Box Score
VERMILLION, S.D. – Noah Shepard completed 21 of 29 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns and South Dakota used a 16-point third quarter to pull away and defeat Southeastern Louisiana, 44-13, Saturday afternoon at the DakotaDome.
Shepard added 101 yards rushing and a pair of 1-yard touchdowns as USD (3-1) improved to 30-2 at home under head coach Ed Meierkort. Southeastern, which will return to action Oct. 10 when it opens Southland Conference action at Texas State, fell to 2-2 on the season.
USD, which led 14-13 at halftime, recovered an onside kick to open the second half and scored three players later when Shepard hit Ben Oberle with a 54-yard scoring pass for a 21-13 lead with 14:13 remaining.
After Wayne Curry recovered a fumble by Southeastern's
Jasper Ducksworth at the SLU 19, the Coyotes found the end zone again in three plays as Chris Ganious scored on a 12-yard run with 8:13 remaining.
After stopping USD on three plays to open the game, Southeastern needed 11 plays to take the lead as
Jeff Turner connected on a school-record 52-yard field goal with 10:21 remaining in the first quarter.
USD responded on its next drive as it drove 70 yards in 10 plays with Ganious capping the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run with 5:44 remaining. Shepard connected with Will Powell on a 14-yard TD strike with 12:16 left in the second quarter for a 14-3 lead.
Turner added a 20-yard field goal for Southeastern with 8:04 left in the second quarter and
Brian Babin connected with
Simmie Yarborough on a 23-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 14-13 with 55 seconds left in the half.
Ganious gained 96 yards for USD, which used a balanced offensive attack to gain 536 yards. Isaac Newton added 82 yards rushing for the Coyotes, who gained 277 yards on the ground and recorded 27 first downs.
Babin finished 23-for-37 for 205 yards and a touchdown for Southeastern, which was held to 16 yards total offense in the second half.
Merrick Lanaux caught a team-high six passes for 52 yards for Southeastern while Ducksworth added five receptions.
Mark Newbill led Southeastern with 15 tackles while
Ryan Godare added 11 and
Quinten Pierre 10.