Defending champ South Dakota State dominates Montana 35-18 in FCS 2nd round

BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) — Mark Gronowski ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more and two-time defending national champion South Dakota State dominated Montana 35-18 in a second-round FCS playoff game on Saturday.

While Gronowski was leading an offense that piled up 399 yards, the third-seeded Jackrabbits' defense held the 14th-seeded Grizzlies to 306 yards — but 160 came on two fourth-quarter touchdown drives after the lead reached 35-3. Adam Bock contributed a 30-yard interception return in the fourth quarter.

South Dakota State (11-2), which beat Montana 23-3 in the national championship game in January, is home next weekend against sixth-seed Incarnate Word (11-2).

Gronowski was 12-of-16 passing for 151 yards. He hit Griffin Wilde for a pair of touchdowns covering 34 and 24 yards in the second quarter and scored on a pair of 1-yard sneaks in the first and fourth. He also had a 21-yard reception to set up his first quarter run that put the Jackrabbits on top 7-3.

Wilde had seven catches for 114 yards. Amar Johnson had 103 yards on 16 carries and Angel Johnson totaled 91 yards on 13 rushes.

Keali'i Ah Yat was 19 of 32 for 231 yards but had two critical interceptions for Montana (9-5). In addition to the pick-6, Tucker Large had a goal-line interception when the Grizzlies could have pulled within four points.

The Jackrabbits were 7 of 12 on third down, while the Grizzlies went 5 of 13 — 2 of 9 through three quarters.

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