UNI football falls to No. 1 South Dakota State on last-second field goal redo

CEDAR FALLS — A 26-yard Hunter Dustman field goal as time expired sent top-ranked South Dakota State past Northern Iowa, 31-28, at the UNI-Dome Saturday evening.

The dramatics of Dustman’s game-winner went beyond the usual, though, as UNI (5-5, 4-3) wide receiver Sergio Morancy was penalized for leaping on a 34-yard game-winning attempt from the junior place kicker that missed wide left and would have sent the game to overtime.

“It’s too bad it ended on a penalty — technically. It was what I thought it was going to be — a battle,” UNI Coach Mark Farley said. “It’ll burn, as it should. Ought to be appreciative of the seniors. I thought that’s a heck of a group of seniors that walked out that door (Saturday). The burn makes you better, in my opinion. You take the burn and you learn.”

An offensive-driven first half that included 34 combined points gave way to a second half defined by defense.

After trading touchdowns to open the third quarter, the Panthers trailed the Jackrabbits 28-21, but defensive adjustments by both teams led to eight combined scoreless drives that went well into the fourth quarter.

“There’s a lot of seniors on this team that have given a lot to this program and a lot to themselves and I think we were playing on a different level because we knew there was a lot on the line,” UNI defensive back Korby Sander said. “We were beat up upfront and we still played our hearts out. That’s a really good team — they’re probably going to be the No. 1 seed in the playoffs — and I think we played them extremely well.”

South Dakota State (9-1, 7-0) — which clinched at least a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference championship with the win — routinely exploited UNI’s defense through the game’s first three quarters en route to 263 passing yards and 164 rushing yards.

Quarterback Mark Gronowski completed 21 of 34 attempts and threw one touchdown — a 22-yard connection to Jadon Janke to take a 17-13 lead midway through the second quarter.

SDSU’s balanced offense also made things tough on UNI on third down, converting 10 of 17, but a Benny Sapp III interception with 9:59 to play set up a game-tying drive for the Panthers.

“Benny Sapp, his interception was unbelievable,” Farley said. “There were some plays out there being made. It’s good football, we just didn’t get the win at the end.”

UNI’s offense nearly overcame its defense’s struggles, totaling 358 yards, but was set back by two Theo Day interceptions that bounced off the hands of Logan Wolf and Morancy in the first and third quarters before falling into the hands of SDSU defenders.

The Panthers’ game-tying drive after Sapp’s interception went 76 yards in five plays in just over two minutes and was punctuated with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Day to Logan Wolf.

“Theo became a leader. Listen to what these (teammates) say about him,” Farley said. “Theo is one of the better quarterbacks around from what I’ve seen. The receivers he has are making plays, too. Theo came into his own this year. Hopefully there’s still more to come from him in (the) next ballgame. He kind of put a trademark on our offense that we haven’t (had) in a long time.”

Day — who completed 16 of 30 attempts for 270 yards and two touchdowns — had one last chance to lead UNI’s offense on a game-winning drive with just over a minute to play, but was sacked for a 10-yard loss on third-and-4, forcing a Noah Pettinger punt that setup Dustman’s game-winning field goal.

Sam Schnee led UNI with 69 yards receiving on four receptions. Sander, Spencer Cuvelier and Bryce Flater each recorded double-digit tackles, totaling 14, 13 and 11 respectively.

UNI is on a bye next week and will wrap up its regular season on Saturday, Nov. 19 at South Dakota (3-6, 2-4).

A win against the Coyotes will give the Panthers a 6-5 regular-season record for the second consecutive season and also once again put their FCS playoff hopes squarely in the committee’s hands.

“It’s going to be word of mouth at the end of the day when it gets to that (playoff committee),” Farley said. “I knew that was a game that’d do a lot of things for us. Watch (Sapp) play — what he was at Air Force and what he was today. Watch Korby play. Watch Deion (McShane) laying out for everything. Watch Theo’s progression. This football team got really good. Hopefully that will be what marks our territory when it comes down to (Selection Sunday). If it comes to that day. We’ve still got to win another game. We’ve just got to recoup and try to get over this one.”