South Dakota State scored 47 points in a span of 16 minutes between the second and third quarters to cruise past New Haven, 57-14, in the 59th Beef Bowl Saturday night at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
The Jackrabbits, who entered the week ranked second in the Football Championship Subdivision media poll conducted by Stats Perform and third in the coaches’ poll, improved to 2-1 overall. New Haven dropped to 1-2 on the season.
In the early going, it appeared the two squads were poised for a grind-it-out contest despite the Jackrabbits scoring on each of their drives of the opening stanza. On its first drive of the game, SDSU covered 67 yards on 15 plays before settling for a 31-yard field goal by Tristan Alvano. After New Haven turned the ball over on downs, the Jackrabbits again went on a time-consuming march that bridged into the second quarter as they ended a 14-play, 66-yard drive with a 1-yard quarterback sneak by quarterback Chase Mason.
SDSU increased its lead to 17-0 midway through the second quarter with a 99-yard drive in which Mason and the Jackrabbits began to find big plays through the air. The Jackrabbit signal-caller connected with Grahm Goering on a 34-yard pass play to get SDSU out of the shadow of its own goal line, then hooked up with Landon Dulaney for 13 yards and tight end Brayden Delahoyde for another 19 yards before Ramon McKinney Jr. ran around left end for a 22-yard touchdown.
Meanwhile, the SDSU defense registered some big plays of it own to turn the final minutes of the half into a Jackrabbit avalanche. Carter Sitzman recorded a safety as he tackled New Haven running back Zaon Laney in the end zone on a play from the 3-yard line, and two plays after the Chargers got the ball back after a 36-yard field goal by Alvano, Dontay Johnson jarred the ball loose from Laney, with Michael “Tank” Farr recovering at the UNH 25.
The Jackrabbits quickly turned the takeaway into points and tacked on yet another touchdown as Mason worked the ball to the tight ends. SDSU needed only five seconds to score after the fumble recovery as Mason found Coleman Kuntz open down the left hash for a 25-yard touchdown, and 49 seconds later found Greyton Gannon in the right flat for a 24-yard score that pushed the advantage to 36-0.
It was more of the same in the third quarter as the Jackrabbit defense forced a three-and-out on the opening possession and Mason hooked up again with Gannon for a 29-yard touchdown.
SDSU forced its second takeaway of the game on the first play of the ensuing Charger drive as Max Stanard knocked the ball loose and Blake Leiferman came up with the fumble recovery. Once again the Jackrabbits needed only one play on a short field to change the score as James Basinger sliced his way through the left side for a 27-yard touchdown run with 12 minutes and 31 seconds to play in the third quarter.
Basinger would add a 55-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring for the Jackrabbits. Basinger finished the night with a team-best 88 yards on only six carries.
New Haven ended the Jackrabbits’ shutout bid with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. The Chargers took advantage of a muffed punt to get on the board via a 19-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Jake Triptree to LaSalle Rose Jr. Jason Champagne broke loose for a 49-yard touchdown run for the other UNH score.
SDSU finished with exactly a 50-50 split in offense, throwing and rushing for 256 yards each while holding a 512-236 advantage in total offense. The Jackrabbits scored on each of their first eight possessions — six touchdowns and two field goals.
New Haven was held to five first downs through the first three quarters, compared to 23 by the Jackrabbits.
Mason completed 12-of-18 passes for 255 yards, connecting with seven different receivers. Gannon led the way with three catches for 65 yards and the two scores, with Jack Smith also catching three balls for 36 yards.
Jes Krcil and Joe Ollman each notched four tackles to lead the Jackrabbit defense.
Tyler Hammel and J.T. Krivinskas were each credited with seven tackles for New Haven.
UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits open Missouri Valley Football Conference play Sept. 19 by hosting Youngstown State. Kickoff for the annual Dairy Drive game is set for 6 p.m. at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
NOTES
- Saturday’s game marked the first-ever meeting between South Dakota State and New Haven in football
- The Jackrabbits improved to 6-0 against Northeast Conference opponents since moving to the FCS ranks in 2004
- SDSU upped its record in Beef Bowl games to 38-21, winning for the ninth consecutive time and 13 time in the last 14 outings
- Mason threw for three touchdowns for the fourth time, matching his career high
- Basinger is averaging 14.1 yards per carry so far this season (198 yards on 14 carries with three touchdowns)
- Alvano improved to 6-of-7 on field goals this season
- Gannon recorded the first two-touchdown game of his career
- SDSU put together its first 99-yard drive since a May 2, 2021, playoff game against Southern Illinois when the Jackrabbits capped a six-play drive with a 67-yard touchdown run by Mark Gronowski
- Sitzman posted the first Jackrabbit safety since Christian Rozeboom did the honors Nov. 9, 2019, against Illinois State
- Attendance was 19,031 as SDSU topped 1 million for total attendance in 78 games played (12,905 average)at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium since the venue opened in 2016
Story Provided by GoJacks.com
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