MANKATO, MINN. – With Landon Freeman unleashing a career-best performance through 317 all-purpose yards and five total touchdowns, the University of Sioux Falls Football Team (6-3, 3-1 NSIC South) won a key road game against Minnesota State (5-4, 1-3 NSIC South), 45-35, at Blakeslee Field on Saturday (Oct. 30).

With the victory, the Cougars clinched their 27^th consecutive winning season, a mark that began in 1994 with the legendary Bob Young (172 wins – all-time best at USF) and continues to today with USF Head Coach Jon Anderson. It is the fourth-longest streak across all divisions of the NCAA.

In addition, the Cougars earned its 75^th win in NSIC play and Anderson registered his 30^th career win (30-14, 4^th all-time at USF). USF also recorded its third win against Minnesota State with the second at Blakeslee Field (24-14, Oct. 29, 2016). This was the second straight matchup in which MSU and USF had combined for over 70 points. Today, the teams combined for 80 points and 1,080 yards on 155 plays. Two years ago in the last matchup, MSU took a 42-39 win with the team combining for 785 total yards and 133 plays.

USF Head Coach Jon Anderson was exceptionally pleased with the effort by his USF team, which kept their hopes for the postseason alive with a season-best best offensive performance in terms of yards.

"Give credit to our players and the coaching staff for executing a solid game plan," said Anderson, whose team now travels to face Wayne State in Wayne, Neb., on Saturday, Nov. 6. "We did what we needed to do. We ran the ball and passed it effectively. And, the defense had big stops when they were needed. It was a strong effort in all phases," added Anderson in a post-game radio interview with Tom Frederick and Tim Hiatt.

USF's offense outscored the top scoring team in the NSIC (42.3 ppg) with 16 more points than USF averaged this season (29.0). And, the Cougars had a season-high 607 yards in total offense on 64 plays. With an average of 9.48 yards per play, USF had its best total since averaging 10.2 yards per play against MSU Moorhead, also on the road, in 2018.

The Cougars had been the league's second-best rushing team coming into the game and they shined with 365 yards on 36 carries for a season-best 10.1 yards per carry. It was the third time this year that USF had surpassed 300 yards rushing. Freeman, who prepped Tri-Valley and is from Sioux Falls, S.D., had his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season (third in past four games) and his first career game over 200 rushing yards. He totaled 10 carries for 213 yards and four touchdowns for a DII program-best 21.3 yards per carry. He supplied TD runs of seven, 40, 69 and 71 yards. Freeman also had a career-high in receiving yards with 62 on two catches and a 58-yard TD. With 42 return yards Freeman had a D2 program best 22.65 average on 14 plays that generated 317 all purpose yards which ranks second all-time in USF's DII era (Gabe Watson, 320 yards, MSU Moorhead, 2018). He also tied a DII program mark with five total TDs (Gabe Watson, MSU Moorhead, 2018: Luke Papillion, Northern State, 2013). He is also first player with four TDs of 40 yards or more in the same game in USF program history.

Freeman's 213 yards is the 19^th 200-yard rushing game at USF. He also combined with junior Thuro Reisdorfer on dual 100-yard rushing games for the third time this year. Reisdorfer finished with 21 carries for 149 yards and a 13-yard TD run. Reisdorfer recorded his 10^th 100-yard rushing game, which ranks 10^th all-time at USF. He now has 890 yards on 132 carries (6.7 yards per carry) with eight TDs. Reisdorfer also moved into 12th place on USF's career rushing chart with 2,142 yards on 323 carries. As for Freeman, he pushed his season total to 619 yards on 70 carries for 8.8 average per tote.

"Landon (Freeman) is a great example of a student-athlete that has waited his turn and steadily improved. As our fans have witnessed this year, all he needs is a crack and he can go the distance. He is a great complement to Thuro (Reisdorfer), who I think is the best all-around running back in the NSIC. But don't forget about the offensive line and tight ends who really did great work," said Anderson.

USF also had another strong effort from redshirt freshman quarterback Adam Mullen, who completed 22-of-28 passes (78.1 percent) for 242 yards and a TD with an interception. USF also had six catches for 65 yards from senior Ty Smith, who now has 97 career receptions for 1,353 yards. Dominic Pegle added four catches for 46 yards and Carter Slykhuis had three catches for 27 yards.

On defense, USF held the Mavericks to seven first half points, had 10 tackles for loss with four sacks, including another from senior defensive end Joey Wehrkamp. A senior from Sioux Falls, Wehrkamp, who ranks among the league leaders in sacks and TFLs, registered his seventh sack onf the season and 15th of his career, which ranks ninth all-time at USF. He also had 1.5 tackles for loss and has 31.5 in his career, also top-10 in USF history.

USF was led in tackles by a trio that included senior Lee Pitts, redshirt freshman linebacker Noah Schmitt and senior Nate Durfee with eight tackles each. Senior linebacker Harvey Enalls had five stops including three tackles for loss as his career tackles mark grew to 170 and his TFL total to 16.5. Senior defensive tackle David Vargas also had a sack as did Jonathan Taylor and sophomore linebacker Cody Jantzen, who registered his first of his career.

USF's special teams play was another highlight, as noted by Anderson. Freshman punter Seamus Hall had four punts for 182 yards for 45.5 per kick with a long of 64 and two over 50 yards. He placed two kicks inside the 20-yard line. Freshman placekicker Nicholas Hernandez was 6-of-6 on extra points, made a 25-yard field goal and averaged 60.9 yards per kickoff.

"This is a veteran and mature team who was able to get into a flow today. We were able to shine offensively and shut the Mavericks down in crucial moments," said Anderson. "We had a really good effort from everyone today," he said.

Scoring Summary
After USF held MSU on its first possession, the Cougars used three big plays to convert a 53-yard scoring drive which was capped by Freeman's seven-yard TD run. Big plays in the drive included an 18-yard pass to Dominic Pegley from Mullen and a 19-yard run by Reisdorfer.

MSU answered the USF score as Charles Coleman scored on a seven-yard run at the 7:54 mark.

After stopping MSU on a fourth and one play at their own 45-yard line, the Cougars regained the lead against MSU. The Cougars drove the ball 33 yards in 10 plays and took a 10-7 lead when Hernandez converted a 25-yard field goal with 14:14 to play in the second quarter.  After another defensive stop, the Cougars built a 17-7 lead when Freeman caught a career-best 58-yard TD pass from Mullen on a third and one play from their own 42-yard line. The USF scoring drive took just four plays to go 67 yards in 1:32.

USF extended the lead to 24-7 when Reisdorfer scored his eighth TD of the season with a 13-yard run to cap an 11-play, 70-yard scoring drive that used 3:35 of the clock. Then, the Cougars capped off the half on another big play from Freeman, who scampered 69-yards as USF took a 31-7 lead to the break. In 51 seconds, USF covered 81 yards on the final TD drive of the half to build a game-high lead.

At the half, USF was averaging nine yards per play with 351 yards on 39 plays. Freeman had 172 yards on six plays with 90-yards rushing and two TDs and 82 yards receiving and a TD. Reisdorfer had 11 carries for 60 yards and a TD. Mullen was 15-of-20 for 197 yards and a TD.

Early in the third quarter, MSU cut into USF's lead with a 31-yard TD pass from JD Ekowa to Nyles Williams. With a two-point conversion by Williams, MSU drew within, 31-15.  

MSU cut the deficit further when Ekowa had a four-yard TD run on fourth and goal but a two-point conversion failed as the Mavericks trailed, 31-21.

On the ensuing drive, the Cougars answered with Reisdorfer and Freeman coming up with big plays. After a 35-yard run by Reisdorfer, Freeman scored his fourth TD of the day on a 40-yard run to give USF a 38-21 lead.  

However, MSU responded quickly with a scoring driving taking just 1:17 as a one-yard run by Kaleb Sleezer sliced the lead to 38-28 late in the third quarter.

Late in the fourth quarter, Freeman clinched the win with a 71-yard burst with the TD and Hernandez's extra point giving USF a 45-28 lead at the 3:52 mark. The long TD run by Freeman capped a three-play, 76-yard scoring drive.

MSU closed the scoring with a two-yard TD reception by Williams from Ekowa to culminate an 85-yard scoring drive in 17 plays with nine seconds to play.