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MARSHALL, Minn. - Augustana held Southwest Minnesota State to just one score and limited the SMSU offense to a season-low 160 yards of offense to earn a 29-7 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory on a cold and windy Saturday night at the Regional Event Center in Marshall, Minn., and spoil SMSU's homecoming.

It was the 12th straight victory for Augie over SMSU and improves its record to 5-2 overall, 4-2 NSIC.  SMSU dropped its third straight game and is 3-4 overall, 2-4 NSIC.

Augustana's Joe Clark finished the game with 177 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 29 carries to pace the Viking offense.  The Viking defense held the Mustang offense in check all night long limiting the third ranked scoring offense in the country (42.3) to just seven points and to just 136 yards passing.  SMSU entered the game rannked sixth in the country in passing offense (331.7). 

The Vikings held a 13-0 halftime lead, holding SMSU to just 82 yards of offense in the opening half including forcing a key turnover.  Augie held a 7-0 in the second quarter before SMSU mounted a 14-play drive that started at its own 26-yard line and moved the ball to the Augie 12-yard line.  On third-down and nine from the Augie 15, Ratekin was intercepted in the end zone ending the drive and keeping the Vikings in the lead.  It was just the second time SMSU has failed to score when inside the opponents' 20-yard line this season.  The Mustangs entered the game 26-of-27 inside the red-zone with 23 touchdowns.

The Mustang defense though kept SMSU into the third quarter to keep SMSU's chances alive.  Following a fourth down stop by the SMSU defense at the Mustang 31-yard line, the SMSU offense took over and put together its lone scoring drive of the game.  Mustang quarterback Ryan Ratekin connected on passes of 25 yards to Blake Wilson and 26 yards to Warren Matthews to move the ball to the Augie 16 yard-line.  Following a pass interference that moved the ball to the 2-yard line, SMSU's Gannon Moore was able to plow across from two yards out to to cut the lead to 13-7 with 5:25 remaining in the third quarter.

Augustana then put together the key drive of the game, including coverting a key fourth down conversion in pushing the lead to 19-7.  SMSU forced Augustana into a fourth-down and 13 from the SMSU 30-yard line, but Augie quarterback Luke Butler fired a pass to Trevor Schulte for a 16-yard completion to keep the drive alive and push the momentum back to the Viking sideline.  Clark was able to cap the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 19-7.

The SMSU offense failed to pick up a first down in its next two drives while Augie was able to add 10 more points to seal the victory.

The Viking offense finished with 406 yards including 254 on the ground, the most by an SMSU opponent this season.  SMSU was held to 24 total team yards rushing with Zach Wyson finishing with a team-high 32 yards on eight carries.

Ratekin completed just 17-of-35 passes for 136 yards and failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time this season.  SMSU's Blake Wilson caught a game-high six passes for 58 yards.

Levi Reiff finished with a game-high 11 tackles for SMSU, while Brandon McMichael finished with a team-high five tackles for Augie.

SMSU will host Concordia next Saturday night starting at 6 p.m.