Nov. 11, 2006

Cedar City, Utah -

South Dakota State built a 21-0 halftime lead and withstood a Southern Utah comeback and defeated the Thunderbirds, 31-21 Saturday in a Great West Football Conference contest.

The SDSU win gave the `Jacks, who began the season 0-3, their seventh straight win and put them in a position to grab the GWFC championship next Saturday when they face North Dakota State, a winner over Cal Poly earlier in the day, in Fargo, N.D. SDSU and NDSU both go into that game undefeated in league play and tied atop the conference standings. Southern Utah fell to 3-6 after its fifth straight defeat.

South Dakota State controlled the line of scrimmage in the first half - piling up 191 yards of offense to just 76 for the Thunderbirds - in building a 21-0- lead. Andy Kardoes scored first on a one-yard run, then found Micah Johnson on a 43-yard scoring pass on its next possession to stake the `Jacks to a 14-0 lead first-quarter lead. Anthony Watson ran 32 yards for a score in the second period to push the advantage to 21-0.

Southern Utah got back in the game in a hurry in the second half, however. SDSU had the ball first but had to punt after five plays. The Thunderbirds took over and went 86 yards on two plays, with Kyle Coop picking up eight yards on first down, then taking it 78 yards for the score on second.

On the ensuing kickoff SUU's Ryan Larsen stripped return man Trevor Hoffman of the ball at the SDSU 23 and Jovan Jackson pounced on it at that spot. Wes Marshall took a quarterback draw up the middle on the first play from scrimmage but Jason Bonwell stripped him at the 13, where Joey Hew Len picked the ball up for SUU and ran it the rest of the way for a touchdown to pull the Thunderbirds within 21-14.

South Dakota State answered on its next possession, going 68 yards in 11 plays to take a 28-14 lead when Chris Wagner scored on a one-yard cut-back pass over the middle.

Southern Utah once again cut its deficit to seven on the following possession though, when Bobby Pond scored on a four-yard pass from Marshall on the first play of the fourth quarter.

The Thunderbirds had an opportunity to pull even closer after Derrick Brown intercepted a Karodes pass in the end zone, but the Thunderbirds fumbled it away two plays later, setting up a 53-yard Parker Douglass field goal. Douglass' kick, which staked SDSU to a 31-21 lead, was the final scoring of the day.

Kardoes completed 19-of-30 passes for 190 yards and two scores, while Watson rushed for 128 yards and a score on 21 carries. Marshall finished with his best line in seven weeks. He completed 21-of-31 passes for 243 yards and a touchdown with one interception. Coop had his best outing of the season as he finished with 98 yards on six carries.

D.J. Senter had 10 tackles for the Thunderbirds and La'Var Porter tallied nine, including six solo with two tackles for loss, a pass deflection and a sack.