Various Dakota: SD State wins first FCS title

FRISCO, Texas– A various Dakota is celebrating a national championship almost two decades after the border-state rivals went up together to the Department I level.

“I continue to think back in 2004 and questioning how it was going to exercise. Well, this is quite sweet how it’s worked out,” coach John Stiegelmeier said after South Dakota State won its first Football Championship Subdivision title Sunday.Mark Gronowski threw 3 touchdowns and ran 51 yards for another score as the Jackrabbits won 45-21 win over North Dakota State, which lost for the very first time in its 10 FCS title game looks considering that the move from NCAA Division II.As a real freshman two seasons earlier, Gronowski tore the ACL in his

left knee on the opening series of the Football Champion Subdivision title game. Now almost 20 months after a loss in that unprecedented spring finale, and after the quarterback missed the entire 2021 season, the Jackrabbits(14-1)beat their border-state rival for the most significant reward in coach John Stiegelmeier’s 26th season at his alma mater.” It’s actually a storybook ending for us,” Gronowski stated. “We made a memory,”Stiegelmeier said.”I endure our players and I constantly will

, always have. Therefore my joy is terrific today since their happiness is excellent.”Amar Johnson hurried for 126 backyards and Isaiah Davis had 119 for his ninth 100-yard game this season, and both scored goals for South Dakota State. Gronowski, who completed 14 of 21 passes for 223 yards, had his scoring operate on the third play of the 2nd half to stretch the cause 38-14.”We understood NDSU was going to battle till the end of the game, and we knew that we had to come out in the second half and simply begin quickly, score early,

“Gronowski said.”That’s what we did there on that play.”Web Cam Miller was 17-of-26 passing for 256 lawns with 2 TDs and two interceptions for the Bison(12-3), who went from Fargo to Frisco for the 10th time in 12 seasons.”

So hard to lose, “Bison coach Matt Entz said. “Not something we like to do, not something we’re going to make a routine of at NDSU. But I’m more worried about our players today.

… They’ll bounce back, I know that. “The Jackrabbits have won the previous four meetings in between the Missouri Valley Football Conference competitors, all in less than 2 years. The previous three had remained in regular-season games for the Dakota Marker prize that was

n’t up for grabs in the MLS soccer stadium almost 1,000 miles from the border of their states. It was their 114th conference since 1903, however just the fifth in the FCS playoffs and first in the champion game.South Dakota State’s only previous FCS title game appearance was a last-minute loss to Sam Houston State in May 2021 after the lower-division season was pressed back to the spring due to the fact that of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Jackrabbits beat NDSU because abbreviated routine season, then again later that fall prior to a 23-21 win last October after conquering a 21-7 halftime deficit in the Fargodome.Johnson’s 32-yard TD run broke a 7-all tie early in the 2nd quarter. The Jackrabbits got the ball right back when Steven Arrell stripped the ball from running back Kobe Johnson, and Dalys Beanum recovered it at the Bison 34. Gronowski struck wide-open Jaxon Janke for an 18-yard TD 4 plays later– Janke also had a 30-yard TD catch in the 4th quarter.There was an exchange of 44-yard touchdown passes right prior to halftime. On third-and-1, Gronowski moved forward as if he was going to attempt to run for the very first down when he instead picked up the line and threw to Mike Morgan all alone behind the entire defense.”It suggests the world to me. And I have actually got to thank every person that has assisted me along this journey and the men who played a remarkable game,”Gronowski stated of his resurgence from injury to being the game’s most outstanding player and winning a champion.”There’s no much better sensation worldwide.”THE TAKEAWAY North Dakota State: The Bison have a 44-4 record

in the FCS playoffs, and missed out on a chance to match the record of 45 wins by Georgia Southern, which is now dipping into the FBS level. They have just 14 losses overall because 2011, when they won the very first of their record nine FCS titles, and six of those losses are to South Dakota State– no other group has several wins over NDSU in

that span.South Dakota State:

The Jackrabbits have won a school-record 14 games in a row because opening this season with a 7-3 loss at Big Ten group Iowa.UP NEXT North Dakota State opens the 2023 season on Sept. 2 in Minneapolis, among the school’s largest alumni bases, against seasonal FCS playoff team Eastern Washington.South Dakota State still wants to fill an open slot on its 2023 schedule for Labor Day weekend. As of now, the first set game is Sept. 9 at home against 2021 nationwide runner-up Montana State, which the Jackrabbits beat in this season’s national semifinal game.