South Dakota

Bergen comes up big as Montana beats North Dakota State to make FCS Championship game

Published

1 year ago

December 17, 2023

Bergen comes up big as Montana beats North Dakota State to make FCS Championship game

Associated Press
| Associated Press

MISSOULA — Junior Bergen returned a fourth-quarter punt for a touchdown, caught a touchdown pass in the first overtime and threw for a 2-point conversion on a trick play in the second overtime to put Montana in the FCS Championship game with a wild 31-29 semifinal win over North Dakota State on Saturday.

Bergen’s toss to Keelan White on an end-around right was duplicated by the Bison after their score, but Corbin Walker intercepted RaJa Nelson, sending the Grizzlies to the final game for the first time since 2009.

Montana (13-1), the second seed with 10 straight wins, will face top-seeded and defending champion South Dakota State (14-0), owner of a 28-game winning streak, in Frisco, Texas, on Jan. 7.

“I’ll have to get him rushing the passer next time,” Montana coach Bobby Hauck joked about Bergan, who had kickoff- and punt-return touchdowns a week earlier in a 35-28 overtime win against Furman. “He’s a special kid. Obviously his teammates work awfully hard for him.”

The game drew a Montana playoff record crowd of 26,544. The last time NDSU played in Missoula it was the nationally televised kickoff classic in 2015 and the Griz beat Carson Wentz and the Bison 38-35. NDSU won the rematch in the playoffs 37-6.

Montana used three carries by Eli Gillman, the last covering 12 yards, before Bergen’s conversion pass that came after he pulled out of a potential tackle as his facemask was grabbed.

Cole Payton ran for 12 yards before TK Marshall ran for 15 and then a 2-yard score for the Bison but their trick play failed.

“First of all, congratulations to North Dakota State,” Hauck said. “Matt Entz is a great football coach. He’s had an unbelievable run there. He’s special, he has a special program. I think we do, too. I’m so proud of our guys. Back-to-back overtime games. Their guys fight, our guys just fight. I knew it was going to be a dang battle to the finish and it was.”

Entz is leaving North Dakota State (11-4) to coach linebackers and be an assistant defensive coach at Southern California.

Payton, North Dakota State’s running quarterback, went 25 yards untouched on the first snap of overtime and Bergen turned a short pass from Clifton McDowell into a 22-yard touchdown on the third snap to force a second extra period.

It was also the second overtime this postseason for North Dakota State. The Bison beat Montana State 35-34 in the second round by blocking an extra point.

The Bison forced overtime with an 81-yard drive that ended with Cam Miller throwing a 9-yard touchdown pass to Eli Green with 51 seconds left. The drive was kept alive with an 18-yard run by Kaedin Steindorf on a fake punt that included a 15-yard penalty tacked on for unnecessary roughness. That put the ball at the UM 43-yard line and later the Griz had their second penalty of the game, a 14-yard pass interference call, two plays before the TD pass.

Bergen’s 47-yard punt return put Montana up 16-9 with 11:22 left in regulation, but the Griz missed the extra point. Montana also missed a 45-yard field goal just before the punt return when Jake Kava blew up a play and pushed the Grizzlies back 14 yards to the 28.

Most of the game was an evenly matched defensive battle.

The Bison scored on the game-opening possession, a 63-yard drive highlighted by Green’s amazing one-handed grab for 35 yards, a play he almost duplicated in the end zone before settling for Griffin Crosa’s 30-yard field goal.

The Grizzlies scored on their second drive with Gillman’s 3-yard run capping a 16-play, 87-yard march that chewed up 7:53. A sacked forced them to kick a field goal on their next possession.

North Dakota State answered that with Crosa’s 35-yard field goal on the last play of the half to trail 10-6.

Miller, who led the FCS with a 75% completion rate, was 9 of 22 for 157 yards. The Bison finished with 345 total yards. A team that had converted better than 50% of its third downs was 3 of 13.

McDowell was 16-of-30 passing for 160 yards and the Grizzlies had 284 total yards.

Montana won national titles in 1995 and 2001. The Bison reached the title game 10 of the previous 12 seasons, winning nine before losing 45-21 to South Dakota State last year.

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South Dakota

Mitchell town hall to be held at Dakota Wesleyan Wednesday night

Published

19 hours ago

June 10, 2025

Press Room

Mitchell town hall to be held at Dakota Wesleyan Wednesday night

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Throughout April, South Dakota community leaders Nikki Gronli and Julian Beaudion hosted town halls across the state allowing people to raise the concerns they have with the Trump administration.

Now they are back by popular demand with the next one coming up Wednesday evening.

Gronli and Beaudion have previously held town halls in Rapid City, Aberdeen, Vermillion and Sioux Falls, and every one saw a massive crowd.

Now the tour heads to Mitchell.

The popularity of the town halls resulted in changes in venues and people having to stand at meetings as attendees.

Panelists Nikki Gronli and Julian Beaudion delivered the 40-page report to South Dakota’s congressional delegation but only received feedback from Representative Dusty Johnson.

But both Gronli and Beaudion share optimism in the participation in political discourse throughout the state.

“What we saw from the citizens who attended these town halls is that there is still a lot of fight left in them, a lot of fight left in us, folks had no problem talking through some of the concerns,” Beaudion, a US Senate candidate said.

In previous meetings, attendees addressed concerns they had regarding cuts to Medicaid, the Department of Education, and from DOGE, as well as the effects of tariffs.

Now they are prioritizing town halls being more focused on one issue, this starts Wednesday in Mitchell at Dakota Wesleyan University.

“There’s a great farm community, so we decided we would do this one focused as opposed to the last town halls which we allowed people to cover whatever topic they wanted to, we thought we would switch it up and see what the response is like,” Gronli said.

Gronli expects a lot of questions as to what the next farm bill will look like and when it will be passed, the current one has been extended twice and passed in 2018.

She will have the help of another former USDA staffer to answer questions throughout the night.

“I also expect having Marcia Bunger there on stage as the former risk management lead that there will be conversations about crop insurance, the importance to our ag producers and what policies are being made around crop insurance,” Gronli said.

Dates haven’t been announced but town halls are planned for Brookings and Rapid City so far.

Dakota News Now reached out for comment to Senators Thune and Rounds and Representative Johnson, but we did not get a response in time for publication.

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South Dakota

SD Lottery Powerball, Lucky For Life winning numbers for June 9, 2025

Published

2 days ago

June 10, 2025

Press Room

The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at June 9, 2025, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from June 9 drawing

30-33-40-43-52, Powerball: 25, Power Play: 4

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lucky For Life numbers from June 9 drawing

03-07-17-29-46, Lucky Ball: 15

Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lotto America numbers from June 9 drawing

06-14-35-44-49, Star Ball: 05, ASB: 02

Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize

Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.

When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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South Dakota

Komet Caisen Thome Commits to South Dakota

Published

2 days ago

June 9, 2025

Press Room

Komet Caisen Thome Commits to South Dakota

The major local, regional and national news events, sports, weather conditions and traffic are examined and reported by the ABC 6 News Team.

(ABC 6 News) — After a strong senior campaign with the Kasson-Mantorville Komets, Caisen Thome will continue to play football at the Division I level, joining the University of South Dakota.

Thome originally signed with Iowa Western, but switched to follow in his father’s footsteps as a coyote. Caisen was featured as a Prep Athelte of the Week this past football season, you can watch his story here.

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