South Dakota announces Dakota Days victory over UNI

Adam Pearson, USD

17

UNI
UNI

2-4, 0-2

42

winner

South Dakota
USD

5-1, 3-0

17

42

South Dakota
USD

5-1, 3-0

winner

Points by quarters

team	1	2	3	4	F
UNI UNI	7	3	7	0	17
USD South Dakota	7	21	14	0	42

Match Review: Football | 12/10/2024 | Steve Carlson, deputy AD for communications

VERMILLION, SD – At Dakota Days on the University of South Dakota campus, it was the Coyote football team (5-1, 3-0 MVFC) that rushed for a season-high 321 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-17 homecoming win Northern Iowa Panthers (2-4, 0-2 MVFC).

FINAL | Great!#GoYotes X #WeAreSouthDakota pic.twitter.com/njzNF7KHSn

– South Dakota Football (@SDCoyotesFB) October 12, 2024

South Dakota has now scored more than 40 points in four straight games and has done so in every game played at home so far this season. The Yotes scored a touchdown on their first six possessions of the contest, responding to Northern Iowa's early blow. Senior running back Travis Theis (Sr., Pratt, Kan.) also became just the third Coyote to rush for 3,000 yards in his USD career this afternoon.

𝟑𝐊 📈

𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐬 (@Travis_Theis5) is the third Coyote to rush for 3,000 yards in his USD career.#GoYotes X #WeAreSouthDakota pic.twitter.com/CNqwHCU7AE

– South Dakota Football (@SDCoyotesFB) October 12, 2024

“Happy D-Day! This is a great win in front of a great crowd. “I couldn’t be prouder of our football team,” commented the head coach Bob Nielson. “Northern Iowa is a very good football team, a team that will give everyone in the league a problem.”

It was the Northern Iowa Panthers who came to play early. The Panthers used the first possession for a touchdown and scored on the second play with a 49-yard pass over the middle deep into Coyote territory. UNI ended the drive with a touchdown, making the score 7-0 early.

South Dakota's offense wasted no time in responding in a sold-out stadium. A 29-yard connection from Aidan Bouman (Jr., Buffalo, Minn.) to JJ Galbreath (Sr., Arvada, Colo.) would line up the Yotes in midfield. Just six plays later, Bouman would face Galbreath again, as Galbreath jumped over a Panther to finish the game 7-7.

𝐆𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 with the:

✅ 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡
✅ 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐩
✅ 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐂𝐇𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍

📺: @MidcoSports #GoYotes X #WeAreSouthDakota pic.twitter.com/u4W3nbR1kA

– South Dakota Football (@SDCoyotesFB) October 12, 2024

Early in the second quarter, UNI scored a field goal to take a 10-7 lead, but it would prove to be their final lead of the afternoon as USD scored 28 unanswered points over the remainder of the first half and into the next half the third quarter.

The rest of the second quarter can be summed up in two words: Travis Theis. Theis secured his second receiving touchdown of the season with a 49-yard connection down the sideline that would give USD its first – and final – lead of the day.

Galbreath and Theis are now the only two Coyotes to score multiple touchdowns this season.

After a three-and-out by the Coyote defense, Theis rushed for a 3-yard rushing score to make it 21-10. In a set package with just a few minutes left in the first half, Nevan Cremascoli (So., Winnetka, Ill.) would make his first pass as a Coyote and find a big gap AJ Coons (Sr., Solon, Iowa) for Cremascoli's first USD touchdown pass and Coons' first USD touchdown reception.

UNI would get the ball with less than two minutes left in the first half and showcase their effective two-minute offense. The Panthers started at their own 25-yard line and pushed the ball to South Dakota's 16-yard line in just nine plays. But it would be like that Gary Bryant III (So., Baltimore, Md.) with his first career interception to keep the Panthers off the field before halftime and give the Yotes the decisive momentum in their favor.

South Dakota would take a 28-10 lead into the locker room. The two teams would trade points in the third quarter Charles Pierre Jr. (So., Orlando, Fla.) scored its first rushing score five minutes into the second half, capping a five-play, 75-yard drive. Later in the frame, Pierre Jr. capped an 80-yard Yote drive with a 20-yard touchdown run to increase his season tally to 10 rushing scores.

“The boys love playing at the Dome and I hope the fans that came today said, 'Man, that's a great team to watch' and I hope they keep coming.” Nielson noted.

Pierre Jr., who saw the vast majority of runs in the second half, picked up his second 100-yard rushing game of the season. South Dakota has now seen a 100-yard rusher in the last three games and four times this season.

Next: South Dakota will be on the road for the remainder of October, beginning with a trip to Eastern Ohio next weekend against the Penguins of Youngstown State on October 19th at 5:00 p.m. CT.