JACKRABBITS ADVANCE WITH DECISIVE HOME WIN

Saturday, December 7

Brookings, S.D.

1 p.m.

South Dakota State University

11-2 , 7-1

Montana

9-5 , 5-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Montana

South Dakota St.

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

12/7/2024 5:55:00 PM | Football

Box Score SDSU POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE MONTANA POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE

Mark Gronowski accounted for four touchdowns — two passing and two rushing — as two-time defending champion South Dakota State opened its Football Championship Subdivision playoff push with a 35-18 victory over Montana Saturday afternoon at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

In winning the rematch between the two teams that played in last season's national championship game, the third-seeded Jackrabbits improved to 11-2 overall. Montana, seeded 14^th, ended its season with a 9-5 record.

SDSU moves on to host No. 6 Incarnate Word in quarterfinal action at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14. The game will be televised on ESPN. The Jackrabbits defeated UIW, 45-24, on Sept. 7 in their home opener.

The Grizzlies took advantage of an SDSU turnover near midfield on the Jackrabbits' opening drive of the game to draw first blood with a 34-yard field goal by Ty Morrison.

Gronowski and the Jacks quickly responded with a nine-play, 57-yard scoring drive on the ensuing possession. With the ball at the Montana 22, Gronowski threw a lateral to tight end Kevin Brenner, who then threw the ball back to Gronowski for a 21-yard gain. One play later, Gronowski plunged in from a yard out to give SDSU a lead it would not relinquish.

SDSU extended its lead to 21-3 with a pair of touchdowns as the Jackrabbits continued their recent second-quarter dominance. Gronowski connected with sophomore wide receiver on consecutive pass plays of 38 and 34 yards with the latter resulting in a touchdown for the first score of the period. The duo hooked up again in the final minute of the half on a third-and-18 play in which Wilde caught the ball at the 5-yard line in the right flat and extended the ball inside the pylon for a 24-yard touchdown.

Wilde, who topped the 1,000-yard mark for receiving on the season, led all players with seven catches for 114 yards.

SDSU racked up 12 minutes of possession time in a scoreless third quarter, but again found the end zone two plays into the fourth quarter on Gronowski's second 1-yard touchdown run of the game. That capped a 12-play, 73-yard march in which all but eight yards came on the ground.

The Jackrabbits rushed for 222 yards and held a 399-306 advantage in total offense. Gronowski was an efficient 12-of-16 passing for 151 yards. Amar Johnson led the rushing attack with 103 yards on 16 carries, while Angel Johnson shook off an early fumble to gain 91 yards on 13 carries.

SDSU's lead grew to 35-3 66 seconds later when Adam Bock picked off a pass that was initially deflected by Matthew Durrance and broke a couple tackles before scoring from 40 yards out. Bock registered a team-high eight tackles while redshirt freshman defensive tackle Bryce Hawthorne was credited with 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss.

Montana put together a couple scoring drives down the stretch as Keali'i Ah Yat tossed touchdown passes of 44 yards to Sawyer Racanelli and 9 yards to Keelan White. Ah Yat, who played the entire game at quarterback after Montana had rotated signal-callers for much of the season, completed 19-of-32 passes for 231 yards and also was the leading rusher for the Griz with 25 yards on nine carries.

The Jackrabbit defense limited Montana to 75 net yards rushing on 29 carries. The bulk of the Grizzlies' yards on the ground came on back-to-back plays in the second quarter, when Ah Yat scrambled for 27 yards and Xavier Harris picked up 21 yards on an end around. Montana's drive ended on the next play on a red-zone interception by Jackrabbit safety Tucker Large.

Montana safety Ryder Meyer led all players with 10 tackles.

NOTES

Montana leads the all-time series, 8-2, although the Jackrabbits evened the playoff record between the two programs at 2-2
SDSU improved to 23-11 in FCS playoff games and has won nine in a row
The Jackrabbits are 16-1 in home postseason games, including a 15-1 mark at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium
Wilde posted his fifth 100-yard receiving game of the season and third multi-touchdown performance of 2024
Bock also returned an interception for touchdown (40 yards) versus UC Davis in a 2021 FCS playoff contest
Gronowski passed and rushed for touchdowns in the same game for the 24^th time in his career and moved into a tie with Jerry Welch (1951-54) for sixth place in career rushing touchdowns at SDSU with 34
Amar Johnson recorded his fourth 100-yard game of the season and eighth of his career
Wilde ended the day with 1,014 receiving yards for the season and Amar Johnson now has 1,013 rushing yards this year
SDSU has now outscored the opposition by a 207-43 margin in the second quarter of games this season, including a 106-12 margin during its current six-game winning streak
Attendance was 10,376