VERMILLION — With less than 5 minutes left in the University of South Dakota's football season finale, there wasn't much life left in the DakotaDome against North Dakota State.
The Bison just scored a touchdown to go up 28-17 with only 4:10 left on the clock. That score capped off a demoralizing 20-play, 99-yard touchdown drive that took nearly 11 minutes off the clock. With a two-possession deficit to overcome and little time left on the clock to make that up, fate didn’t appear to be with USD.
But as luck would have it, the Coyotes found a way. They scored two touchdowns in the final 3:22 of the game and miraculously overcame that 11-point deficit to defeat the Bison 29-28 and clinch a share of the program’s first Missouri Valley Football Conference title in a matchup that will be remembered in USD lore for years to come.
For many, the comeback seemed impossible. For those who also went through senior day activities, it was even more special and for Blake Holden, it felt like a dream come true.
“Unreal,” Holden said. “I’ve been here six years, had some of those older guys back today that have graduated in the past. The kind of things they said that we're doing stuff that no other football team in USD history has ever done. Growing up a Coyote fan, and now living out the dream of my little kid self, it's surreal for sure.”
The comeback had to start somewhere. Following the back-crushing 20-play drive from NDSU, the first step was for the offense to do what the defense had done for them all year, make up for mistakes.
“Offensively, we had to respond,” said head coach Bob Nielson. “That's what complimentary football is all about. When one side of the football needs the other side to pick them up, you’ve got to do it.”
However, the offense didn’t look like it would be able to respond. In fact, the Coyotes faced a fourth down almost immediately and needed a big play. Not only was USD able to convert that fourth down, but just a few plays later, Jack Martens caught a 40-yard bomb from Bouman to bring the lead down to 28-23 with 3:20 to go.
USD chose not to go for the onside kick on the ensuing kickoff and not only did they not go for it, it wasn’t even considered. With three timeouts plus the two-minute timeout, Nielson said he had complete confidence in the defense despite the struggles on the previous 20-play drive.
“[We had] plenty of time to play defense and get the ball back,” Nielson said. “What you want to do there is try to impact field position. You go for an onside kick there and if you don't recover it, even with the timeouts in your back pocket, you change the field position to a point where you're going to have to drive the whole length of the field. From a coaching standpoint, the decision that we made was to trust our defense and get the ball back.”
It ended up being the correct decision as Zeke Mata perfectly placed the kickoff and NDSU had to start the drive at its own two-yard line. Just a few plays later, the defense forced a punt to give the Coyotes the chance to finish off the miracle.
As it turns out, the man leading the way on the final drive was someone who many haven't noticed much this year. Prior to Saturday’s game, wide receiver Javion Phelps had only caught 11 passes for 96 yards all season. However, he had already made a game-saving play, the fourth down conversion on the previous drive. When a chance to grab victory presented itself, he continued to play the starring role.
He made two huge catches on the game-winning drive. The first came on a miraculous 23-yard catch along the sideline that was originally ruled incomplete. After further review though, Phelps somehow tapped a toe despite actively being pushed out-of-bounds. The catch set the Coyotes up at the Bison 25-yard line.
Just a few plays later, he made the play of the game. After Bouman was sacked and the Coyotes had to hurry to line with the clock winding down, Phelps managed to go unnoticed outside and stood wide-open at the four-yard line. Bouman delivered the pass and Phelps walked into the end zone for the eventual game-winning score.
He finished the day with 79 receiving yards and a touchdown on three receptions. Nielson and his teammates had nothing but praise.
“We've got a lot of guys on this team that when their time has been needed, they've stepped up and played really well," Nielson said. "You look at it offensively, we're without JJ Galbreath right now so we've had to have some other perimeter guys step up. That receiver group has a lot of depth. We have a lot of confidence in the guys behind Carter [Bell] and Quaron [Adams], and today was the day when Javion had an opportunity and took full advantage of it. That's what good teams do, you’ve got to have depth.”
“He just made plays,” Bouman said. “He's never a guy that's going to complain about reps and anything like that. He's just going to put his nose down in the grindstone and do what's best for the team and in the fourth quarter, that was making place for us. He made some incredible plays and it helped us win the game.”
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