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South Dakota State University Athletics
Jacks resume Great West slate at UC Davis
10/24/2007 1:00:00 AM | Football
Fresh off a victory over nationally ranked Cal Poly in its Great West Football Conference opener last week, the South Dakota State University football returns to action Saturday by traveling to the other California representative in the GWFC ? UC Davis.
Kickoff is slated for 2:05 p.m. Pacific Time (4:05 p.m. Central) at the newly christened Aggie Stadium.
The Jackrabbits enter the matchup with a 3-4 overall record and 1-0 in league play following a 48-35 victory over Cal Poly on Oct. 20 at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.
UC Davis ended its three-game losing streak with a 41-21 victory at GWFC foe Southern Utah on Oct. 20. The Aggies kept alive hopes of a 38th consecutive winning season with the victory and come into their homecoming game and final Great West game of the season Saturday with a 3-5 overall record, 1-2 in conference play.
THE SERIES: Saturday's matchup is the sixth meeting between SDSU and UC Davis on the gridiron, a series that dates back to John Stiegelmeier's first game as Jackrabbit head coach, in 1997.
The two schools split the first two games of the series, in 1997 and 1998, when both competed at the NCAA Division II level. Since the inception of the Great West Football Conference and SDSU moving to the Football Championship Subdivision in 2004, the Jackrabbits have grabbed a 3-2 lead in the series.
UC Davis provided a rude welcome to SDSU to the FCS ranks in 2004, shutting out the Jackrabbits, 52-0, in the season opener. The Jackrabbits have gone on to post two narrow home victories to gain the series advantage: a 16-14 win in Sioux Falls during the 2005 season and a 22-21 victory at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium last season.
TELEVISED GAME: South Dakota State University Athletics has reached an agreement with Midcontinent Communications and Mediacom to provide a live broadcast of the Jackrabbits' football game Saturday afternoon at UC Davis.
The broadcast, which will originate from Sacramento-based Comcast SportsNet West, will be delivered to more than 200 cities in South Dakota and North Dakota, as well as several communities in Minnesota served by Midcontinent Communications and Mediacom. The broadcast will air on Midcontinent Channel 23 and Mediacom Channel 10 beginning at 4 p.m. Central Time. Kickoff is slated for 4:05 p.m. CT.
ONLINE COVERAGE: Audio coverage of Saturday's game is scheduled to be available via subscription service at GoJacks.com, the official website of SDSU athletics. Monthly subscriptions for the Jackrabbit Extra, which includes live audio and video streaming for select games, as well as John Stiegelmeier's weekly coach's show, are available for $9.95 per month or $99.95 for an entire year of coverage. An audio-only subscription also is available for $4.95 per month, with programming consisting only of live radio broadcasts.
Local radio coverage Saturday begins at 3:35 p.m. Central Time on WNAX 570 AM. Steve Imming will call the play-by-play, with Jerry Oster providing color commentary.
Action photos of Jackrabbit games also are posted online and available for purchase under the “Photos” heading at GoJacks.com.
SCOUTING UC DAVIS: UC Davis has fought off the injury bug this season to several key contributors.
The Aggies ended a three-game losing streak ? their first since 1995 ? with a convincing 41-21 win at Southern Utah despite not playing without several starters, including quarterback Tim Plough, defensive tackle John Faletoese and leading rusher Joe Trombetta.
Backup quarterback Matt Engle has thrown for 593 yards over the past two games in Plough's absence, tallying 298 against Cal Poly on Oct. 13 and 295 yards with three touchdowns last week at Southern Utah. As a team, the Aggies lead the Great West with an average of 287.6 yards through the air per game.
On the flip side, UCD has allowed the most passing yards, as well, giving up 255.5 yards per game despite leadng the league with 19 sacks.
The leading receiver has been Brandon Rice, who leads the league with 48 receptions and is second with 710 receiving yards.
One area where there has been consistency for the Aggies has been on the offensive line, where the starting unit has remained intact all season.
LAST MEETING: Dusty Snyders scored on a 9-yard pass from Andy Kardoes with 1 minute, 8 seconds remaining as South Dakota State rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat 16th-ranked UC Davis 22-21 in the 93rd Hobo Day game on Oct. 28, 2006, at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.
UC Davis put together a methodical 19-play, 74-yard opening drive to take a 7-0 lead. Demario Warren capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Jon Grant.
The Jackrabbits marched right back as Anthony Watson scored on a 3-yard run with 1:28 left in the quarter, finishing off a nine-play, 76-yard drive.
UC Davis took a 21-7 lead into halftime with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns. Tony Kays scored the first TD with a 3-yard reception from Grant, and Marcus Nolan followed with a 6-yard run three minutes later.
The second half belonged to the Jackrabbits. Parker Douglass, who missed his first two field goal attempts, connected on a 52-yarder with 2:58 left in the third quarter to pull SDSU to within 17-10.
The momentum appeared to shift back in the Aggies favor as on the first play from scrimmage after the field goal Nolan rumbled 79 yards on a screen pass to the Jackrabbit 1. Jeff Hegge's tackle not only saved a touchdown, it ended up saving the game for SDSU. Aided by a UCD penalty, the Jackrabbit defense forced UCD into a field goal attempt which was blocked by Eric Schroder.
After Justin Kubesh forced and recovered a Nolan fumble at the SDSU 41. Eight plays later, Kardoes found Chris Wagner in the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion failed, but the Jacks were within five at 21-16.
SDSU took regained possession at its own 9-yard line with 6:52 remaining. Kardoes then engineered the game-winning 12-play drive. On third-and-21 from the UCD 25, Kardoes hit Snyders for 16 yards. With SDSU facing fourth-and-5 from the UCD 9, Kardoes again found Snyders, who broke free from an Aggie tackler to score the game-winner.
JACKS HONORED BY GWFC: Three South Dakota State University football players have been rewarded for their efforts in the Jackrabbits' 48-35 victory over 19th-ranked Cal Poly Oct. 20 by earning Great West Football Conference Player of the Week honors.
Running back Cory Koenig earned co-offensive player of the week accolades, while defensive lineman Mitch Pontrelli was named defensive player of the week and Adam Monke was selected as the special teams player of the week.
Koenig, a senior from Underwood Iowa, recorded career highs of 259 yards rushing and four touchdowns. His 259 yards ? the fifth-highest single-game total in school history ? came on just 21 carries, an average of 12.3 yards per attempt. His scoring runs covered 32, 46, 52 and 11 yards as he notched a touchdown in each of the four quarters. He also moved into sixth place on the Jackrabbit career rushing charts, ending the game with 2,382 career yards.
He shared the honor with North Dakota State running back Tyler Roehl, who rushed for a school-record 263 yards as the Bison knocked off Minnesota, 27-21.
Pontrelli, a senior nose tackle from St. Paul, Minn., notched a career-high 11 tackles (4 solo, 7 assists) and blocked a field goal attempt in the third quarter. Three of Pontrelli's tackles were for loss, including two sacks.
A sophomore running back from Nickerson, Neb., Monke set the tone for the Jackrabbits as he returned the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown.On the night, Monke returned five kickoffs for 191 yards, adding a 41-yard return in the fourth quarter to set up the final SDSU touchdown of the evening.
PONTRELLI, MONKE GAIN NATIONAL ATTENTION: Mitch Pontrelli and Adam Monke also have earned Division I Football Championship national player of the week honors for their performances last week.
Pontrelli was honored as the defensive line Weekly Star by the SME Network, while Monke shared special teams Weekly Star honors from the SME Network and also earnednational special teams player of the week from College Sporting News.
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