Defense propels Jacks past Penguins, 24-10

Saturday, October 22

Brookings, S.D.

2 p.m.

South Dakota State University

5-2 , 4-0

Youngstown State

5-2 , 3-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Youngstown State

South Dakota State

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

10/22/2016 6:35:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

South Dakota State scored a pair of touchdowns in the first four minutes of the game and the Jackrabbit defense held Youngstown State out of the end zone until late in the fourth quarter as SDSU took over sole possession of first place in the Missouri Valley Football Conference with a 24-10 victory in the inaugural Hobo Day game at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

Playing before a school-record crowd of 17,730, the Jackrabbits improved to 5-2 overall and 4-0 in league play. Youngstown State dropped to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the MVFC. SDSU entered the day ranked seventh in the STATS Football Championship Subidivision media poll and 11^th in the coaches' poll, while the Penguins held respective rankings of 13^th and 12^th.

The high-powered Jackrabbit offense clicked on the first play from scrimmage as tight end Dallas Goedert caught a pass across the middle from Taryn Christion and rambled 61 yards to the YSU 14. Four plays later, Brady Mengarelli scored from 2 yards out for the first rushing touchdown given up by the Penguins this season.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Christian Rozeboom intercepted a Ricky Davis pass on the Penguins' third play of the game and returned the ball to the YSU 4. SDSU needed only one play to go up 14-0 on a pass from Christion to Connor Landberg in the left flat.

Youngstown State countered with a field goal on its next drive, marching 58 yards on 11 plays before Zak Kennedy connected on a 28-yard attempt. Kennedy would miss from 43 yards in the second quarter to keep the score 14-3.

The Jackrabbits took over at midfield late in the first half and had first-and-goal at the YSU 2 after a pass interference penalty, but had to settle for a 20-yard field goal by Chase Vinatieri with 25 seconds remaining to make the score 17-3 at halftime.

SDSU put the game out of reach early in the third quarter, again turning a Penguin turnover into seven points. Rozeboom forced Jody Webb to fumble and Shayne Gottlob recovered at the YSU 42. After Christion carried for gains of 20 and 19 yards on the first two plays, he hit Jake Wieneke on a slant for a 3-yard touchdown.

The Jackrabbit defense held YSU's league-leading rushing attack in check and tied a season-high with six sacks. Defensive tackle Kellen Soulek tallied a pair of sacks and seven other players recorded at least a half-sack as SDSU limited the Penguins to 159 net rushing yards — nearly 100 below their season average.

Jesse Bobbit paced the Jackrabbit defense with 10 tackles.

YSU's lone touchdown came on a 2-yard run by Tevin McCaster with 1 minute, 46 seconds to play.

Brady Mengarelli finished as the game's leading rusher with 74 yards on 15 carries. Christion completed 15-of-21 passes for 189 yards and added 60 yards rushing on 11 carries. Goedert topped the 100-yard mark for receiving for the fifth straight game with 108 yards on six catches.

For YSU, Martin Ruiz carried 11 times for 50 yards. Davis completed 9-of-16 passes for 115 yards and carried 17 times for 45 yards.

Jameel Smith was credited with a game-high 11 tackles, followed by 10 stops from Armand Dellovade.

UP NEXT
• The Jackrabbits will travel to Illinois State on Oct. 29 for a 2 p.m. matchup at Hancock Stadium in Normal, Illinois. The game can be viewed on ESPN3.com.

NOTES
• SDSU leads the all-time series, 12-6, and has won eight of the nine matchups between the two squads as Missouri Valley Football Conference opponents
• The Jackrabbits ended a three-game losing streak on Hobo Day, which included a 30-27 loss to Youngstown State in the 2014 Hobo Day game at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium
• SDSU improved to 60-38-5 in Hobo Day games, dating back to 1912
• Jake Wieneke finished the afternoon with five catches for 33 yards, upping his career receiving yardage total to 3,612 and moving to within nine yards of tying Jeff Tiefenthaler (3,621 yards from 1983-86) for the school record
• Wieneke has now caught 39 touchdown passes in 33 career games
• Christion moved into 10^th place on the Jackrabbit single-season charts for total offense with 2,358 yards
• Goedert's streak of seven consecutive games with a touchdown reception came to an end
• SDSU has scored in 24 of 28 quarters this season
• The only other time the Jackrabbits finished the first half of the MVFC slate undefeated was 2009, when they started 6-0 en route to their first FCS playoff berth
• The previous SDSU attendance record was 17,348 on Oct. 3, 2015, against North Dakota State at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium

-GoJacks.com-