Bison Football Moves On, Baseball and Softball in Play

This was a different weekend for Bison Athletics.

Football
NDSU Football came into the first playoff round off a loss for the first time in many decades. They came out of the tunnel unfortunately how many may have expected. 
The Bison looked lackluster on both sides of the ball, the offense continued to sputter as usual and the defense continued their play of terrible football.
Then suddenly in the 2nd Quarter, it flipped. Eastern Washington had just missed the extra point on their 3rd touchdown of the day. After kickoff the Bison scored again. EWU got the ball back, and they stalled for the first time of the day. Except they were just past midfield and decided to try a 54 yard field goal. It went up and was short. From then on the team was a completely different one then the past 5 quarters. Suddenly the offense came alive, the rushing attack was working on almost every carry. The 2 minute drill culminated in a 4 yard pass from freshman QB Cam Miller to tight end Noah Gindorff for the Bison's 3rd touchdown of the day! After the extra point, the Bison went into the locker room at half with a one point advantage!

As amazing as that was, NDSU kept their foot on the gas. The offense did stall after a good drive to start the half that went 9 plays for 40 yards. Just when we thought they might slump back to their old form, NDSU's defense claimed their switch with a Dom Jones interception! The first in weeks for the Bison! NDSU offense got the ball back on EWU's 41 yard line and scored on Dom Gonnella's first ever touchdown run to increase the lead to 8! It was now 28-20 and everyone in the dome was now focused on how Eastern Washington's high flying offense would respond. They responded with a 7 play, 25 yard drive that resulted in a punt! NDSU's defense forced their second stop of the day! The Bison offense got back on the field to grind out another drive. This time a much longer one, going 8 plays for 86 yards culminating in another Dom Gonnella rushing touchdown! 
EWU's offense went back on the field with the same result, a punt on a short drive. NDSU got back on the field and Cam Miller through his second touchdown of the day. Eastern Washington then got on the field with about 8:10 on the clock. NDSU was able to hold them back from midfield and ran the clock out for the 42-20 win in the first round of the FCS Playoffs!

The Bison will now travel down to Texas to play 2nd seeded Sam Houston State in the FCS Quarterfinals. Sam Houston State beat unseeded Monmouth this past weekend to advance to the Quarterfinals as well. Kickoff is on Sunday, May 2nd at 2 PM CT on ESPN.
North Dakota State Football is 7-2 overall and 5-2 in MVFC play.

Baseball
NDSU baseball played a series at South Dakota State that was moved up a day to account for the inclement weather moving into the Dakotas. NDSU ended up splitting the series 2 games apiece. They shut out the Jackrabbits in the first match, then they lost the next 2 before winning the series finale on Saturday. The final 2 games both went to extra innings.
The Bison will now come home to play Valley City State on Tuesday, April 27th before travelling out to Kansas next weekend for a three game series.
North Dakota State Baseball is 25-12 overall and 14-9 in Summit League play.

Softball
NDSU Softball had a very similar weekend to last weekend. This week they hosted Omaha this weekend in a 4 game series that was 2 doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday. The Bison won the first match 3-1. But then lost the ensuing 2 games, the first a 5-3 loss and the second an 8-0 shutout. The series finale was cancelled to snow again for the second straight weekend. 
The Bison softball team will continue their homestand when they host North Dakota next weekend for the typical two day doubleheaders. First pitch is at 12 PM on Saturday, May 1st.
North Dakota State Softball is 13-23 overall and 8-7 in Summit League play.

Quite the weekend! On a different note, the NDSU Women's Outdoor Track and Field team won the Drake relay cup this past weekend! Great job ladies! 

On to the next one! Go Bison!