Box Score
WAYNE, Neb. – Southwest Minnesota State bounced back from its first loss of the season last week with a dominating 61-3 victory over Wayne State College at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
SMSU (5-1, 1-1 NSIC South) exploded with one of its biggest halves in school history—scoring 47 first half points—in building a 47-3 halftime lead, scoring on all six of its possessions.
The three points allowed is the fewest by SMSU since shutting out Waldorf College (Iowa) on Sept. 4, 2004. The 58-point victory is the third largest margin in team history and the highest ever versus an NSIC team.
SMSU finished the game with 618 yards of offense—it's highest total since 2013—including 322 on the ground. SMSU, which entered the game ranking second in Division II in first downs, racked up 32 first downs today and was 11 of 15 on third down conversions.
The SMSU rushing attack was led by
Davontay Stevens with 131 yards and one touchdown on 21 carries, while
Divonte Beale added a career-high 127 yards and one touchdown on 14 attempts.
Ashanti Payne chipped in with 58 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries. It was the first time SMSU had a pair of 100-yard rushers in one game since Gannon Moore and Warren Matthews in 2012.
SMSU quarterback
Blake Gimbel completed 16 of 26 pass attempts with three touchdown passes. The Mustangs had 10 different players record a pass reception, with
Raphael Lawson-Gayle finishing with two receptions for 67 yards and two touchdowns.
Cameron Parus caught three passes for 58 yards and one touchdown.
SMSU back-up quarterback
Connor Wilkie tossed his first career touchdown pass with a 10-yard strike to
Michael Rivera, who caught his first career touchdown.
Wayne State (3-3, 0-2 NSIC South) was limited to 309 yards of offense and 17 first downs. WSC quarterbacks combined to complete just 13 of 33 passes for 180 yards.
Jonathan Cross had a team-high eight tackles for SMSU, while
AJ Page had six tackles, including one for loss and one pass break-up.
Tyler Flud had five stops and also had one tackle for loss and one pass break-up.
SMSU started the game strong taking the opening kickoff and driving 75 yards on just five plays with Gimbel closing the drive with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Lawson-Gayle.
WSC answered with a solid 14-play, 63-yard drive on its first possession, but had to settle for a 34-yard field goal by Sam Simon midway through the first quarter.
On its next drive, Gimbel completed a pair of third down passes to keep the drive alive and move the ball to the WSC 35-yard line. Two plays later and following a personal foul on SMSU, Gimbel completed the biggest third down conversion of the game, firing a 46-yard touchdown pass to Lawson-Gayle on third-and-22 to make the score 14-3.
On the ensuing kickoff into a stiff wind,
Austin Wells' kick landed at the WSC 24 yard line and was recovered by SMSU's
Casey Hertz. Just two plays later, Stevens scored on a 1-yard run to give SMSU a 21-3 late in the quarter.
Special teams came through again later in the quarter as
Andrew McReynolds returned a WSC punt 35 yards setting up the Mustang offense at the WSC 46-yard line. SMSU moved the 46 yards in 10 plays with Payne breaking free for a 16-yard touchdown run on third-and-two to make the score 27-3.
After WSC turned the ball over on downs at the SMSU 23-yard line, the SMSU offense countered with its longest drive of the opening half. SMSU converted a third down conversion and also a fourth down conversion during the drive to move the ball deep in WSC territory. SMSU closed the drive with six straight runs, closed off by a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Gimbel to push the lead to 33-3 with 3:28 left in the half.
The Mustang defense forced a three-and-out and following another big McReynolds punt return, SMSU took over at the WSC 44-yard line. SMSU quickly added to the lead in just over a minute as Gimbel completed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Parus with 1:30 remaining to make the score 40-3.
It looked like that would be the score heading into halftime, but WSC went three-and-out once again and was forced to punt in the closing seconds of the half. Lawson-Gayle broke through the line and partially blocked Coulton Hough's punt. The ball rolled to the WSC 42-yard line and was picked up by
Dallin Finley who returned the ball into the end zone as time expired to extend the lead to 47-3 at halftime. It was the first SMSU blocked punt return for a touchdown since Lionel Lamarre returned a blocked kick by Curt Gosser on Aug. 30, 2008.
SMSU added to the lead in the second half with a pair of touchdowns. The first came on Wilkie's 10-yard pass to Rivera late in the third, before Beale closed out the scoring with his first career touchdown with a 15-yard run late in the fourth.
Southwest Minnesota State returns to the Schwan Regional Event Center next Saturday, Oct. 17, taking on No. 5 ranked University of Sioux Falls with kickoff set for 6 p.m.
