Oct. 27, 2007
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
DAVIS, Calif. - South Dakota State scored 21 points in the first half and then held off a strong rally by UC Davis in the second as the Jackrabbits beat the Aggies 28-21 in a Great West Football Conference matchup before 9,375 fans at Aggie Stadium, ending UC Davis' hopes of extending its streak of consecutive winning seasons to 38.
Cory Koenig rushed for 160 yards and a touchdown, JaRon Harris caught six passes for 128 yards and a pair of scores, and Ryan Berry threw for 261 yards to lead South Dakota State, which improved to 4-4 overall and 2-0 in the GWFC.
Matt Engle threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns - his third straight game with three scores - while Brandon Tucker rushed had 149 all-purpose yards for UC Davis, which fell to 3-6 overall with two games remaining. The Aggies concluded their league season with a 1-3 record.
Linebacker Mike Morales had a career-high 15 tackles while linebacker Tyler Pringle had 12 to lead the Aggie defense. Linebacker Jimmy Rogers posted 10 stops, eight of them solo, for South Dakota State.
"I'm proud of the team," said UC Davis head coach Bob Biggs. "I'm proud of the way they fought back in the second half. We didn't play very well in the first half but I thought we showed great heart and we fought like crazy in the second half. We just came up short."
UC Davis entered the season with 37 consecutive winning seasons, a streak that began in 1970 under former head coach Jim Sochor (1970-88), continued through Bob Foster (1989-92) and was extended by Biggs (1993-current). The streak was the second-longest active streak in college football, behind only Linfield (Ore.), which is currently at 51 consecutive seasons.
The streak has been in jeopardy each of the last three seasons with the Aggies rallying in 2005 to keep it alive with a win in their final game against Northern Colorado and then beating Sacramento State and San Diego in the last two last seaon to extend the streak to 37 seasons. UC Davis finished 6-5 both years.
The Aggies rallied strong against South Dakota on Saturday after falling behind by three touchdowns at halftime. Engle hit Brandon Rice on a 26-yard TD pas early in the third quarter to make it 21-6, and then found Tucker from nine yards with just under two minutes gone in the fourth as UC Davis cut the deficit to just 21-14 after a two-point conversion.
Harris, though, snagged a long pass in stride from Berry on the Jackrabbits' next possession, turning it into a 70-yard touchdown to help re-open the lead to 28-14. UC Davis, though, bounced back once again, moving 73 yards in 11 plays to get back to within seven points after Engle threw a 6-yard pass to tight end Luke McDonough with 5 minutes, 5 seconds to play.
South Dakota State, though, was able to keep the ball away from UC Davis during the final five minutes by picking up a pair of key third downs. The first came on third-and-four at the Jackrabbits' 22 when Berry found tight end Chris Wagner on a 6-yard completion, and then again at the 33 when Chris Doblar took a lateral pass and raced across the backside for eight yards. UC Davis was unable to stop the clock the rest of the game as the Jackrabbits beat the Aggies for the third straight year.
South Dakota State took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter after Koenig crossed into the end zone from a yard out with 2:57 left. A 13-play, 71-yard drive in the second quarter made it 14-0 after Harris rushed in from three yards, while a 26-yard touchdown pass from Berry to Harris with 1:51 to go before halftime made it 21-0.
UC Davis, which had 265 yards of offense in the second half, began its rally with a 70-yard drive that including runs of 17 and 18 yards, respectively, from Tucker, leading to Rice's 26-yard catch down the middle from Engle. The extra point, though, was blocked, making the score 21-6.
Kenneth Brown blocked Parker Douglass' 36-yard field goal attempt on the Jackrabbits' next drive which led to a 78-yard possession for UC Davis which got down to the 6 but was ended when Andy Hoogeveen forced a fumble by Kale Turner which South Dakota State recovered at the 2. UC Davis later put together its fourth-quarter rally which the Jackrabbits were able to withstand for the win.
While the loss ended the streak, Biggs was proud of the Aggies' effort in trying to keep it alive.
"(The streak) is something we can all be very, very proud of," said Biggs. "On a positive note, teams over the years have fought very hard to put themselves in a position where they could have winning seasons. This team can hold their heads high. They play as hard as they can. They probably have had as many setbacks in terms of injuries as any team we've ever had and I've never heard them complain. They just went out and fought hard and I think the second half indicated how badly they wanted it. It just didn't work out."
Engle completed 20 of 31 yards and did not throw an interception during the game with his longest pass covering 48 yards to McDonough. Tucker had 15 carries for 99 yards and caught four passes for 50 more. Rice finished with five catches for 78 yards while Turner had five for 54.
Morales posted his second double-digit tackle effort in his last three games. Defensive end James Amos had a sack as part of his six tackles while cornerback Adam Cook had a pair of pass breakups.
Koenig had 30 carries for his 160 yards, averaging 5.3 yards a carry. Berry finished 22 of 33 with no interceptions.
UC Davis will return to action next Saturday when the Aggie travel to face Sacramento State in the 54th annual Causeway Classic. Kickoff at Hornet Stadium is 2 p.m.
