Photo by Jake McNeill: Southwest Minnesota State University running back Tariq Parker (29) hurdles a tackler during the third quarter of a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football game against UMary on Saturday at Mattke Field in Marshall. The Marauders outscored the Mustangs by 26 points after halftime to hand SMSU a 40-9 defeat.

MARSHALL — Second-half struggles on both sides of the ball sunk the Southwest Minnesota State University football team when it hosted UMary on Saturday. The Mustangs trailed by 5 points at halftime, but the Marauders closed the game with 26 unanswered points to hand the Mustangs a 40-9 loss.

The defeat comes a week after SMSU snapped a 12-game losing streak with a 12-7 road win over Jamestown (N.D.). UMary came into the game looking to bounce back from a loss, leading its entire game against No. 9 Augustana before falling 21-20 on a touchdown with 17 seconds left.

Trailing 7-0, the Marauders marched their way down the field early in the second quarter, going run-heavy until Andrew Trandahl punched in the one-yard touchdown to cap off the 32-yard tying drive.

On the next drive, Hudsen Shelton completed a 32-yard pass to Damani Wilks to get past midfield and found Karsyn Jablonski open in the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown and a 14-7 UMary lead.

SMSU scored the game’s first points on a 96-yard drive in the first quarter. Facing a third-and-12 from the shadow of their own end zone after Macloud Crowton barely escaped a safety on second down, Crowton threw a deep ball to Colin Maher downfield.

Maher vaulted up over a defender and made the catch for a 42-yard gain before being taken down immediately.

Maher carried the SMSU receiving corps on the day, hauling in eight catches for 107 yards. No other Mustang finished with 25 or more yards, and Tryg Auten and Tariq Parker were the only other players with multiple catches after grabbing two each.

“When they kind of pressed us up, we took long shots at him. We wanted quite a few of those, they were big plays that turn the field,” SMSU head coach Scott Underwood said of Maher. “Part of that is going to continue to take those shots… He’s won those 50-50 balls, so to speak, and they become big momentum plays.”

UMary forced SMSU to another third-and-long on the next set of downs, and Crowton scurried out of bounds after a short gain, but a late hit kept the drive alive once again. SMSU also faced third downs on each of the ensuing sets of downs, but a Crowton completed a flat to Lincoln Benson to move the chains on the first, and Jacob Honstetter weaved his way through the defense for a 19-yard touchdown on the second to make the score 7-0.

Parker Knutson came down with an interception on the 1-yard line in the third quarter to halt a UMary drive. The pick was his fifth of the season, tying his freshman total and leaving him three away from tying Carl Douglas’ program single-season record of eight, set in 1988.

“He’s got a great head for football about what people are trying to do, as far as crossing routes and everything they try to do to get you to chase one guy and throw it back across you,” Underwood said of Knutson. “He has a really good sense of what’s happening in the space around him, and then directly in traffic…. When the ball is in the air, he goes and gets it.”

A series of stuffed runs, a false start and an incompletion forced SMSU to punt late in the second half, and a touchback gave the Marauders the ball at the 20.

Yet, SaMaury Alexander broke up the third-down pass attempt to force a punt, and a high snap on the punt allowed Aiden Planer to push UMary punter CHristian Jangula out of the back of the end zone for a safety.

The safety was SMSU’s second of the season after the Mustangs capitalized on another botched snap in their win over Jamestown in their last game. Through three games, SMSU has as many safeties as touchdowns on the season.

A storm rolled into Marshall in the third quarter just as the Marauders started to rain down points on SMSU. Sheldon connected with BJ Phillips for a 28-yard touchdown to start the rally, bringing UMary’s lead to 34-9.

Parker appeared to give the Mustang offense a spark when he hurdled a tackler for a 14-yard run to get SMSU to the UMary 27-yard line on the ensuing drive, but Mason Phillips intercepted Crowton two plays later on a screen attempt and returned it 28 yards to the SMSU 40, setting up a 38-yard touchdown to Wilks.

Crowton threw three second-half interceptions in the game, finishing the night with 198 passing yards after completing 17 of his 32 attempts.

Parker got his first start as a Mustang last week in the absence of Honstetter due to injury, and put together a quality performance in the win over Jamestown.

That momentum carried into Saturday’s game. He got just one carry in the first half but capitalized on extra opportunities in the second, taking five carries for 22 yards to tie Crowton for a team-high.Parker’s 4.4 yards per attempt were more than double any other Mustang, as the team went on to total 58 yards on 28 attempts.

“We’ve got some young guys that are in their third football game, but we’ve got to be better there to be able to rush the ball consistently,” Underwood said of the team’s offensive line. “We can’t throw the ball 45 times a game, it’s not going to be conducive for wins. I thought on the big runs, if you look at it, there were really good cuts by our front side, do a backside cut in one step, and again we did get the backside cut off and it makes a 17- or 19-yard play…. We’re going to continue to work with our O-line to sustain blocks longer and get our running backs room.

UMary forced another three-and-out from SMSU, and Jaxon Feller returned the punt 43 yards for a touchdown. Jack Henninger’s extra point attempt sailed wide, but the Marauders still led 34-9.

Josiah Hedensten led the SMSU defense with five solo tackles, seven total tackles and combined with Logan Booth for SMSU’s lone sack of the day. His 1.5 tackles for loss trailed only Planer’s two.

Two minutes into the final quarter, Macloud shed a tackler in the backfield, rolled out to his right and found a streaking Greg Schafer along the sideline for a 79 yard touchdown. Yet, the play was called back for an illegal touch, ruling that Schaefer stepped out of bounds before making the catch, bringing the ball back with a loss of down.

Crowton threw the ball over the head of a receiver on the next play and Abram Jopp slid back to make the interception at the SMSU 40-yard line.

UMary took advantage of the field position, capping off the possession with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Heinrich for a 40-9 lead after a bobbled snap prevented them from converting the extra point.

Ole Taylor recovered a UMary fumble at the SMSU 35 with 72 seconds remaining in the game. Crowton completed a pair of passes to Ryan Kronbach and Maher for first downs, and a 23-yard completion to Shaun Walrath to set SMSU up at the edge of the red zone.

Maher caught another pass over the middle to get SMSU to the 9-yard line, but the Mustangs were unable to get off one last shot at the end zone before time expired.

SMSU falls to 1-2 on the season with the loss and will look to bounce back on the road when it takes on Wayne State (Neb.) (2-2, 2-1 NSIC) at Memorial Stadium on Saturday at 1 p.m. When the two teams met last year, Wayne State defeated SMSU 41-7 at Mattke Field.

“We had a simple conversation on the field… Who are you? It starts with effort and concentration and doing all the things right all the time, whether it’s a practice or a game,” Underwood said. “We’ve got to keep pushing hard for that and finding the ones who are willing to understand and make that separation. Because I think at times you’ll see some good plays, but that consistency still is just vital.”