MARSHALL, Minn. – Northern State built a 23-0 halftime advantage and held Southwest Minnesota State to 250 yards of offense in earning a 30-3 victory in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football on Saturday night at The Schwan Regional Event Center.
NSU improves to 3-0 on the season, including 2-0 in NSIC play. The Wolves, which received votes in this week's AFCA Top 25 poll, is 3-0 for the first time since 1989.
SMSU drops to 1-2 overall, 0-2 NSIC.
NSU finished the night with 476 yards of offense, including 317 passing yards with two quarterbacks. Joey Jube-Garrett completed 9 of 12 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns, while Ty Englehart was 11 for 18 for 138 yards and one touchdown.
Hank Kraft, who entered the game leading Division II in all purpose yards, rushed for 107 yards and one touchdown on 20 carries.
SMSU was limited to 44 yards rushing with
Josh Lancifort finishing with a team-high 28 yards on 10 carries.
SMSU quarterback
Macloud Crowton closed the game completing 25 of 42 passes for 206 yards and one interception.
David Ola-Kazeem caught seven passes for 52 yards, while
Jayden Cooper added six receptions for 68 yards to lead the Mustangs.
Hunter Hanegraaf led the SMSU defense with seven tackles with teammate
Keegan Patterson recording five tackles and one pass break-up.
NSU opened the scoring on its first drive of the game with Englehart completing an 8-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Boykins with 11:16 left in the first quarter. Following a three-and-out by SMSU, the Wolves answered with another touchdown pass midway through the first quarter to build a 13-0 advantage.
Early in the second quarter, Crowton was intercepted near midfield and NSU took advantage with Dube-Garrett completing his second touchdown pass of the half to make the score 20-0. NSU later added a field goal to push the margin to 23-0 at halftime.
NSU racked up 369 yards of offense in the first half, while limiting SMSU to 83 yards.
Trailing 30-0 to start the fourth, SMSU had a great opportunity to score its first touchdown since the opening game of the season, facing first-and-goal from the 2-yard line. A holding call negated an SMSU touchdown, while a fumbled snap on third down from the 3-yard line, pushed the ball back to the 21-yard line. SMSU ended the shutout attempt with
Landon Hubbard booting a 38-yard field goal.
SMSU will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 19, with a road match-up versus Minot State in Minot, N.D., with kickoff slated for 2 p.m. at Herb Parker Stadium.
