Box Score

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State rolled up 522 yards offense—including rushing for 278 yards—to roll to a 48-24 victory over Concordia-St. Paul in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action on Saturday afternoon.
 
SMSU (7-3 NSIC, 3-3 NSIC South) picked up its seventh victory of the season, tying the 2013 team for the most victories in program history (since 1995) at the NCAA Division II level. CSP (1-9 NSIC, 0-6 NSIC South) suffered its seventh straight loss.

Today was also SMSU's fifth road win of the season in six games, setting a school record for road wins in a season.
 
SMSU's Blake Gimbel completed 25 of 35 pass attempts for 243 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for one touchdown.  SMSU's rushing attack was led by Ashanti Payne, who gained a game-high 109 yards and one touchdown on just 11 carries. Davontay Stevens added 87 yards and one touchdown on 20 attempts.
 
Nate Huot caught eight passes for 89 yards and two touchdowns for the Mustangs, while teammate Kevin Parks led all receivers with nine catches for 73 yards.
 
SMSU, which held a 41-10 lead in the fourth quarter, was led on defense by AJ Page, who recorded seven tackles, including two sacks and one pass break-up. Andrew McReynolds also had big day, racking up seven tackles, including one for loss with a forced fumble and one interception. He also had several big punt and kickoff returns.
 
The Mustangs offense—which leads Division II in first downs—amassed 29 today and converted 8 of 14 third down conversions.
 
CSP finished with 411 yards of offense, but was held to just 90 yards on the ground, the fewest allowed by SMSU this season.
 
SMSU jumped on the board first on its opening drive, moving 57 yards on seven plays on a drive that lasted just 1:39, as Gimbel scored on a 3-yard touchdown run.
 
On SMSU's third drive of the game, Gimbel was intercepted and returned to near midfield. Just two plays, later Trevor Tillett fired a 20-yard touchdown pass to Sammy Baucham to tie the game at 7-7 with 12:24 left in the second quarter.
 
SMSU answered back in a big way on its next drive as Ashanti Payne had back-to-back 9-yard runs moving the ball near midfield. Payne then ripped off a 56-yard touchdown run—the longest rush of his career—to make the score 14-7.
 
CSP moved the ball inside the SMSU 10-yard line on its next possession, but the SMSU defense held strong and forced CSP to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Jonas Schenderlein cutting the lead to 14-10 with 6:22 left in the second quarter.
 
On the ensuing kickoff, Andrew McReynolds broke free for a 68-yard return setting up the offense at the 31-yard line. Just four plays later, Gimbel fired a 16-yard touchdown pass to Nate Huot pushing the lead to 21-10 at the 5:09 mark.
 
McReynolds then ended CSP's next drive with an interception at the SMSU 24-yard line with 2:28 left in the half. It was plenty of time for the Mustang offense, which moved 76 yards on 12 plays, with Stevens plowing in for a 1-yard touchdown with 12 seconds remaining in the half to give SMSU a 28-10 halftime lead.
 
SMSU started the second half with the ball and expanded the lead as Gimbel completed a 14-yard touchdown pass to offensive lineman Grant Greenfield—his first career reception—in making the score 35-10 with just over 11 minutes left in the third quarter.
 
SMSU made the score 41-10 early in the fourth as Gimbel found Huot for a 12-yard touchdown reception.
 
Following a CSP touchdown pass, SMSU quickly answered back as Divonte Beale broke free on a fourth-and-1 play for a 56-yard touchdown run making the score 48-17.
 
Southwest Minnesota State closes out the regular season next Saturday, Nov. 14, hosting Winona State (5-5 NSIC, 3-3 NSIC South) with kickoff set for 1 p.m.