BEMIDJI Minn. – Despite 126 yards rushing and three touchdowns from junior Gabriel Watson, the No. 21 University of Sioux Falls Football Team (4-2, 4-2 NSIC) dropped a heart-breaking 25-21 decision to Bemidji State (5-1, 5-1 NSIC) in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play at historic Chet Anderson Stadium on a cold Saturday afternoon.

Before a BSU homecoming crowd of 3,449 people, the Cougars built a 21-3 lead in the third quarter before the Beavers rallied with the final 22 points of the game to win the key NSIC cross division matchup. BSU defeated the Cougars for the first time in USF's DII era as the Cougars own a 4-2 all-time lead in a series which dates to 1982. In addition, the Beavers stopped an 18-game winning streak by USF against NSIC North division opponents.

"This was a disappointing loss for us," said USF Head Coach Jon Anderson, who has led his team to 13 wins in 18 games at USF. "We put ourselves in position to pick up a win but we made some mistakes which hurt us late in the second half. Still, our guys work extremely hard and gave maximum effort. We will rebound and be ready to play next week," added Anderson, whose squad will host St. Cloud State in the Hall of Fame game at 1 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 13 at Bob Young Field.

 

Against BSU, Watson finished with 27 carries for 126 rushing yards and three TDs. He scored touchdowns on runs of 39, four and two yards.

A junior from Piedmont, Calif., Watson has rushed for 100 yards in six straight games, which is the longest streak since Nephi Garcia had seven straight 100-yard rushing games in 2013.

With his yardage today, he surpassed 1,000 yards on the season with 1,036 yards on 140 yards and a league- and NCAA DII-high 15 TDs. Watson, who is averaging 172.7 rushing  yards per game, is the 29^th 1,000-yard rusher at USF and the third player to reach that plateau since USF's move to NCAA DII in 2011. He has reached the plateau of 1,000 rushing yards faster than any running back in school history. With an NCAA DII-best 15 TDs this year, he is already tied for 10^th all-time for rushing TDs in USF school history.

In a game in which both teams were held below season averages in points and yardage, USF totaled 308 yards on 59 plays while BSU had 82 plays for 352 yards. USF entered the game averaging 302.8 rushing yards but were held to 163 on 38 carries. BSU had 186 rushing yards on 55 carries.
 

USF quarterback Caden Walters had his string of consecutive passes without an interception end at 61. He completed 12 of 21 passing attempts for 145 yards with two interceptions.

Redshirt sophomore Ty Smith led the Cougars with four catches for 47 yards while tight end Clint Sigg totaled three catches for 43 yards.

On defense, USF redshirt sophomore Harvey (Michael) Enalls had a career-best with 13 tackles, recorded a sack, tackle for loss and forced a fumble. In total, USF had three players in double digit in tackles as redshirt junior Brody Grantham had a career-high with 12 tackles and a tackle for loss while defensive back Nate Durfee had a career-best 11 stops. Both Parker Gregston and Joey Wehrkamp also had career-best with nine tackles. Wehrkamp had a big day with three tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.

Cougars jump to 21-3 lead
BSU used a 19-play, 74-yard drive on their first possession to grab a 3-0 lead over the Cougars at the 8:57 mark of the first quarter. BSU had 14 runs among the 19 plays called and they used over half of the first quarter clock.

Following the BSU score, the game turned into a physical battle upfront with neither team putting up any points until midway through the second quarter. Then, junior Colton Myles, who had five carries for 65 yards, blocked the first of his two punts on the day. In fact, Myles now has a team-high three blocked kicks over the past two weeks.
 

USF turned Myles's momentum changing play into points almost immediately as Watson broke free on a 39-yard touchdown run to give USF a 7-3 advantage with 7:53 to play in the second quarter.

With 6:05 on the clock in the second quarter, Myles had his second big special teams play of the quarter with another punt block. He promptly picked up the punt block and, after being illegally tackled, the ball was moved to the BSU 15-yard line when a horse collar penalty was assessed against the Beavers. Six plays later, Watson was in the end zone for a second time and USF had a 14-3 lead, which they took to the halftime break.

In the third quarter, USF created a turnover when David Vargas had a strip sack of BSU quarterback Jared Henning, which was recovered by Wehrkamp at the BSU 15-yard line. Six plays later, Watson scored on a two-yard run on a fourth down play as the USF advantage grew to 21-3 with 8:43 to play in the third quarter.

BSU responded by scoring the final 22 points of the game. Leading the way was Andrew Lackowski who had 126 yards rushing and two second half touchdown runs. After BSU had a long kickoff return to the USF 43-yard line, Lackowski scored on a five-yard TD run 11 plays later. BSU promptly converted a two-point conversion attempt as Lackowski threw a jump pass to Matt Gross as USF's lead was cut to 21-11 with 4:49 to play in the third quarter.

On the ensuing possession, Myles ripped off a 59-yard run to the BSU 16-yard line. However, USF had a penalty and then a pass by Walters was picked off and returned to midfield. Four plays later, Henning, who completed 16-of-25 passes for 166 yards, tossed a 40-yard touchdown pass to Jameson White. As a result, the Beavers drew within 21-18 of USF with 2:01 left in the third quarter.

BSU's game winning drive began with 8:55 to play in the fourth quarter. Once again Lackowski was the featured back with five carries for 24 yards and the game-winning four-yard run with 3:11 to play. On the scoring drive, BSU covered 74 yards on 13 plays while using 5:44 of the clock. On the drive, the Beavers converted three third down plays of five yards or longer and a fourth and seven play.

With 3:11 left in the game, USF had plenty of time to answer but couldn't replicate their late game heroics, which they put together against Concordia-St. Paul in the season opener. As a result, USF dropped into a second place tie with Winona State in the NSIC South with 4-2 records.

Notes
~ With 65 yards today, Colton Myles surpassed 500 yards on the season and has a career-best 501 on 72 carries with three TDs.

~ USF is averaging 34.8 points per game and allowed 18.8 per contest. In addition, USF is producing 279.5 yards per game rushing with 20 TDs. On 277 carries, USF is averaging 6.1 yards per carry, led by Watson with 7.4 yards per tote.

~ In total offense, USF has generated 2,763 yards on 392 plays for 7.0 yards per play. The Cougars average 460.5 yards and allowed 359.2 yards to opponents.

~ For the first time in 2018, the Cougars allowed points in the first quarter but still own a 57-3 advantage in the opening 15 minutes of a game. USF, which has outscored foes, 209-to-113, also own a 69-48 points margin in the second quarter and have double opponents with a 48-24 margin in the fourth quarter.