Photo by Jake McNeill: Southwest Minnesota State University running back Tariq Parker (29) runs through a tackle for a touchdown during the third quarter of a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football game against Augustana at Mattke Field in Marshall on Saturday.

MARSHALL — Macloud Crowton became the first Mustang in seven years to throw for 400 yards in a game in the Southwest Minnesota State University football team’s Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matchup against Augustana on Saturday. Yet, the Mustang air raid wasn’t enough to produce a win, as SMSU fell 57-29 to suffer its sixth consecutive loss.

“I thought [our increased offensive output] probably started last week [at Northern State],” SMSU head coach Scott Underwood said. “We’re starting to compete at the level we need to in the Northern Sun. Our quarterback and our receivers, again, made plays in the big explosives, when you throw up the 50-50 ball or get behind them on a post… That turns the chains and puts you in good field production, so we’ve had solid production the last two weeks on our offense. It’s just some other pieces that we need to put together.”

Augustana scored on its first possession of the game, capping off a 41-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run by Breylon Blount. Yet, the Mustangs responded quickly, with Tryg Auten catching a slant over the middle and taking it 65 yards to the house to bring the score to 7-6.

The Vikings didn’t leave their lead at 1 point for long. Two plays after SMSU’s touchdown, Blount ran to the left for a 58-yard touchdown, bringing Augustana’s edge to 14-6.

Crowton finished the game completing 27 of his 53 pass attempts for 453 yards, three touchdowns and no picks, though he was sacked six times. He’s the first Mustang to reach the 400-yard mark since Blake Gamble threw for 423 against Augustana in 2018.

Colin Maher, Jake Anderson, David Ola-Kazeem and Auten each capitalized on Crowton’s ability to spin the ball with big receiving days. Maher caught six of his 12 targets for 159 yards and a touchdown, becoming the first Mustang since 2019 to reach the 150-yard mark, when Daniel Davis went for 171 at Augustana.

“I think we did a good job of offensively scheming and putting them in decent places, and then they made plays,” Underwood said of his receivers. “But they’ve risen from probably where we were in game one to where they’re at now. The confidence to play at that level. Now we’ve just got to continue with that. One or two weeks offensively doesn’t make you. We’re still not finding ways to put the W from the team up there, but we’ll continue to work in that fashion.”

Auten also caught four passes for 99 yards, Anderson caught six for 70 and Ola-Kazeem brought in three receptions for 60 yards.

Trailing 42-9, SMSU started to find an offensive rhythm late in the third quarter. Parker Knutson picked off Rich Lucero Jr. with a toe-tap catch along the sideline at the 38-yard line to get SMSU’s offense on the field, and an unnecessary roughness penalty against Augustana and a 10-yard run from Tariq Parker got the ball moving for SMSU.

A holding call against the Vikings continued to move the chains, and Parker eventually capped off the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run, bowling through a tackler to cut the deficit to 42-16.

Early in the fourth quarter, SMSU again worked its way down the field before finding Maher over the middle for an 18-yard touchdown. The Mustang defense forced a punt, and Crowton connected with Ola-Kazeem for a 50-yard completion to the 30-yard line, a 23-yard pass to Anderson to the 7, and a touchdown over the middle to Anderson to cut the deficit to 12 points, 51-29.

A missed extra point after Anderson’s touchdown left SMSU one shy of cracking 30 for the first time in three years. Still, the 29-point outing was SMSU’s most since scoring 47 against Upper Iowa in 2022.

Between Parker and Maher’s touchdowns, a miscommunication on the offensive line resulted in a snap sailing past Crowton when he wasn’t looking, resulting in a safety and 2 points for Augustana with two minutes left in the third quarter.

Lucero Jr. capitalized on the ensuing free kick by finding Sam Scholten downfield along the sideline for a 63-yard touchdown, bringing the Augustana lead to 51-16.

Lucero completed 16 of his 21 attempts for 221 yard,s three touchdowns and a pick for Augustana. Cody Oswald was the Vikings’ leading receiver with four catches for 74 yards and three touchdowns while Scholten’s 63 yards on one catch was second on the team.

Josiah Hedensten led SMSU’s defense with 11 total tackles, three of which were unassisted, as well as 1.5 tackles for loss. Gideon Ervasti also had a sack while Kaden Lunsford logged a team-leading four solo tackles.

Landon Hubbard hit a 28-yard field goal for the Mustangs a minute into the second quarter but Augustana came back with a nine-yard touchdown run from Lucero and 13- and 18-yard touchdown passes to Oswald to go into the half with a 35-9 lead. Oswald also caught a 45-yard touchdown shortly after halftime to bring the score to 42-9, a play that SMSU unsuccessfully challenged.

“I think one of the key points is that we gave up explosive plays when we did struggle,” Underwood said. “When we keep those off the board and make some plays, if you look at three long touchdowns… that’s 21 points. If you can keep those off the board, and at least hold them to field goals in one of those three attempts, the scoreboard looks a little different. We competed, but we still can’t give up the big mistake plays and we’ve got to get more three-and-outs to get the ball back to our offense.”

SMSU falls to 1-7 overall and 1-6 in conference after suffering its sixth consecutive loss. The Mustangs will look to get back in the win column on Saturday when it heads to Mankato to take on Minnesota State at Blakeslee Stadium at noon.