half to make it 21-13. South Dakota’s offense blinked for the first time and had to punt. Four minutes later, Schuster had North Dakota back in the end zone for a 28-13 advantage.
Bouman hit Bell with a 5-yard strike with 12:37 left for the final score of the game. But C.J. Siegel got home from the edge on the extra point to keep it a two-score game.
