Bison Advance to Frisco With 28-21 Semifinal Win Over Jackrabbits

Tim Sanger

Game Recap: Football | 12/21/2024 4:23:00 PM

FARGO, N.D. – Bryce Lance caught three touchdown passes including the go-ahead score with 4:02 left in the game to lead No. 2 seed North Dakota State to a 28-21 victory over No. 3 seed South Dakota State in the semifinals of the NCAA Division I Football Championship on Saturday, Dec. 21, before a crowd of 17,849 at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome.

Lance’s one-handed catch in the corner of the end zone was his school-record 16th touchdown reception of the season. He finished with six catches for 125 yards, tying the NDSU FCS playoff record for receiving yards set by Darrius Shepherd in the 2018 national championship against Eastern Washington.

Bison quarterback Cam Miller went 13 of 19 passing for 179 yards and also rushed for a game-high 93 yards on 15 carries with one touchdown.

NDSU trailed 14-7 before the only turnover of the game late in the second quarter. Kody Huisman’s forced fumble and recovery by Loshiaka Roques set up NDSU with a short field at the SDSU 23, and Miller scored seven plays later on a 2-yard run.

The teams traded three punts apiece in the third quarter before Miller connected with Lance from 47 yards out early in the fourth to give NDSU a 21-14 lead. The Jackrabbits answered with a 10-play, 90-yard scoring drive and tied the game again with Grahm Goering’s 14-yard touchdown catch from Mark Gronowski.

Miller sparked NDSU’s ensuing drive with a 25-yard run to midfield on the first play, and a personal foul on SDSU for unnecessary roughness moved the ball to the 35.

CharMar Brown picked up two tough yards on the ground to convert a third-and-2, Barika Kpeenu picked up another first down with a 12-yard run, and Miller ran for three yards to the 10-yard line before finding Lance for the go-ahead score.

South Dakota State picked up two first downs and looked to be moving into Bison territory on its final drive, but a 15-yard facemask penalty on SDSU negated a big gain near midfield and the Jackrabbits couldn’t recover. Roques and Jaxon Duttenhefer combined for a sack on fourth-and-17 and the Bison kneeled out the clock.

Bison linebacker Logan Kopp made a game- and career-high 10 tackles including two of NDSU’s 10 tackles for loss.

North Dakota State improved to 13-2 overall and will face either No. 1 Montana State or No. 4 South Dakota in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Game on Monday, Jan. 6, at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.

Gronowski finished 14 of 25 passing for 204 yards plus another 50 yards rushing with one touchdown, and Amar Johnson added 77 rushing yards and one TD for South Dakota State, which finished its season 12-3 overall.