South Dakota Coyotes

Simmons' 3TDs send South Dakota past S. Illinois 31-24

Published Sep. 29, 2018 11:13 p.m. ET

CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) — Austin Simmons threw for 333 yards and three touchdowns to lead South Dakota to a 31-24 win over Southern Illinois in a Missouri Valley Conference opener on Saturday.

The win marked coach Bob Nielson's 200th career victory.

After Kai Henry's 1-yard touchdown run put South Dakota (2-2, 1-0) out front 7-0, Sam Straub completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Nigel Kilby, and later, a 20-yard score to Kilby for a 14-7 lead for the Salukis (1-3, 0-1).

Trailing 17-10 at the break, Simmons got hot and threw touchdowns of 9 and 45 yards to Randy Baker and unloaded an 89-yard TD strike to Dakarai Allen to put the Coyotes up 31-17 in the third. Javon Williams scored on 1-yard run with a minute left to play to reduce the deficit, but South Dakota recovered the on-side kick and ran out the clock.

Straub was 32-for-59 passing with 320 yards but was intercepted twice.

Get more from South Dakota Coyotes Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

South Dakota Coyotes

Missouri Valley