Left photo courtesy of Michael Vosburg/The Forum/Right photo courtesy of Dave Eggen/Inertia Sports Media Left: North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance escapes a tackle during their Sept. 15, 2018 game against the University of North Alabama. Right: South Dakota State’s Reece Winkelman chases the quarterback during their game against the University of Minnesota on Aug. 29.

MARSHALL — One player likes to sack the quarterback. One player likes to elude sacks.

Both players will be on display Saturday afternoon in Brookings, South Dakota, as defensive end Reece Winkelman and the No. 3-ranked South Dakota State University Jackrabbits will host quarterback Trey Lance and the No. 1-ranked North Dakota State University Bison.

“The SDSU/NDSU game is always a great rivalry game and it adds more excitement with former Marshall Tigers football players on both sides,” Marshall coach Terry Bahlmann said. “With Reece Winkelman at his defensive end spot for the Jackrabbits and Trey Lance at quarterback for the Bison it will make for some interesting interactions during the game. Both players will do a great job of representing the Marshall football program and community. After the game win or lose they will always be great friends.”

The beginning of Lance’s college career has been well-documented. He’s statistically one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the Football Championship Subdivision. In seven starts this season, Lance has completed 70 percent of his passes for 1,257 yards, with 15 touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Lance said he’s looking forward to the electric atmosphere that will be brought from two very quality teams.

“It’s super exciting,” Lance said. “It’ll be a crazy atmosphere and the game is being hyped up a lot with two strong teams competing against each other.”

This will be the first time Lance participates in the Dakota Marker rivalry game, but SDSU has plenty of familiarity with him.

“We know Trey really well, he was at our camp a number of years,” SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier said. “Great young man number one, great leader number two and then a great quarterback. He can do it all. He can throw the ball, he can run the ball.”

Lance added it’ll be even more special with the game being close to Marshall and knows there will be a strong crowd of Marshall friends and family there.

“There’s a lot of Marshall students that went to SDSU; they’ll be either cheering for me or against me,” Lance said. “This game is sort of a homecoming for me since it’s our closest game to Marshall.”

Lance will be facing a Jackrabbits defense that enters the week eighth in total sacks. Though SDSU uses a rotation along the line, Winkelman has still made an impact as a sophomore with a team-high four sacks.

“They’re playing similar to us,” NDSU coach Matt Entz said. “They use seven to eight different guys on the defensive line to stay fresh.”

For Winkelman, it’ll be his second time playing in the matchup, after NDSU earned a 21-17 victory over the Jackrabbits on Sept. 29, 2018. He said there’s a lot of mutual respect between the two teams, but at the same time, it’s still a big-time rivalry and a really fun experience.

“It’s a very cool thing. There’s a lot of respect between both teams, but at the same time we don’t like each other that much,” Winkelman said. “We both have really great fanbases and just seeing our community come together to support is special.”

Winkelman said he’s also excited to look across the line of scrimmage and see a familiar face in Lance on the other side.

“I’m really excited to play against Trey,” Winkelman said. “Last year, he didn’t play and I didn’t get to see much of his game so it’ll be fun to be able to line up against him this year and see what he’s about.”

The third Marshall High School connection on the two rosters is SDSU running back Jefferson Lee V. In two career games, Lee has registered two carries for 11 yards.

Lee said it’s been a lot of fun to watch the team continue to grow and improve since their first game of the season.

“Just watching the team grow has been a lot of fun,” Lee said. “We had the game against the U of M at the beginning of the year which was a big game for us and we haven’t skipped a beat since and just continue to get better.

Another fun aspect to the game will be the presence of ESPN’s College Gameday, which will be hosting their show on the Brookings campus for the first time. Lee said the atmosphere and the crowd will play a huge part throughout the day and is looking forward to being a part of something special.

“It’ll be the first Gameday to SDSU and it’s a big factor how big the atmosphere will be,” Lee said. “I looked at tickets at it’s sold out at our stadium; a lot of the streets in Brookings are closed off. It’ll be a lot of fun to be a part of something this big and doing it with Reece will be even more special.”

Busy day of football

The Dakota Marker rivalry is just one game on a packed slate of games today in and around Marshall. The schedule starts at 1 p.m. at Mattke Field, as Southwest Minnesota State University hosts Minnesota State University-Moorhead. The Mustangs will recognize its 23 seniors before the game, including Marshall High School graduate Brad Bahlmann, Dawson-Boyd graduate Zach Stratmoen and Pipestone Area grad Boyer Bouman.

For the Bahlmanns, the game will be filled with emotions as Brad plays one of his final games at SMSU. His father Terry said there will be a number of family members in attendance, including Brad’s sisters Allison and Dani.

“It will be an emotional day as Jan and I walk out with Brad on Senior Day,” Terry Bahlmann said. “It is hard to believe his career is coming to an end at SMSU, it seems like he is just starting college as a redshirt freshman. We are very proud of Brad and all the accomplishments throughout his career and it is sad to see his playing career coming to an end. As Brad tells it, he is going into the family business as he calls it, and wants to be a football coach.”

Through the first seven games of the season, Brad has registered 1.5 sacks and 15 total tackles, including 3.5 tackles for loss. Those numbers improve his career totals to 51 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.

“He has grown as a player and person during his time as a Mustang, playing free safety, strong safety, inside linebacker, outside linebacker, and now has transitioned to defensive end this season as a Senior,” coach Bahlmann said. “He has had the opportunity to start in his last 18 games as a Mustang and we hope to keep that streak going.”

Following the Mustangs game, the Marshall Tigers will host the Jordan Hubmen in the Section 2AAAA Tournament semifinals, with kickoff scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Mattke Field.

Coach Bahlmann said that while he won’t be able to stay for the whole SMSU game, he’s excited for a busy day of football.

“What better way could you spend a day than spending a full day of football in Marshall with practice in the morning, your son playing in the afternoon, and then getting a chance to coach an exciting Marshall Tigers team in the playoffs in the evening,” he said.