Saturday served as another resume building day for the Bison to give the FCS Playoff Committee, and they gave them something not seen yet this year. North Dakota State chalked up a style win, chopping down Indiana State 41-17. On a day where the top FCS teams got the job done, the Bison did their part.
On a Saturday that lacked electricity from the fans with some students gone for a three-day weekend, Darrius Shepherd was the spark plug.
His first touch of the game came on an Indiana State punt. Fielded at the 16, he made the first defender miss and took off. After only a couple yards, Shepherd had the ball popped from his hands.
“I was a little scared, a little ‘whoa’ moment. But it all worked out,” Shepherd said.
After juggling, the sophomore got control and was escorted to the end zone.
Quarterback Easton Stick had a 7-0 lead before stepping on to the field. Once he stepped on, he tore up the turf with his legs. He capped off a quick five-play drive on a quarterback design run and went untouched from 16-yards for the score.
Determined to better himself on the next drive, Stick would take off again. This time he took off from the Sycamore’s 42, and went in for the Bison’s third touchdown of the opening quarter. The red-shirt sophomore had a lane to get out of bounds at the 10, but showed sick footwork to sidestep the last defender to get in.
When asked postgame about if he thought about going out, Stick grinned.
“No, we don’t go out of bounds at NDSU, that’s not how we work,” Stick said.
Indiana State was the first start for Stick last year, and he also ran for a pair of touchdowns on that day. He finished with just 65 passing yards, but 85 yards rushing on four attempts.
In between the Bison scoring drives, the defense was doing their normal thing.
The front seven shut down a threatening Indiana State run game and pressured quarterback Aaron Young. Pierre Gee-Tucker led the way for the Bison. On ISU’s third drive, he made back-to-back plays to force a punt. The first was a bone-crunching hit on receiver Jacquet McClendon, followed by a sack of Young.
“I love hitting people and anytime I get the opportunity, I love doing it,” Gee-Tucker said.
The senior ended senior night with a career high 12 tackles, two were for a loss.
The pressure on Young would mount and come to a tipping point early in the second quarter. The Sycamore quarterback seemed to have the ball slip out of his hand while under pressure. Greg Menard recovered at the Indiana State 13.
Working with a very short field, NDSU would punch in the ball from two-yards out with King Frazier. The senior tallied his ninth touchdown of the year. That would be his day as he was kept out for precautionary reasons for the rest of the game.
A Kelvin Cook touchdown run got points on the board for Indiana State before the break. Jalen Allison picked off Young to set up Cam Pederson to make the halftime lead for the Bison 34-7.
The opening second half drive for the Bison ended with Lance Dunn running it home, and the first-stringers day was done.
For the first time all year, coach Chris Klieman was able to put in the reserves for a period of time.
“We knew that if we jumped on them early, we could get a lead and get the young guys in. That is exactly what the veteran players did today,” Klieman said.
With the schedule for NDSU this year, it was a nice break.
“Those reps we got a lot of those backups will be valuable for us,” Klieman said.
With South Dakota State picking up a win against South Dakota, it means the two teams are still tied for the Valley Football lead. The Jackrabbits head to Northern Iowa, while the Bison close out the regular season in Vermillion against USD. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. on Saturday.