Goedert ties record in Jackrabbit rout

Saturday, October 1

Brookings, S.D.

6 p.m.

South Dakota State University

2-2 , 1-0

Western Illinois

3-1 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Western Illinois

South Dakota State

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

10/1/2016 10:56:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

BROOKINGS, S.D. — Dallas Goedert tied a school record with four touchdown receptions and the South Dakota State defense returned two second-half interceptions for scores to rout eighth-ranked Western Illinois, 52-14, in the Missouri Valley Football Conference opener for both teams Saturday night at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

The 15^th-ranked Jackrabbits, who scored the final 45 points of the game, improved to 2-2 overall. Western Illinois suffered its first loss of the season, falling to 3-1.

A junior tight end from Britton, Goedert tallied each of the Jackrabbits' first three touchdowns on the evening and tied Don Bartlett's record of four touchdown receptions set in 1949 midway through the third quarter.

All 14 of the Fighting Leathernecks' points came in the first quarter. Western took advantage of a partially blocked punt on the Jackrabbits' opening drive of the game to put together a quick five-play, 41-yard drive capped by a 6-yard touchdown pass from Sean McGuire.

WIU regained a momentary 14-7 lead late in the opening quarter with a seven-play, 92-yard drive highlighted by a 71-yard run by Stacey Smith on a jet sweep that moved the ball to the SDSU 5. Joey Borsellino finished off the drive with a 3-yard touchdown reception from McGuire.

From there it was all Jackrabbits.

Goedert put the Jackrabbits on the board with a 24-yard touchdown reception from Taryn Christion on SDSU's second possession of the game and later dragged a pair of Western Illinois defenders over the goal line for the tying score early in the second quarter. His third score of the game was another 24-yard reception from Christion midway through the second stanza.

The Jackrabbits' Connor Landberg added another clip to the highlight reel in the closing seconds of the first half after he made an acrobatic one-handed catch in the back corner of the end zone on a 17-yard pass from Christion. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but was later overturned by replay, giving SDSU a 28-14 lead heading into intermission.

SDSU carried the momentum into the second half on defense as redshirt freshman linebacker Christian Rozeboom intercepted a McGuire pass and rambled 37 yards for a touchdown.

Chase Vinatieri booted a 38-yard field goal to extend the Jackrabbit lead to 38-14 before Goedert moved into the record books with a leaping and juggling catch and run over and through two defenders on the right sideline that resulted in a 70-yard touchdown. Goedert finished the night with career highs of eight catches for 204 yards.

Dallas Brown capped the scoring with the Jackrabbits' second defensive touchdown of the game as he picked off a pass and weaved his way into the end zone from 19 yards out.

The Jackrabbits finished with a 478-342 advantage in total offense. Christion ended the Military Appreciation Night aerial assault 22-of-31 passing for career highs of 361 yards and five touchdowns. Jake Wieneke added seven catches for 102 yards, marking the second game in a row that both he and Goedert topped the 100-yard mark for receiving.

Brady Mengarelli led the SDSU ground game with 41 yards on 11 carries.

The Jackrabbit defense limited the conference's leading rusher, Steve McShane, to 56 yards on 14 carries. Lenoir led the Fighting Leathernecks with 10 receptions for 84 yards, while McGuire was 15-of-27 passing for 113 yards. Trenton Norvell finished at quarterback, completing 5-of-10 passes for 46 yards.

Rozeboom paced the SDSU defense with 10 tackles, including a sack.

NEXT UP
• The Jackrabbits travel to Southern Illinois for an Oct. 8 matchup. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. at Saluki Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois.

NOTES
• SDSU leads the all-time series, 9-5, and has won eight of the last nine meetings
• SDSU improved to 4-5 in MVFC openers since joining the league in 2008
• The Jackrabbits beat a ranked league opponent for the 15^th time in MVFC play
• Goedert's 204 receiving yards mark the fifth-highest single-game total in program history
• Goedert has caught a touchdown pass in all four games this season and five contests in a row dating back to the 2015 season
• By being shut out in the fourth quarter, he Jackrabbits had their streak of consecutive quarters in which they had scored end at 17, dating back to their 2015 FCS playoff game at Montana
• SDSU returned two interceptions for a touchdown for the first time since Nov. 10, 2007, in a home win over Southern Utah (both by Tyler Koch — 45 and 99 yards)
• Dallas Brown now has three career interception returns for touchdown (2013 versus Southeastern Louisiana, 2014 at Northern Iowa, 2016 versus Western Illinois)
• Attendance was 14,155

-GoJacks.com-