College football: Minnesota State reaches national championship game
Nate Gunn ran for three touchdowns and Ryan Schlichte and JD Ekowa each threw for one as Minnesota State Mankato demolished Slippery Rock 58-15 in a Division II national semifinal game on Saturday.
Minnesota State (14-0) advances to next Saturday's championship game in Texas, where they'll play West Florida.
Gunn scored from 5 yards out, and the two-point conversion put the Mavericks up 8-0. Slippery Rock quarterback Roland Rivers responded and threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Henry Litwin, and a two-point conversion tied it.
From there it was all Minnesota State.
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Gunn scored from 12 yards with 3:36 left to play in the first quarter. Early in the second, Ekowa threw a 27-yard TD pass to Shane Zylstra for 23-8 lead. And with 1:59 left before halftime, Justin Arnold's 20-yard run made it 30-8.
The Mavericks outgained Slippery Rock 463-310 in total offense despite running 35 fewer plays. Slippery Rock converted just 4 of 19 third-down attempts.
Gunn had 54 yards on 15 carries, and Kaleb Sleezer had 79 yards rushing on three carries and a touchdown. His scoring run of 75 yards with 1:26 left in the third made it 51-15.
Rivers threw for 199 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 69 yards. Litwin had 149 receiving yards on 11 catches and a pair of scores.
Division III: Wisconsin-Whitewater 35, St. John's 32
Max Meylor passed for 188 yards and a touchdown and ran for 85 yards and a score to help Wisconsin-Whitewater beat St. John's (Minn.) 35-32 in the semifinals of the Division III playoffs on Saturday.
Wisconsin-Whitewater (13-1) will face North Central (Ill.) in the championship on Friday night.
Meylor led the Warhawks on a 46-yard drive that used up more than 5 minutes and was capped by Wojciech Gasienica's 37-yard field goal for a 35-32 lead with 2:10 remaining. On the Johnnies' (12-2) first play of the ensuing possession, Jackson Erdmann's pass was intercepted by Matt Anderson. Alex Peete converted a second-and-7 with a 16-yard rush to allow Wisconsin-Whitewater to run out the clock.
St. John's tied it at 32 on Kai Barber's 1-yard TD run and Erdmann's pass to Ravi Alston for the two-point conversion with 7:43 left.
Erdmann finished with 342 yards passing, one touchdown and one interception for the Johnnies.
FCS: North Dakota State reaches national semifinals
Griffin Crosa kicked three second-quarter field goals and North Dakota State's defense did the rest as the defending national champion Bison beat Illinois State 9-3 in an FCS quarterfinal on Saturday.
The top-seeded Bison (14-0) will host No. 5 seed Montana State next week in the semifinals after posting their 35th consecutive victory, extending their own FCS record and tying them for fifth all-time among all Division I programs. They have won seven of the last eight FCS championships including the last two.
The Bison held the unseeded Redbirds (10-5) to three points for the second time this season, having beaten Illinois State 37-3 in a Missouri Valley Football Conference game in Fargo on Oct. 5.
This time the Redbirds defense kept the game close, allowing only Crosa's field goals of 38, 33 and 22 yards on consecutive possessions for a 9-0 halftime lead.
Illinois State's only points came from Sam Fenlason's 27-yard field goal after a 70-yard drive. The Redbirds reached Bison territory only one other time.
Trey Lance was 10-of-21 passing for 135 yards and rushed for 41 yards on 11 carries for North Dakota State. Christian Watson had 102 yards receiving by halftime but made only one more catch and finished with 107 yards.
James Robinson, who rushed for over 200 yards in the Redbirds' two playoff victories, finished with 94 yards on 24 carries while Bruce Jefferson added 58 on 11. North Dakota State was outrushed 160-138, the first time that has happened since Nov. 4, 2017 — which was also its last loss, 33-21 to South Dakota State.
The Redbirds, who came in averaging only 116.6 yards passing per game, saw Jefferson go 3 for 8 for 34 yards with an interception by Michael Tutsie. The Bison had a 263-194 edge in total yards offense.