Box Score

MARSHALL, Minn. – The University of Sioux Falls racked up 564 yards of offense including 358 on the ground to earn a 51-7 victory over Southwest Minnesota State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference South Division football on Saturday at the Schwan Regional Event Center.
 
USF's Thuro Reisdorfer closed the game rushing for 113 yards and four touchdowns on 13 carries. Teammate Ja'Tai Jenkins added 102 yards rushing and one touchdown on 10 attempts.
 
USF (2-1, 2-1 NSIC South) forced SMSU into three turnovers and limited the Mustangs to 160 yards of total offense.
 
SMSU (0-3, 0-3 NSIC South), which started its third different quarterback of the season, was held to 21 yards of offense and three first downs in the second half.
 
Paul Herrera started his first career game for SMSU and completed 19 of 30 pass attempts for 154 yards and three interceptions.
 
Senior Daniel Davis caught a game-high eight passes for 94 yards to pace the Mustang offense. Davis now has 101 career receptions in his 14-game Mustang career.
 
Max Simmons rushed for a team-high 34 yards on nine carries for the Mustangs.
 
USF took the opening drive of the game and moved 56 yards on eight plays into a stiff wind before Daniel Esparza booted a 38-yard field goal to give the Cougars a 3-0 lead with 11:37 left in the first quarter.
 
SMSU punted on its first drive of the game and had a great chance to pick up its first points of the game as USF's Nate Johnson fumbled the return with SMSU's Ken Truitt recovering the ball at the USF 23-yard line. SMSU wasn't able to take advantage of the turnover as a pair of snaps over Herrera's head moved the back to the SMSU 43-yard line and ending the scoring threat.
 
USF pushed the lead to 10-0 on its second drive of the game as Reisdorfer plowed across for a 1-yard touchdown run midway through the quarter. The key play of the drive was a 91-yard Caden Walters to Karnell Collier pass completion.
 
Early in the second quarter Herrera was intercepted near midfield by USF's Ryan Nieman, who returned the interception down to the SMSU 4-yard line. One play later Reisdorfer scored to extend the lead to 17-0 at the 10:34 mark of the second quarter.
 
Disaster struck once again on the ensuing SMSU drive as Herrera was intercepted at the Mustang 42-yard line to help set-up USF's next scoring drive. The Cougars took five plays to make the score 24-0 with 6:35 remaining in the half on a Reisdorfer 2-yard touchdown run to close out a 42-yard drive.
 
SMSU put together its best drive of the game on its next drive moving the ball 85 yards on 11 plays to score its lone touchdown of the game. Following a pair of first downs, SMSU faced a fourth-and-15 from the USF 45-yard line before Herrera connected on a 44-yard pass to Davis. Two plays later Trey Sachs scored on a 2-yard run to make the score 24-7 at halftime.
 
Following a punt on SMSU's first drive of the second half, Reisdorfer broke free for a 50-yard touchdown run to put the Cougars on top 31-7.
 
After another SMSU punt, Walters closed out USF's next drive with a 29-yard touchdown run on third-and-12 to push the lead to 38-7 after three quarters of play.
 
USF added two more of their seven rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
 
Cory Hollowell and Onte Burns each recorded eight tackles for SMSU, while Gage Roberson, Lucas Fisher, Davaeon Johnson and Garrett Chapman chipped in with six tackles each.
 
Southwest Minnesota State is back on the road next Saturday facing Upper Iowa (0-3, 0-3 NSIC South) in Fayette with kickoff slated for 6 p.m.