SD State defeats Delaware, advances to its 1st title game

BROOKINGS, S.D. — Mark Gronowski passed for two touchdowns and caught a 24-yard TD pass from Pierre Strong Jr. to help top-seeded South Dakota State beat Delaware 33-3 in the semifinals of the FCS playoffs on Saturday.

South Dakota State, in its ninth consecutive FCS playoffs appearance, advanced to the championship game for the first time in program history. The Jackrabbits (8-1) will face the Sam Houston State-James

Madison winner in the championship game on May 16 in Frisco, Texas.

Gronowski had 115 of his 162 passing yards, 23 of his 27 rushing yards and all of his 24 receiving yards in the first half to help South Dakota State build a 27-3 lead.

Strong ran for 73 yards and a touchdown. Jaxon Janke caught three passes for 64 yards and a touchdown and returned a punt 55 yards in the second quarter.

The Blue Hens (7-1) took a 3-0 lead on Ryan Coe’s field goal with 3:44 left in the first quarter.

South Dakota State needed only 7 minutes, 26 seconds in time of possession to score TDs on its next four drives.

Nolan Henderson completed 18 of 21 passes for 142 yards for Delaware. The Blue Hens are coached by Danny Rocco, who previously was head coach at Richmond (2012—16) and Liberty (2006—11) and was Virginia’s linebacker coach (2001—05) before that.

The Jackrabbits’ defense had seven sacks and held the Blue Hens to 68 rushing yards on 45 carries.