> Box Score
WINONA, Minn. - Southwest Minnesota State earned its first victory in Winona since 1992, snapping an 11-game losing streak, holding on for a 39-34 victory over Winona State on Saturday in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football.
SMSU (3-7, 2-4 NSIC South), which snapped a two-game losing streak, was led by Tyler Tonderum, who rushed for a season-high 196 yards and two touchdowns on 43 carries. Nate Huot led SMSU receivers with five receptions for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Tonderum, who recored his third straight 100-yard rushing game, also reached 3,000 yards rushing in a career, becoming just the second Mustang player to reach the mark. He now has 3,014 yards on 534 carries. Zach Wysong (2006-09) is the school's all-time leader with 3,175 yards.
SMSU back-up quarterback Blake Gimbel entered the game in the second quarter for injured starter Charlie Kern and completed 7 of 13 pass attempts for 106 yards and one touchdown. He also filled in as the placekicker and booted a pair of field goals and three PATs.
The Mustangs rushed for 277 yards on 60 attempts and closed the game with 449 yards of total offense.
Winona State (4-6, 1-5 NSIC South) finished the game with 513 yards of offense, including 410 through the air behind quarterback Jack Nelson, who completed 23 of 40 passes with four touchdowns. WSU was held to just 103 yards rushing.
SMSU, which entered the game minus-13 in turnover margin this season, didn't commit a turnover for the first time all season and forced a pair of WSU turnovers. The Mustang defense also recorded a season-high four sacks.
WSU started the game's scoring taking the opening drive and scoring on its first play of the game with Anthony Resnick scoring on a 45-yard screen pass from Nelson with 14 minutes and 37 seconds left in the first quarter.
WSU added to the lead midway through the first quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Direll Clark to make the score 14-0.
SMSU then used special teams to get back into the game. Forced to punt on its second possession, Mustang punter Mike Wenk, who entered the game ranked second in Division II in punt average, dropped a perfect punt at the WSU 3-yard line. The SMSU defense forced a three-and-out and took over at the WSU 29-yard line following a poor punt. The Mustangs were able to take advantage of the short field with Kern finding Huot on a 9-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-one to cut the lead to 14-7 with 18 seconds left in the first.
On the ensuing kickoff, the SMSU special teams forced a fumble with Max Mattila recovering the ball at the WSU 32-yard line. SMSU picked up a key third-down conversion on the ensuing drive and later scored on a 5-yard touchdown run by Ashanti Payne to make the score 14-13 with 14:05 on the clock following a blocked PAT.
WSU extended the lead later in the half with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Nelson to Tyler Swinford with 6:11 remaining to make the score 21-13.
SMSU answered on its next drive with Gimbel, replacing Kern, who suffered his game-ending injury during the touchdown run by Payne. SMSU converted a pair of third downs on the drive with Tonderum busting through with a 4-yard touchdown run to make the score 21-20 with 2:38 left in the half.
Tonderum had a big opening half finishing with 146 yards on 21 carries.
The Mustangs started the second half with a bang as Gimbel connected on a 71-yard touchdown pass to Huot on the second play of the half to give SMSU a 26-21 lead.
Following a three-and-out by WSU, SMSU added to the lead with Gimbel booting a 21-yard field goal, the first of his career, midway through the third quarter to make the score 29-21.
SMSU added to the lead early in the fourth quarter with Tonderum plowing in with a 1-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 36-21 with 11:28 remaining in the game. The key play of the drive was a 48-yard run by Davontay Stevens down to the WSU 11-yard line.
WSU answered less than two minutes later as Nelson connected with Josh Mikes on a 9-yard touchdown pass to trim the SMSU lead to 36-28.
SMSU came right back with one of the game's biggest drives, taking more than six minutes off the clock and closing with a Gimbel 21-yard field goal with 3:01 remaining to push the margin to 39-28.
The Warriors wouldn't go away and just two plays later Nelson found Mikes for a 70-yard touchdown pass to pull within 39-34 following a missed two-point attempt.
SMSU recovered the on-side kick and took over at the WSU 46-yard line, but was unable to pick up a first down and was forced to punt after three plays. Wenk came through and pinned the Warriors at their 3-yard line with 1:26 remaining.
WSU converted on fourth-and-10 from the 3-yard line to keep the drive alive and later moved the ball to near midfield with 25 seconds remaining. Nelson completed back-to-back passes to Lorenzo Mitchell down to the SMSU 24-yard line with four seconds left, setting up one last attempt for the game-winning touchdown. But before the next snap, the Warriors were called for a false start penalty and without timeouts, a 10-second runoff allowed SMSU to seal the victory.
Kern finished the game 9 for 11 passing for 66 yards and one touchdown before leaving the game. Stevens, after missing last week with an injury, rushed for 63 yards on five attempts.
Casey Hertz recorded a game-high seven tackles for SMSU. Jonathan Cross, making his second start of the season, finished with six tackles, with five solo stops and also had one sack, one fumble recovery and 1.5 tackles for loss. Donovan Woods and Alex Burton both finished with six tackles apiece.
Southwest Minnesota State concludes the season next Saturday at home, taking on Augustana (5-5, 2-4 NSIC South) at the Schwan Regional Event Center starting at 1 p.m.
