SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana football team is alone at the top of the NSIC standings. The No. 15 Vikings put up a staunch defensive effort to down No. 3 Minnesota State, 28-10, Saturday in Kirkeby-Over Stadium.
 
The win snapped the Mavericks' 11-game NSIC winning streak while Augustana's fourth-longest win streak in the nation advances to nine games dating back to 2022. Augustana is now 8-0 with a 7-0 mark in the NSIC. Minnesota State falls for the first time with a 7-1, 6-1 record.
 
In a defensive battle, neither team could find the scoreboard in the opening quarter. The Mavericks did connect on a 24-yard field goal with 10:50 to go in the second quarter for the first points of the game.
 
After MSU forced a turnover from AU, the Mavericks again began to threaten but Logan Leonard intercepted Hayden Ekern at the Augustana six-yard line and returned the ball eight yards. On the first play of the Vikings' drive, Jarod Epperson went 86 yards, untouched, to give the Vikings the 7-3 lead.
 
That score would hold for halftime and into the middle portion of the third quarter.
 
That would change as Epperson completed an 8-play, 77-yard drive with a 35-yard touchdown reception. After the point-after from the reigning NSIC Special Teams Player of the Week, Jake Pecina, Augustana led 14-3.
 
The lead stretched to 21-3 in the fourth quarter as Rashad Lampkin put the finishing touch on a 9-play, 55-yard drive that chunked nearly six minutes off the clock. To set up Lampkin's one-yard rush, Casey Bauman hit Epperson for a 22-yard reception. He made the catch while getting pushed out of bounds at the one-yard line.
 
In hurry-up mode, Minnesota State scored its lone touchdown in a drive spanning 2:17 of the game clock and 1:37 remaining in the game to make the score 21-10.
 
After the failed onside attempt from Minnesota State, Augustana ran the clock game perfectly with Minnesota State using all three timeouts. On the fourth-down play from the MSU 23-yard line, Bauman found a wide-open Logan Uttecht in the end zone to make a final 28-10 score.
 
Epperson had his second-straight 100-yard game, this time accumulating 136 yards on the ground while hauling in 65 receiving yards. Bauman was 12-of-18 passing with two touchdowns and 183 yards.
 
Kade Lynott and Haden Wallace each led the defense with nine tackles each while Wallace secured a sack of eight yards. Augustana got the MSU quarterback three times while totaling five tackles for a loss.
 
Up Next
Augustana is on the road for the next two weeks beginning with a noon kickoff at Wayne State on Saturday, Oct. 28. Following a trip to Northern State on Nov. 4, the Vikings close out the regular season on Nov. 11 against Bemidji State at 1 p.m. inside Kirkeby-Over Stadium.
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