MARSHALL, Minn. – Augustana limited Southwest Minnesota State to a season-low 140 yards of offense and racked up seven sacks in earning a 49-0 victory in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football on Saturday afternoon at The Schwan Regional Event.
 
It's the second straight season the Vikings have shutout the Mustangs as both teams close the 2022 season. Augustana, ranked No. 10 in this week's NCAA Super Region Four rankings, snapped a three-game losing streak and closed the season at 7-4 overall, 3-3 NSIC South.
 
SMSU, which opened the season 4-1, closed with six straight losses and finishes the season at 4-7 overall, 1-5 NSIC South.
 
Augustana closed the game with 400 yards of offense including 172 on the ground and finished with 17 first downs.
 
SMSU was limited to a season-low 10 first downs and amassed just 53 rushing yards. The Mustangs entered the game having allowed just 13 sacks all season, but Vikings broke free for seven on Saturday for a minus-33 yards.
 
Jesse Sherwood, in his final game for the Mustangs, rushed for a game-high 95 yards on 25 carries. He closes the season rushing for 1,213 yards, ranking as the second highest total in team single-season history. Sherwood finished his career ranking eighth in team history with 2,000 yards rushing on 345 carries.
 
SMSU's Marcus Martin completed 10 of 26 passes for 87 yards and was intercepted three times. Eric Lira caught a team-high four passes for 36 yards, while Peter Osman, Albert Lemon and Sherwood all finished with two receptions.
 
Onte Burns, who started every game of his 44-game career, had another big game to pace the Mustang defense with a game-high 13 tackles, including eight solo stops. He ended his career with SMSU and NSIC record 213 solo tackles and closed with 365 total tackles. He also reached 100 tackles for the third straight season.
 
Josiah Hedensten added nine tackles for the Mustangs with teammates Mark Person and Treverran Mack both chipped in with five tackles.
 
Casey Bauman led the Augustana offense passing for 228 yards and three touchdowns while completing 14 of 22 passes with one interception. He also rushed for 84 yards on nine carries.
 
Devon Jones caught a game-high five passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns.
 
The Vikings opened the scoring on their first drive of the game with Isaiah Huber scoring on a 3-yard touchdown run with 8:48 remaining in the opening quarter.
 
Following punts by both teams, the Vikings' defense came through with Peyton Buckley intercepting Martin at the 40-yard line and returning it for a touchdown to push the lead to 14-0 at the 5:26 mark.
 
The Vikings moved the lead to 21-0 early in the second quarter with David Addo breaking free on a fourth-and-one for a 25-yard touchdown.
 
Late in the half, the Mustangs turned the ball over on downs at the Vikings' 31-yard line. With under two minutes left in the half and despite facing first-and-25, Bauman ripped off a 28-yard run to move the sticks on the first play of the drive. Two plays later Bauman found Jones for a 44-yard touchdown pass with 49 seconds remaining to give the Vikings a 28-0 halftime lead.
 
Following punts by both teams to begin the second half the Vikings broke free again with a Bauman completing a 38-yard touchdown pass to Logan Uttecht with just over nine minutes left in the third quarter.
 
The Mustang defense forced a pair of Vikings turnover later in the third with Marquise Ogletree earning his team-high third interception, while Kenneth Stevenson forced a fumble with Ogletree recovering the ball. Both turnovers set up the Mustangs on the Vikings' side of the 50-yard line, but the Mustang offense was forced to punt and turned the ball over on downs to end both drives.
 
Augustana would add two more scores in the fourth behind another touchdown pass by Bauman and a 3-yard run by Kyle Graham.
 
Today was the final game for seven Mustangs seniors: Onte Burns, Alan Giron, Eli Jefferson, Dylan Lauer, Austin Moore, Jesse Sherwood and Adrian Tolbert.