Nov. 5, 2005

It was a game in which the coin toss helped determine the momentum.

After Southern Utah won the toss and deferred to the second half, South Dakota State University redshirt freshman JaRon Harris bounced off a host of would-be tacklers and went 86 yards for the first of SDSU's seven touchdowns in a 55-7 Jackrabbit victory.

By the time SUU got the ball to start the second half, it was 38-0, and SDSU was protecting a shutout until the Thunderbirds scored with 2:06 to play in the game.

With the victory, SDSU improved to 5-4 overall, and 2-1 in Great West Football Conference play. The Jacks will play North Dakota State at Fargo next Saturday. Southern Utah is 1-7, 1-3 and plays at Cal Poly next week.

The touchdown by Harris was the first of four first-period scores for the Jacks who benefitted from a defense which held SUU to minus 16 yards total offense in the initial period. Josh Davis, who caught six passes for 115 yards and three TDs, scored twice in the first quarter on passes of 35 and 17 yards from Andy Kardoes, and Anthony Watson rushed for a 3-yard TD as SDSU led 28-0 at the end of the period.

In the second quarter, Parker Douglass kicked a 29-yard field goal and the Kardoes to Davis combo clicked for a five-yard TD.

SDSU`s first score of the second half was a 64-yard pass interception return by sophomore Andrew Hoogeveen. That was one of four SDSU picks as the Jacks set a school record for most interception return yards in a game with 156. The old mark was 140 vs. Morningside in 1961.

In addition to Hoogeveen's interception return, John Perry had one for 50 yards, Scott Breyfogle returned one 27 yards and Tyler Koch had one for 15.

SDSU's last touchdown, with 4:53 to play in the third period, was a six-yard run by Trevor Hohn.

Douglass added another field goal, from 39 yards, in the third quarter, giving him 15 for the season, one shy of the Jackrabbit record. He also kicked seven extra points, giving him 13 points in the game and a school record 82 kicking points for the season. The old record was 69 by Russ Meier in 1981.

The Jacks tied another school record being flagged for 15 penalties. It's the fourth time that has happened, the most recent against Northern Colorado last year. SDSU had 15 penalties for 120 yards while SUU had eight for 101.

SDSU finished with a 394-164 advantage in total offense, and put up 705 all-purpose yards with 156 yards on interception returns, 94 yards on kickoff returns and 61 yards on punt returns.

Kardoes returned to his starting role at quarterback and completed 9-for-18 passes for 127 yards while rushing four times for 30 yards. Watson also returned to the starting lineup and rushed for 118 yards on 17 carries. As a team, the Jacks had 238 yards on the ground.

Defensively, reserve linebacker Justin Kubesh led the Jacks with six tackles. Tackle Mitch Pontrelli had five tackles, two of them for losses while Perry and Marty Kranz also had five stops.

Southern Utah finished the game 22-of-44 passing for 179 yards but was held to minus 15 yards rushing on 22 attempts, with the SDSU defense recording sacks by Eric Schroeder and Gabe Koenigsfeld.