Brookings, South Dakota — Cole Frahm kicked a 29-yard field goal with 31 seconds remaining to lift eighth-ranked South Dakota State to a 19-17 victory over Youngstown State in Missouri Valley Football Conference action Saturday afternoon at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
With the victory, SDSU improved to 3-1 overall and in league play. YSU dropped to 0-4 overall and in the MVFC.
Frahm’s game-winning field goal capped a 10-play, 67-yard drive after the Penguins had scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter. With SDSU facing third-and-11 from its own 20-yard line, quarterback Mark Gronowski, who struggled with his accuracy much of the day, connected with tight end Zach Heins on a 39-yard pass play to the YSU 41 to keep the drive alive.
Gronowski hooked up again with Heins on the next play for 16 yards to put the Jackrabbits into field goal range. Another 10-yard pass from Gronowski to Jadon Janke moved SDSU even closer to set up Frahm, who earlier in the first quarter booted a career-long 52-yard field goal that gave SDSU a 10-0 lead.
For the fourth time in as many games, SDSU scored on its first possession. The Jackrabbits took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards on six plays, finishing the drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Gronowski to Jaxon Janke.
After Frahm’s first field goal, Youngstown State countered with a 75-yard drive of its own late in the first quarter that was capped by a 42-yard touchdown run by Jaleel McLaughlin.
The score would remain 10-7 until the third quarter, when Gronowski carried in from a yard out. However, a low snap on the ensuing point-after try after SDSU lost a pair of long snappers due to injuries, led to a Frahm miss.
Youngstown State pulled to within 16-10 on a 33-yard field goal by Colt McFadden after the Penguins put together an 18-play, 59-yard drive that chewed up more than 10 minutes off the clock.
SDSU turned the ball over for the second time in the game as Zaire Jones intercepted a Gronowski pass at the YSU 28 and returned it eight yards. The Penguins quickly cashed in on the short field as McLaughlin scored three plays later from a yard out with 6:21 remaining.
Following Frahm’s go-ahead field goal, the Jackrabbit defensive line tandem of Tolu Ogunrinde and Thomas Stacker ended YSU’s last-ditch effort. Ogunrinde sacked Penguin quarterback Mark Waid at the YSU 39 and jarred the ball loose, with Stacker recovering with a single second remaining.
SDSU finished with a 300-251 advantage in total yards. Pierre Strong, Jr. carried 21 times for 124 yards, while Gronowski ended up completing 12-of-28 passes for 158 yards. Jadon Janke led the receivers with three catches for 57 yards.
McLaughlin topped the century mark on the ground for the Penguins, tallying 122 yards on 26 carries. YSU mustered only 55 yards through the air as Waid completed 7-of-13 passes, but was picked off two times in the first half.
Preston Tetzlaff led SDSU with nine tackles, while Grant Dixon registered a game-high 10 tackles and forced a fumble for the Penguins.
The Jackrabbits head to Carbondale, Illinois, to face a ranked Southern Illinois squad next Saturday (March 20). Kickoff is set for noon at Saluki Stadium.
