Photo courtesy of Brian Larson/University of Mary Athletic Communications SMSU’s Max Simmons looks upfield during their game against the University of Mary on Saturday. The Mustangs defeated the Marauders 54-24.

BISMARCK, N.D. – Southwest Minnesota State’s Blake Gimbel passed for 356 yards and five touchdowns and also rushed for a touchdown to pace the Mustangs to an impressive 54-24 road victory over the University of Mary on Saturday at MDU Resources Community Bowl.

It was a record-setting day for Gimbel, who finished the day completing 21 of 31 pass attempts and finished with five touchdown passes for the fourth time in his career. In the second quarter, he completed his 770th career pass setting a program record and surpassing Josh Shudlick’s 769 completions from 2005-08. Gimbel now has 785 career completions and also ranks first in team history in completion percentage, second in passing touchdowns and third in passing yards.

SMSU coach Cory Sauter said it took a complete team effort to get the road victory and felt their biggest improvement was their ability to capitalize in the red zone.

“It was a total team effort; defensively we made some plays and some key stops within the game itself, but offensively we fed off of that and were able to take shorter fields and be able to score,” Sauter said. “One of the biggest areas of improvement was our red zone production, we were five for five ­- all touchdowns – and that’s the first time this season we’ve been close to that.”

SMSU (2-3), which has won two straight games, closed the game with a season-high 537 yards of offense and reached the 30-point mark for the first time since week two of last season.

Max Simmons rushed for 119 yards on 12 carries which included a 75-yard touchdown run to open the second half. Hudson Walton added 41 yards on 11 carries, while Arthur Cox chipped in with 37 yards on 10 carries to help SMSU close the game with a season-high 173 yards rushing.

Daniel Davis caught three passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns to pace the Mustang receivers with teammate Connor Wilkie caught a team-high four passes for 41 yards and one touchdowns.

UMary (0-4) was limited to just 11 first downs and 293 yards of offense, while being forced to punt nine times.

Shane Ratkovich racked up a team-high 11 tackles for SMSU, while Alex Ney, Tahjee Smith and Hayden Acker all added six tackles each.

UMary took advantage of an SMSU fumble to score the game’s first points. On SMSU’s second drive, a fumble by Simmons was recovered by UMary at the SMSU 34-yard line. Six plays later, Colton Farmer broke free on an 8-yard touchdown run to give the Marauders a 7-0 lead midway through the opening quarter.

The lead didn’t last long as SMSU quickly tied the game up on its next possession. Gabe Galamue set up the SMSU offense near midfield following a 33-yard kickoff return. Following a first down pass from Gimbel to Connor Wilkie down to the UMary 38-yard line. Just one play later, Gimbel found Davis wide open for a 38-yard touchdown reception to tie the game at the 5:57 mark of the first quarter.

Following a UMary punt, SMSU took its first lead of the game as Gimbel fired a 64-yard touchdown pass to Davis to give the Mustangs a 14-7 advantage late in the first quarter.

SMSU extended the lead on its next drive as Gimbel capped a nine-play, 58-yard drive with a 10-yard pass to Carter Kirk-his first career touchdown reception-with 12:32 remaining in the second quarter. The PAT was missed to keep the score at 20-7.

The Marauders had a big answer on its next drive as Jason Hoesktra hit DeShawn Gay on a short pass, but Gay broke open and sprinted for a 64-yard touchdown reception to cut the SMSU lead to 20-14.

SMSU turned the ball over at its own 27-yard line on its drive setting up UMary with a chance to regain the lead. The Marauders had first-and-goal at the 6-yard line, but the Mustang defense made a huge goal line stand, stopping the final play from the 2-yard line to keep SMSU in the lead.

Following an SMSU punt, the Mustang defense came through again, as Acker jumped on a fumble on UMary’s first play from scrimmage at the UMary 39-yard line.

On the ensuing SMSU drive, Gimbel found Bailey Olson for a 21-yard gain on first down to the U-Mary 18-yard. Two plays later, Gimbel lofted a perfect pass to Wilkie on third-down to push the lead to 27-14 with 3:58 left in the half.

The SMSU defense forced another UMary punt, but a great punt forced the SMSU offense to start at its own 6-yard line. Following a penalty that moved the ball back to the 3-yard line, Simmons broke free for a huge 19-yard first down run to give the offense breathing room. Following a Quadri Busari 16-yard reception, Gimbel found a streaking Davis for a 46-yard reception to the UMary 16-yard line. Moments later Gimbel connected on a 16-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Murphy with 1:09 left in the half to give SMSU a 33-14 lead into halftime.

The second half started with a big for SMSU as Simmons broke free on a 75-yard run on the first play of the half to make the score 40-14. It was the second longest run for Simmons in his career.

Sauter said their ability to gain some momentum in the second quarter and create some separation was big before Simmons’ run to start the second half set the tone for the rest of the game.

“It’s amazing how quickly things can turn and the tides can change. Early on, it looked like we could’ve ran away with it and credit to them, they battled back and made it a very tight game and in fact, we probably should’ve been down. But we started to put some things together in the second quarter to establish a little more breathing room,” Sauter said. “Then to be able to come out in the second half was key; the 75-yard run by Max on the first play of the half was certainly a statement play and we never looked back from there.”

SMSU added another touchdown late in the third to make it 47-14 as Gimbel plowed across for a 1-yard run to cap an impressive 13-play, 63-yard drive that took five minutes and 46 seconds. It was the longest time of possession scoring drive of the season.

SMSU’s final score came early in the fourth quarter as Boyer Bouman connected on a 6-yard pass to Jace Bunne push the lead to 54-14.

UMary added a late field and touchdown in the final two-plus minutes for the game’s final margin.

Southwest Minnesota State returns to action next Saturday, facing Minnesota Crookston (1-4 NSIC) for homecoming with kickoff set for 5 p.m. at the Schwan Regional Event Center.

Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications