Box Score

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Southwest Minnesota State pulled off one of its biggest victories in program history on Saturday earning a 21-20 road victory over St. Cloud State at Husky Stadium.
 
The win moves SMSU to 3-0 on the season—earning the program its first 3-0 start since 1991—while the victory was its first over SCSU since Oct. 24, 1981. SMSU is now 2-16 all-time versus SCSU.
 
SMSU has earned its three victories this season by a combined six points.
 
SMSU held a 21-7 lead into the fourth quarter before SCSU rallied with a pair of touchdowns, including a score with three minutes of 25 seconds left in the game to make the score 21-20. SCSU would miss the ensuing PAT to keep SMSU with a one-point lead.
 
Leading by a point and starting at its own 14-yard line, SMSU needed to pick up a pair of huge third-down conversions to secure the victory. The first conversion came on third-and-five from the 19-yard line with Blake Gimbel completing a 7-yard pass to Ty Steffensen. Two plays later and facing third-and-five, Ashanti Payne ripped off a game-clinching 25-yard first down run and SMSU was able to run out the clock.
 
Payne led a strong SMSU rushing attack with a game-high 106 yards on 21 carries, while Davontay Stevens recorded 80 yards and one touchdown on 26 attempts.
 
Gimbel completed 16 of 24 pass attempts for 182 yards and one touchdown, while Steffensen was the top SMSU target during the game with five catches for 52 yards. Stevens also caught three passes for a career-high 51 yards.
 
SMSU finished the game grinding out 346 yards of offense and 21 first downs while running 80 plays. The Mustangs finished the game 12 for 22 on third-down conversions.
 
SCSU was just 4 of 10 on third down and was limited to 132 yards rushing. SCSU had 376 yards of offense on 58 plays.
 
SCSU quarterback Nate Meyer completed 13 of 20 passes for 244 yards, while also rushing for 27 yards and one touchdown. Jameson Parsons caught a game-high nine passes for 180 yards to pace the Huskies.
 
SMSU took advantage of a roughing the kicker penalty during the game's opening possession to score the first points of the contest. Forced to punt after gaining just three yards in the game's first three plays, SCSU was called for the 15-yard penalty to give SMSU a first down. The Mustangs took advantage in a big way later in the drive as Gimbel connected on a 22-yard touchdown pass to Davion Shelton to give SMSU a 7-0 lead with 10 minutes and 54 seconds left in the first quarter. The key play in the drive was a Gimbel 24-yard screen pass to Stevens on third-and-7 from the SMSU 35-yard line.
 
SMSU special teams then came up with the game's next big play as a handful of Mustangs broke through and blocked an SCSU punt attempt to set up the SMSU offense at the SCSU 12-yard line. Four plays later Stevens plowed across from 1-yard out to push the lead to 14-0 midway through the first quarter.
 
SCSU cut into the deficit on the first play of the second quarter as Jaden Huff scored on a 1-yard run to make the score 14-7.
 
SMSU threatened to add to the lead later in the second, moving the ball down to the SCSU 14-yard line, but the SCSU forced SMSU to turn the ball over on downs to keep the score 14-7.

Following a punt by SCSU, the SMSU offense answered with a 13-play, 67-yard touchdown drive to take a 14-point halftime lead. Gimbel finished the drive diving across from 1-yard out to make the score 21-7 with 3:25 left in the half. SMSU attempted just one pass on the drive, a 24-yard completion from Gimbel to Stevens and third-and-nine from the SMSU 44-yard line.
 
Neither team was able to score in the third quarter, before SCSU finally broke through early in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run for Huff to make the score 21-14.
 
SMSU punted on its next possession with SCSU taking over at its own 20-yard line. The Huskies drove down the field in 11 plays with Nate Meyer scoring on third-and-goal from the 3-yard line to make the score 21-20. That was as close as the Huskies would come as Derek Witte missed the PAT.
 
Caleb Leichtnam recorded 10 tackles for pace the Mustang defense with six solo stops. AJ Page had another big game for the defense with six tackles, including two tackles for loss. Page now has 17 career sacks moving into seventh on the program's all-time list.
 
Southwest Minnesota State returns home next Saturday, Sept. 27, taking on MSU Moorhead (3-0) for homecoming starting at 6 p.m.