MARSHALL, Minn. – Wayne State College used several big plays to score 31 straight points to help rally from a 10-point deficit and eventually earn a hard-fought 38-24 victory over Southwest Minnesota State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football at The Schwan Regional Event Center.
Brennan Hayes led the Wildcats (4-1, 3-1 NSIC) rushing for 178 yards and four touchdowns on 27 carries. His final touchdown, an 80-yard rush with just under nine minutes left in the game, pushed the WSC lead to 35-17.
The touchdown came just one play after SMSU was just a yard shy of cutting the WSC advantage to possibly 28-24, but a fumble by SMSU went through the endzone for a WSC touchback.
SMSU, in its first game under interim head coach
Levi Bullerman, played a spirited first half, scoring 17 straight points to build a 17-7 advantage midway through the second quarter.
SMSU, 1-4 overall, 1-3 NSIC, finished the game with a season-high 359 yards offense with quarterback
Drew Kluender passing for a career-high 314 yards and three touchdowns, while completing 26 of 43 passes with one interception.
Cooper Murphy caught six passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns to pace the SMSU receiving corps.
Tryg Auten added a team-high seven receptions for 56 yards.
WSC used the 80-yard touchdown run and a first half 90-yard pass to help rack-up 608 yards of offense on 85 plays.
The Mustang defense was led by
Hunter Hanegraaf who finished with 13 tackles (2.5 for loss), while teammate
Jack Meier closed with a career-high eight tackles with 2.5 for loss.
WSC opened the game's scoring with a 27-yard touchdown pass from Brady McGill to Charlie Lamski on its first drive of the game.
SMSU scored on its second drive of the game with Kluender completing a 20-yard touchdown pass to Murphy to cap an 11-play, 68-yard drive and make the score 7-7 with 45 seconds left in the first quarter.
SMSU forced a WSC fumble on the ensuing drive with
Julius Brown recovering at the WSC 25-yard line. SMSU, however, wasn't able to punch the ball in the endzone and had to settle for a 26-yard field goal by
Landon Hubbard early in the second quarter.
The SMSU defense forced WSC to turn the ball over on downs at the 34-yard line on its next drive and the SMSU offense responded with another touchdown. On first-down, Kluender connected with Murphy for a 21-yard pass before the duo connected again two plays later on a 31-yard touchdown pass to push the SMSU advantage to 17-7 with 8:07 left in the half.
WSC was forced to start its next drive at its own 8-yard line following a penalty on the kickoff. Facing third-and-10, the Wildcats came through with one of the biggest plays of the game with McGill connecting with Keaten Bronderson for a 90-yard pass completion. Three plays later Hayes scored on a 1-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 17-14, heading into halftime.
The third quarter was dominated by the WSC defense, which held the SMSU offense to five straight three-and-outs. WSC, which punted its first two possessions, regained the lead taking advantage of a short field with Hayes scoring on a 1-yard run to cap a 25-yard drive.
WSC extended the lead to 28-17 with Hays scoring on a 32-yard touchdown late in the third quarter.
SMSU would not go away and had a great chance to pull within four points. With the ball near midfield, Kluender completed a pass to Murphy, who sprinted down to the WSC 1-yard line, but the Wildcats' Clyde Hinton forced a fumble, and the ball bounced out of the end zone for a WSC touchback.
One play later, Hayes sprinted 80 yards for a touchdown to make the score 35-17.
SMSU would cap the game's scoring with Kluender finding
Zoan Robinson for a 38-yard touchdown.
SMSU continues action at home next Saturday, Oct. 3, taking on Minnesota Duluth for homecoming with kickoff slated for 3 p.m.
