Box Score

MARSHALL, Minn. – Wayne State College recorded eight sacks, including five by Jacob Protzman, while limiting Southwest Minnesota State to 142 yards of offense, in earning a 23-14 victory in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football on Saturday night at the Schwan Regional Event Center.
 
WSC (1-1 NSIC South) won the game despite committing five turnovers. The Wildcat defense forced the Mustangs into 12 punts, while holding SMSU to just 3 of 18 on third-down conversions.
 
Marlon Warren rushed for a game-high 147 yards on 34 carries to pace WSC, while Aaron Bleil completed 25 of 39 pass attempts for 291 yards and three touchdowns. WSC's Nate Rogers caught a game-high seven receptions for 93 yards and one touchdown, while teammate Conner Paxton recorded six receptions for 97 yards and one touchdown.
 
WSC finished the game with 417 yards of offense with 26 first downs. SMSU was held to eight first downs—its lowest total since finishing with nine versus Winona State on Nov. 4, 2006.
 
SMSU (0-2 NSIC South) quarterback Blake Gimbel completed 19 of 35 passes for 137 yards and one touchdown. Daniel Davis led the Mustang offense with six catches for 63 yards, while Trey Sachs rushed for a team-high 33 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries.
 
Shane Ratkovich finished with a team-leading 14 tackles including three for loss and one forced fumble to pace the Mustang defense. Alex Ney added 13 tackles and one fumble recovering with teammate Cory Hollowell racked up 10 stops with two pass break-ups.
 
The SMSU defense made the game's first big play as Ratkovich strip sacked Bleil on the opening play of the game with nuNey recovering at the WSC 5-yard line.
 
Three plays later Sachs plowed across for a two-yard touchdown to give the Mustangs an early 7-0 advantage.
 
On WSC's next possession, Hayden Acker forced another strip sack of Bleil with SMSU's Onte Burns recovering the ball at the WSC 26-yard line. SMSU failed to take advantage of the turnover and was forced to punt.
 
Following a WSC punt, the SMSU offense took over at its own 41-yard line and picked up a pair of first down to move the ball down to the WSC 29-yard line. The drive stalled however with four straight incomplete passes.
 
The SMSU defense came through again late in the quarter as Lucas Fisher intercepted Bleil at the SMSU 12-yard line and returned the interception to midfield. SMSU picked up only one yard on the drive before turning the ball over on downs at the WSC 40-yard line to keep the score at 7-0.
 
WSC put together one of its best drives of the half moving 60 yards in five plays with Bleil connecting on a 19-yard touchdown pass to Cole Wemhoff with six seconds left in the quarter to tie the game at 7-7.
 
The game remained tied until late in the half as WSC took the lead as Bleil fired a 38-yard touchdown pass to Conner Paxton with 3:45 remaining to make the score 13-7 after a missed PAT.
 
SMSU was held to 70 yards of offense and four first downs in the first half and were just 2 of 10 on third-down conversions.
 
WSC recorded 195 yards in the opening half with 14 first downs, despite failing to convert on four third-down conversions.
 
SMSU opened the second half with its best drive of the game to regain the lead as Gimbel found Max Simmons for a 12-yard touchdown pass with 12:02 left in the third. Skyler Crew's PAT put SMSU in front by a 14-13 advantage.
 
With momentum on the SMSU sideline, the Mustang defense forced a three-and-out, but WSC punter Cody Netusil booted a 49-yard punt and following a minus-9 yard return, the field was flipped as SMSU took over at its own 35-yard line.
 
SMSU punted on its next drive, but WSC failed to regain the lead as Ethan Knudson missed a 42-yard field goal midway through the third quarter.
 
The Mustangs weren't able to take advantage of the miss and were forced to punt on their next possession.
 
The Wildcats then rallied for the game-winning drive, moving 59 yards on nine plays with Bleil finding Rogers open for a 20-yard touchdown pass with 2:06 left in the third to make the score 20-14.
 
SMSU went three-and-out on its next drive, but following a 36-yard punt by Austin Wells, WSC's Anthony Lowman muffed the punt and the ball was recovered by SMSU's Jake Hendricks at the WSC 36-yard line. A personal foul on SMSU after the play moved the ball back to midfield and again the WSC defense forced a three-and-out to end the quarter.
 
Both teams struggled to move the ball for much of the fourth quarter with the SMSU defense forcing two punts and another turnover to give the offense one more chance with 3:13 left in the game at its own 19-yard line. Gimbel was sacked to open the drive before completing a six-yard pass to Sachs. Two more incompletions turned the ball over with 2:10 remaining at the SMSU 16-yard line.
 
WSC sealed the win as Knudson booted a 27-yard field goal with 21 seconds remaining.
 
Southwest Minnesota State hits the road next Saturday, Sept. 15, facing the University of Sioux Falls (1-1 NSIC South) starting at 6 p.m.