Santiago Runs for Season High 230 As UND Downs #18 Montana State

Courtesy of UNDSports.com

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Freshman John Santiago’s third rushing touchdown of the game proved to be the game-winner as North Dakota knocked off No. 18 Montana State 44-38 in a crazy back-and-forth affair Saturday at the Alerus Center.

Santiago raced in from four yards out with 1:41 to play for the game-clinching score and his foot race to the corner of the end zone helped put a stamp on a record-setting day for the first-year running back. He finished with a season-high 230 yards and the first three-touchdown game of his career.

It was the sixth-straight 100-yard rushing game for Santiago, whose new season-total of 1,162 yards broke UND’s Division I single-season rushing mark of 1,146 yards set by Josh Murray in 2008.

Those final 101 seconds weren’t without their own flare though after UND’s extra-point attempt just missed, leaving the advantage at just six points. MSU quarterback Dakota Prukop moved his team near midfield, but his fourth-down pass was batted down by sophomore Jake Disterhaupt and UND was able to run out the clock, snapping a season-long three-game losing streak.

“I thought our guys really hung with it today,” UND head coach Bubba Schweigert said. “I was really proud of our guys for gutting one out. Going against a team like (Montana State), you have to keep plugging away and plugging away and we did that today.”

It was the first win for UND (5-4, 3-3 BSC) over the Bobcats (4-4, 2-3 BSC) since joining the Big Sky four seasons ago and the team’s season-high 44 points were the most scored during that span as well.

Montana State never led in the contest, but the Bobcats managed to draw even with UND on six different occasions after the Green and White had retaken a lead.

Santiago was not the only true freshman running wild on the Bobcats as classmate Brady Oliveira had a career-day for the home team as well. He added 167 yards on 12 carries and scored his first touchdown on a 30-yard carry in the opening quarter.

When the dust settled, UND had racked up a season-high 426 rushing yards with those two combined for 397 of them.

Santiago opened the scoring on a 45-yard run and added a 75-yarder late in the second quarter that gave his team a 31-24 lead at halftime.

Prukop and company seemed to always have an answer though until that final drive when the Bobcats missed on a fourth-down conversion for the first time in five tries during the game.

He had led his team back to draw even each time UND went ahead as the reigning All-Big Sky performer finished the game with 224 passing yards and 74 more on the ground.

The junior’s 1-yard scoring pass to Beau Sandland early in the fourth quarter was his second of the game and tied the score at 38-38, but neither team would score again until Santiago snuck just inside the pylon to seal the win. 

Prukop did commit three turnovers as UND forced a season-high four in the contest, but none of those miscues resulted in points for UND.

The Bobcats’ two lost fumbles in the second half were their first of the season and they managed to score the only points – a touchdown in the second quarter – off of a combined seven turnovers in the game.

UND sophomore Keaton Studsrud returned to action for the first time since leaving the Idaho State (Oct. 1 0) and finished 6-for-9 through the air for 121 yards and two touchdown passes to Clive Georges.

Georges had his best game in a UND uniform, scoring on a 53-yard pass in the second quarter that put UND by 14 for the only time in the game at 21-7. He added a 21-yard touchdown reception late in the third quarter that broke a 31-31 tie. He finished with two catches for 74 yards and added 19 rushing yards on two fly sweeps.

Sophomore Cole Reyes led UND’s defensive effort with 11 tackles, his first interception of the season and a fumble recovery, while senior Will Ratelle had a team-high 12 tackles to finish with his sixth double-digit tackle performance of the season.

UND will have its bye week coming up and return to play at home against Northern Colorado on Nov. 14.