Photo by Sam Thiel SMSU’s Albert Lemon hauls in a catch over MSU Moorhead’s Deiondre Taylor during their game on Saturday. The Mustangs fell to the Dragons 23-14.

MARSHALL — Both Southwest Minnesota State University and Minnesota State University Moorhead football programs had a pair of streaks it wanted to break entering Saturday. On one side, the Mustangs were still in search of its first home victory of the season. The other, a Dragons group looking to snap not just a three-game skid, but an eight-game losing streak in Marshall that dated all the way back to Oct. 19, 1996.

Thanks to a fast start coupled with multiple defensive stops, MSUM (4-4 NSIC) kept SMSU (3-5) winless at home with a 23-14 victory over the Mustangs at Mattke Field.

SMSU coach Cory Sauter said the sluggish start put their backs against the wall right away and while he was pleased that his team was able to respond and make it close, they couldn’t capitalize in the key moments.

“We had a very slow start, anytime you’re down the margin that we were, those are hard to overcome. The good thing is we responded and we made it a close and tight game, a one-possession game and had a chance to take the lead. We had a pass interference call that we were really close to even coming down with with Daniel Davis and we had a dropped touchdown that if we just have one of those things go our way, all of a sudden we’re up by one then who knows what will happen and not guaranteeing that we’re winning the game but it would have been nice for us to capitalize on that moment,” Sauter said. “I can’t expect for us to win just the way we started, you have to get off to a good start, especially at home to keep your fans into it and use that to our advantage and essentially we’ve negated our advantage by getting us into a hole.”

Slow start halts

SMSU offense

After breaking out the offense the past few games, the Mustangs were held in check early on against the Dragons. SMSU came up empty on nearly all of its drives throughout the first half, only gaining 106 total yards on seven possessions before a late scoring drive closed the half.

The Dragons, however, quickly capitalized on their offensive drives, scoring on their first possession of the afternoon with a 1-yard run by Matthew Plasterer before the extra point was missed made it 6-0 with 10:29 left in the first quarter.

After a turnover on downs by the Mustangs gave MSUM the ball back on its own 35-yard line later in the frame, the Dragons wasted little time in finding the end zone, as Plasterer connected with Zach Sweep, who raced 65 yards for the score to extend their advantage to 13-0 after one.

MSUM’s offense wasn’t the only one to come up with a big play in the opening half. After forcing another punt by the Mustangs, the Dragons’ special teams unit took advantage when the snap went over the head of Aiden Belt on a fourth-and-10 from the SMSU 38-yard line. MSUM’s Brock Harris quickly recovered it, and a short run by Max Carter quickly capped the mishap by the Mustangs and gave the Dragons a 20-0 lead with under two minutes to go in the first half.

Despite not finding the scoreboard for the majority of the first half, the Mustangs would not be deterred, as SMSU got the ball near midfield before a pair of Boyer Bouman passes to Gabe Galamue and Daniel Davis put them in MSUM territory with 46 seconds to play.

The Dragons quickly earned two consecutive sacks — part of seven on the afternoon by the MSUM defense — to back the Mustangs up to the MSUM 47-yard line. With just 11 seconds on the clock and a third-and-25 staring him down, Bouman came up with a big throw, finding Albert Lemon on a 31-yard strike with just three seconds to go. The senior quarterback then threw a bullet to Davis for a 16-yard score with no time remaining to bring it to 20-7 going into halftime.

Comeback falls short

After getting the score to end the first half, the Mustangs was put in great field position on their first drive of the second half after a MSUM punt gave SMSU the ball on its own 42-yard line. Two quick runs were followed up by a 19-yard pass from Bouman to Lemon, who went up and over the MSUM defender to snag the catch to bring SMSU to the Dragons’ red zone. Shortly after, Trey Sachs found a running lane and scored on a 10-yard rush to make it a one-score game at 20-14 with 10:41 to go in the third quarter.

The two teams traded empty possessions to end the third before the Mustangs opened the fourth with a key drive that went from their own 7 all the way to the MSUM 8-yard line thanks to multiple third-down conversions and a pair of Dragon penalties. With 1st and goal and the Dragons on their heels, SMSU was backed up on a holding penalty to the 18-yard line, and a couple of incomplete passes with a MSUM sack in between brought up fourth down from the 27. Bouman would pick up 11 of those yards on a run on the next play, but couldn’t get closer as the Mustangs turned it over on downs.

Looking to put the game out of reach, the Dragons pieced together a deep drive of their own, converting on a pair of third downs in SMSU territory before a 23-yard field goal by Hobert Diax with 1:53 to go completed a 12-play, 79-yard possession that all came on running plays to give MSUM a 23-14 lead and seal the victory.

As a team, the Mustangs recorded 404 yards of total offense while the Dragons posted 385 yards. SMSU held the advantage in passing (342-171), but only managed 62 yards on the ground to MSUM’s 214.

Bouman threw for 334 yards on 28 of 51 passing and a touchdown while also leading the team in rushing at 34 yards on 15 attempts. Max Simmons added 28 yards on the ground while Davis led in receiving with 11 catches for 156 yards and a score, Luke Narveson tacked on 44 yards and Lemon had 69 yards.

Defensively, the Mustangs were led by Garret Chapman, who had a team-high 14 tackles while Cory Hollowell added six tackles and Adihia Bell had five, with three going for a loss.

Seniors get

recognized

Saturday’s game was also “Senior Recognition Day” for SMSU’s 17 seniors. This year’s class includes Randy Anderson, Richard Ayers, Brad Bahlmann, Bouman, Jason Brunet, Job Dallien, Davis, Diondre Green, Nick Guzman, Hollowell, Maurice Hunter, Davaeon Johnson, Peyton Sanders, Simmons, Tahjee Smith, Zach Stratmoen and Zach Thissen.

Sauter said their recognition of the seniors isn’t limited to one day, it’s honoring their entire career and what they’ve been able to do for SMSU both on and off the field.

“You always get different types of seniors, some of them have been here for their entire career for 5 years, some of them were transfers that were here for 2 to 3 years, so you get a full mixture of age kids coming through,” Sauter said. “It’s a fun way for us to recognize them and show our appreciation for what they’ve done for Mustang football. It’s more than just this game, it’s their body of work; the offseason, going to the schools, helping out. All of that stuff adds up with just trying to make an impact and make it a better place than when they first got here.”

Big Battle up next

SMSU will close out its home schedule next Saturday with a matchup against Winona State University at 1 p.m. It’ll be the fifth annual “Battle for the Sledge” trophy game. Sauter knows there will be a lot of things to play for in their final home game and said they’re going to have to execute their gameplan to come away with a win.

“It’s one of those games I think there are as many incentives that you could ask going into the game. When you’re playing for a trophy, you’re playing for a win on your home field, the last time these seniors are going to play on this field, that’s a special moment, so we want to be able to capitalize on that,” Sauter said. “We are playing a very talented team, somebody that’s won a good amount of games in this conference along with just some of the recent history so we’re going to have to find a way to dig down deep and come up with a good plan, execute it and play inspired football just to give yourselves a chance.”