Jackrabbits run past Cats

BROOKINGS, S.D. — In their 39th game in 23 months, the South Dakota State Jackrabbits didn’t mess around.

Mark Gronowski threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third and top-seeded South Dakota State dominated fourth-seeded Montana State 39-18 on a frozen field Saturday in the FCS semifinals.

Gronowski led South Dakota State to touchdowns on its first five drives in front of 7,195 fans at Dykhouse Stadium. The 13-1 Jackrabbits head to Texas next month for a Missouri Valley Football Conference showdown with third-seeded North Dakota State (12-2). SDSU beat the defending national champion Bison 23-21 on Oct. 15; that’s the same score as the 2021 spring FCS championship, which Sam Houston won over SDSU.

Gronowski tore an ACL early in that game and sat out last fall; now he’s back.

“Ever since two years ago, when I got hurt in that game and we ended up losing that game to Sam Houston, we’ve been working towards it,” said the sophomore quarterback. “We’ve been working towards this opportunity and we’re glad to have it.”

This was the third straight semifinal appearance for both teams, though MSU didn’t play that spring season. The Jackrabbits, who played 25 games between Feb. 19 and Dec. 18 last year, avenged its 31-17 loss to MSU in the 2022 semifinals.

Montana State came in having dominated William & Mary 55-7 while SDSU struggled to contain a running quarterback — Matthew Sluka of Holy Cross ran for 212 yards — in the quarterfinals.

The Bobcats brought in two running QBs in Sean Chambers and Tommy Mellott, but the Jackrabbits' nation-best rushing defense held the nation's best rushing offense (331.8) to 52 yards.

In the coldest game ever played at South Dakota State — 10 degrees and a wind chill of minus-7 at kickoff — the teams swapped touchdowns on their opening drives.

Chambers scored on the Bobcats' first possession but injured an ankle on the 1-yard plunge and watched the rest of the game with a boot on. He had 12 yards on five carries. Mellott, who had a 10-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter, had 3 yards on 17 keepers.

“It forced us to shift a little bit,” MSU coach Brent Vigen said of Chambers’ injury. “Obviously using both those guys has been a big part of our recent success. But we were still able to run our offense. We didn’t make enough plays through a really critical stretch, in our second and third possessions, when we had opportunities.”

Defense was another issue: The Jacks rolled up 281 rushing yards. After Chambers’ TD the Jackrabbits scored three straight touchdowns, shocking the Bobcats with two long scoring runs for a 28-9 lead at the half.

Gronowski, who had a 36-yard hookup with tight end Tucker Kraft to open the scoring, capped a 12-play, 69-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge on the second drive. That gave him a rushing and passing TD in the same game nine times this season.

The next two touchdowns were a 41-yard burst up the middle by Isaiah Davis and a 38-yard scamper by Amar Johnson.

Gronowski finished 10-of-13 passing for 189 yards and Davis ran for 158.

Montana State’s Isaiah Ifanse, making his third start at running back in the playoffs, had just seven carries for 28 yards. Mellott’s TD was MSU’s longest run from scrimmage.

The sophomore out of Butte probably had his finest game throwing, going 11 of 18 for 174 yards. He found Clevan Thomas (four catches, 74 yards), Ravi Alston and Willie Patterson for long gains, but absorbed two big hits on that final Bobcat scoring drive. Sean Austin finished up at QB for the Cats.

“You saw that today. He got hit multiple times and kept getting up, kept fighting,” MSU tight end Derryk Snell said. “I think we have a bright future. Obviously we’ll learn from this and just start working when we get back.”

“I thought they defended us well and tackled us well,” Vigen said. “It was going to come down a lot of way to who was going to tackle better and I think they did that today.”

The two schools with the longest current playoff appearance streaks — NDSU at 13, SDSU at 11 — now have a rematch in Frisco, Texas, on Sunday, Jan. 8.

North Dakota State is 9-0 in the finale, beating Montana State 38-10 to cap last season.

“I’m excited for them, real excited for them,” said 26th-year SDSU coach John Steigelmeier. “And I can’t wait to spend more time with them.”

The Cats, who have 17 seniors, head back to Bozeman with an impressive streak of their own.

“It’s hard in the moment to get a sense for that, (but) I’ve talked about it in so many ways, they’re an extension of last year’s group in that they’ve done so much for this program,” Vigen said. “They’ve left an outstanding legacy and it’s probably too fresh to understand, but that’s really what it’s all about.”