USD beats Drake in final non-conference game – Mitchell Republic

VERMILLION — With extra energy and motivation after a surprise game cancellation last week, the South Dakota football team beat Drake 42-3 in the final nonconference game of the season at the DakotaDome.

Aidan Bouman had a season-best game with 219 yards and a touchdown on 18-of-24 completions. Travis Theis led the backfield with 94 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Carter Bell led the way with 56 yards and also added a rushing touchdown. Defensively, Nick Gaes had a big day with 1.5 sacks while Mike Reid caught an interception.

Head coach Bob Nielson said he was pleased not only with the win, but that it was achieved in dominant fashion.

“Right from the kickoff, our guys showed they were ready to play,” Nielson said. “After last week, you worry about getting out of the routine and the frustration of not playing. After last Saturday, our guys handled the announcement with maturity, and I think they played with hunger today. … I think we have better balance offensively, which was one of the things we knew we had to improve, and we have to continue to play good defense and continue to find ways to make big plays on the foot.”

One of the only things Nielson expressed frustration about was penalties. USD finished the day with 14 penalties committed, which resulted in 110 free yards for Drake.

“It’s way too much,” Nielson said. “Some of them were undisciplined, which is really disappointing for me as a head coach. We’ll get those things fixed, but we had some penalties just because we played really hard. Those things happen and you have to find ways to overcome them.”

Nathan Swaffar / Mitchell Republic

After Drake won the coin toss and postponed the game to the second half, USD didn’t wait to score. As he has all season, Keyondray Jones-Logan was explosive with the ball in his hands and took the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown that put the Coyotes up 7-0 in the blink of an eye.

The Coyotes found the end zone again on their second offensive series of the day. Theis scored from 25 yards out to make it 14-0. The Bulldogs threatened to cut the deficit in half after reaching the Coyotes’ six-yard line, aided by two late hitting penalties, but the defense held firm and allowed only a field goal to make it 14-3.

USD’s offense went on an impressive drive after Drake’s field goal. It took just seven plays to go 71 yards and was capped off by Carter Bell’s six-yard touchdown run to make it 21-3. Charles Pierre found the end zone on the next offensive series to make it 28-3 at halftime.

As in the first half, USD started the second half with a bang. On the first play of the half, Mike Reid made a big interception to give the Coyotes the ball right at their 44-yard line after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Reid. The offense was unable to convert that into points and punted the ball shortly after.

Nathan Swaffar / Mitchell Republic

The defense held firm and forced Drake to turn the ball over. This time, the offense put together another methodical attack and extended the lead with Theis’ second touchdown of the day to make it 35-3 with 6:31 left in the third quarter.

The Coyotes found the end zone again at 12:24 of the fourth quarter. Bouman finally threw his first touchdown of the season to Pierre for a 20-yard touchdown that extended the lead to 42-3. That ended the scoring, as the Coyotes earned their second win of the season.

USD (2-1) will remain in Vermillion to face Southern Illinois in the first conference game of the season on Saturday, Sept. 28.

Nathan Swaffar is a sports reporter for the Mitchell Republic. He joined the Mitchell Republic in July 2024 after graduating from the University of Kansas in May 2024 with a degree in journalism and a minor in history. He covers a variety of prep and college sports throughout South Dakota, including football.