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MARSHALL - What a way for the Southwest Minnesota State University seniors to bid farewell.

In the final game of the season the Mustangs dominated Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference rival Minnesota State University-Moorhead 52-10 Saturday at New Mattke Field at the Regional Event Center.

"It was a good day," said Mustang head coach Eric Eidsness. "It's never prefect but it was a good ending to their (seniors) career and a lot of them played really well (Saturday) and that's what you hope for."

One of those seniors was wide receiver Blake Wilson, who caught four balls for 74 yards and two touchdowns, one from six and one from 11 yards out.

"A couple touchdowns to end your career, that's about how you want to go out," he said. "I had a lot of fun."

Wilson, who ranks fifth all-time in touchdown receptions with 23, said it was an emotional game throughout, despite trying to enter the game with the mentality of every other home game.

"Halfway through the game you start looking up at that scoreboard and you realize this is going to be the last time you're at SMSU," Wilson said. "The emotions started to run pretty hard but you just want to go to battle with your teammates one last time and it was good to come out with a win at home."

Alongside Wilson, running back Zach Wysong also had a game to remember, breaking yet another school record with his 11th 100-yard rushing game of his career.

"It's just good to see them (the seniors) smiling after the game and having fun during the game," said Eidsness.

Wysong finished the game with 153 yards on 19 carries and one touchdown with the help of the wildcat formation, something the Mustangs tried out last week against Northern State.

"We had a little bit better success last week with it than this week," Eidsness said. "They kind of checked to man and blitzed when we ran it, but we still had some good success with it and got it going. There were some things that we saw during the week and we thought that we should be able to run the ball well and obviously the O-line did a great job."

The Mustangs, after coming off a season-high 259 rushing yards as a team last week, followed with 256 yards on the ground Saturday against the Dragons.

"Zach's pretty tough when he gets in the open field and we got Gannon (Moore) loose there for a big run," Eidsness said. "There was a lot of good things that happened (Saturday)."

Moore was the highlight from the backfield for the Mustangs early in the game, putting the Mustangs on the board early from 1-yard out with 9:31 remaining in the opening quarter.

"I think when we put in that thunder package everybody has the expectations to score," said Moore.

The touchdown was set up by a 41-yard pass from quarterback Ryan Ratekin to Wilson that went to the Dragons' 2-yard line.

"We talked about in the last few meetings that getting those last two wins just makes the offseason workouts that much better," Moore said. "The other guys talk about when they lose a game and go into the offseason it's kind of rough but this will throw us into good momentum."

The Dragons tacked on a field goal in their next possession after returner Joe Johnson took the kick-off 81 yards to SMSU's 12-yard line. But on the Mustangs' ensuing possession, facing a third-and-1, Moore broke loose for a 41-yard TD to give the Mustangs a 14-3 lead.

"That's always my objective, wherever I am, to get into the end zone," he said. "It's worked all year."

The touchdown was Moore's 13th rushing touchdown of the season, tying him for the single-season record with Robert Lipsey who had 13 in 1990.

Wilson made his first touchdown catch from six yards out with 2:37 left in the opening quarter to put the Mustangs up 21-3 heading into the second.

The Mustangs were quieted for majority of the second quarter but with the ball on MSU-Moorhead's 29-yard line Ratekin hit receiver Yousif Youboty for 21 yards and again on an 8-yard pass for the TD.

"I've learned a lot from Blake," said Youboty. "I don't think anybody can replace Blake but we have a lot of good slot receivers."

Youboty also blocked two punts on special teams, both setting up the Mustangs to add to their lead.

"We watched film on them and saw they didn't block my position," he said. "We knew we were going to do some good things this week, so we were well prepared."

His second blocked punt came in the fourth quarter and gave senior backup quarterback Tyler Mickelson the opportunity to lead his second scoring drive of his career.

Mickelson completed one pass but the drive stalled at the MSU-Moorhead 5-yard line, ending in a 22-yard field goal to give the Mustangs a 52-10 lead.

Mickelson finished the game 2-for-4 for five yards and Ratekin threw for four touchdowns after completing 13-of-17 passes for 191 yards.

Ratekin's third TD went to Wilson at the end of the first half and then in the fourth quarter he hit Wade McDonough for a 28-yard touchdown to put the Mustansg up 49-3

SMSU finished the season 5-6 and 4-6 in the NSIC. The five wins gives the Mustangs a total of 11 wins over the last two seasons, the first time for SMSU has won 11 in back-to-back seasons since 1991-92.

"You need momentum," said Eidsness. "I think we've played three really good games in a row - we didn't get the in in Mankato but I think that was a start of going the right direction. We did a nice job of getting on track and then these last two weeks focusing up and really just playing well."

MSUM3 0 7 0-10

SMSU21 14 7 10-52

First Quarter

SMSU-Gannon Moore 1 run (Charlie Klaverkamp kick)

MSUM-Jimmie Mattson 26 field goal

SMSU-Moore 41 run (Lance Schuveiller kick)

SMSU-Blake Wilson 6 pass from Ryan Ratekin (Schuveiller kick)

Second Quarter

SMSU-Yousif Youboty 8 pass from Ratekin (Schuveiller kick)

SMSU-Wilson 11 pass from Ratekin (Schuveiller kick)

Third Quarter

SMSU-Zach Wysong 27 run (Schuveiller kick)

MSUM-Shawn Marlowe 1 pass from Zach Fry (Jimmie Mattson kick)

Fourth Quarter

SMSU-Wade McDonough 28 pass from Ratekin (Schuveiller kick)

SMSU-Schuveiller 22 field goal

SMSU INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Zach Wysong 19-153, Gannon Moore 4-44, Warren Matthews Jr. 4-38.

PASSING-Ryan Ratekin 13-17-191-0, Tyler Mickelson 2-4-5-0.

RECEIVING-Blake Wilson 4-74, Yousif Youboty 3-33, Gannon Moore 2-21, Jordan Wager 2-5, Wysong 1-28, Wade McDonough 1-28.

TACKLES-Aaron Diggs 9, Matt Carmody 5, Lionell Lamarre 4, Levi Bullerman 4, Robbie Slinkman 4.

INT-Lamarre, Zach Kasper.