South Dakota
Zimmer: UNI's bye week adjustments had no chance of slowing down South Dakota State
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Northern Iowa coach Mark Farley has been in charge of the Panthers since 2001. He’s taken them to 13 FCS playoff tournaments and seven conference championships in that time, and entering Saturday’s tilt with No. 1 defending national champion South Dakota State, one Farley state that felt particularly relevant was this one: In home games coming off of a bye week, Farley’s teams were 10-0. Overall, 17-5 after a bye.
Some stats are more coincidental or incidental than they are cause for concern, but there have been times throughout the SDSU/UNI rivalry that Farley, to his credit, has come up with a schematic wrinkle or two that have thrown the Jacks for a loop and contributed to an SDSU defeat.
Perhaps Panther fans felt good about their team’s chances, too. A crowd of 12,611 was on hand — the biggest UNI-Dome crowd since 2017.
Most of them were gone by the start of the fourth quarter though, as Farley had no answers for the Rabbits in Saturday’s Missouri Valley Football Conference opener for both teams.
SDSU players said they were prepared for something unexpected — a schematic adjustment here, a personnel change there — but it never really came. No, the Panthers decided to just be the same team that came in 2-2 with a pair of wins over non-scholarship Pioneer League teams and a pair of losses to FBS teams.
As it turned out, maybe they should’ve tried some sleight of hand.
“We were kind of relieved to see they wanted to be who they were this year,” said linebacker Adam Bock. “They stuck with what they’ve been doing. We’re always prepared for something but it’s nice to have a mindset of (what to expect) going into a game and then have that come to fruition.”
Marcus Traxler / Mitchell Republic
The Jackrabbits pounded the Panthers 41-3, and they punished them as much physically as they did on the scoreboard.
UNI (2-3) managed just 66 rushing yards in the game (they came in averaging 202) and committed four turnovers. They also thought about going for it on a first-half fourth down, called a timeout to think about it, decided to punt and saw the Jacks block the punt and return it for a back-breaking touchdown.
The SDSU offense, meanwhile, rolled up 390 yards behind quarterback Mark Gronowski’s best game of the season, and they hardly broke a sweat doing it, thanks in large part to the defense giving them short fields and never letting the Panthers get anything going in the way of momentum.
Marcus Traxler / Mitchell Republic
This was a rout in every sense, and that it came against a quality conference foe, on the road, only speaks to how good the Jacks are, even as they still seem to be finding their footing in a bid for a third straight national championship.
“Playing in this building I was kind of expecting a dogfight,” said Gronowski, who went 16-of-22 for 223 yards and three touchdown passes. “We knew we had to start fast to try to take the air out of the stadium quick.”
It didn’t happen right away. The Jacks (4-1) went 3-and-out on their opening series and led just 7-0 after a quarter. It was 10-0 in the second when Farley mulled over a 4th down conversion attempt, and the hesitation opened the door for the biggest play of the game.
Marcus Traxler / Mitchell Republic
“We had a gameplan (for a blocked punt) all week,” said Noah Thompson, a sophomore safety from Brandon who scooped up the blocked kick and ran it in 50 yards for his first career touchdown to make it 17-0. “We had a ’23’ call where Cullen (McShane) and I are coming from both sides. Brody Gormley blew up the shield and Cullen dove in and blocked it and I just picked it up and took it to the house. When they were second-guessing themselves there we knew we had ’em. We were already playing well and that kind of killed ’em right there.”
Only moments later a strip-sack by Jarod DePriest gave the Jacks a short field and Chase Mason’s touchdown run made it 24-0. It was pretty much over at that point, but the SDSU defense did not let up, extending their streak of consecutive games without allowing a touchdown to three. Since their 24-3 win over Division II Augustana the Jacks have sandwiched wins of 41-0 and 41-3 around their bye week.
“We spent a lot of time together during the bye week, whether it was outside of football, hanging out with each other, but on the field, too,” said Gronowski, whose team has won 31 in a row against FCS teams. “We were out there for 30 minutes after every practice getting routs and talking through some different things and even having meetings with the receivers to get everyone on the same page, and it seemed like we were today.”
Matt Zimmer is a Sioux Falls native and longtime sports writer. He graduated from Washington High School where he played football, legion baseball and developed his lifelong love of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. After graduating from St. Cloud State University, he returned to Sioux Falls, and began a long career in amateur baseball and sports reporting. Email Matt at mzimmer@siouxfallslive.com.
It’s an annual tradition, a sensation of the summertime – the Oahe Days Music & Arts Festival, a weekend-long congregation of vendors, crafters, makers and entertainers, ushering in the season with food and fun.
“It’s a huge event, an entire weekend completely free, everything is completely free – granted, you know, we have the carnival, we have a full slate of activities, (but) there’s something for everyone,” John Sterling, Vice President of the Oahe Days Music & Arts Festival, told the Capital Journal. “We have a magician going right now, earlier she was doing balloon animals, there was a canine show, they were doing canine stunts.”
Iain Woessner
Oahe Days consists of shows, food, the carnival section and a diverse collection of vendor tents, selling everything from knives and kitchenware to fresh-baked bread, vintage antique pottery, jewelry, stones and crystals, artwork to spices.
The air rings with peals of laughter as children race from magic shows to ferris wheels and adults indulge in fried food, funnel cakes, gyros and barbecue. In a town where families remain the cornerstone of community culture, Oahe Days is evident in its focus on family-friendly-fun.
“I think this is a fantastic community event and it brings out children, families and everybody and I think this is critical to the future of Pierre and Central South Dakota,” Kevin Larsen of Pierre/Fort Pierre Kiwanis said. “This is really one of those community activities that has sustained for many years and I’d like to encourage more volunteers. That’s what makes this event a success, the volunteers.”
The event relies on volunteers to help in the unsung and unseen logistics of something on this scale, and the organizers of Oahe Days echoed the need for the community to continue to invest time and money to keep the beloved event alive.
Iain Woessner
“There is a call for volunteers,” Julie Diedrich, President of the Oahe Days Music & Arts Festival, said. “If you are a local business and you want to contribute to making this a free event, we’re always open to donations and (regarding volunteers), it can be a little or just volunteering throughout the weekend.”
It’s not just in the official elements that the community works to keep Oahe Days going – beloved events are organized and integrated into the Festival by members of the community themselves, demonstrating the collaborative spirit of the event. This is best exemplified by the Soggy Bottom Race, a cardboard boat race that had once been held every year before going on an extended hiatus, only to have been revived last year by locals who missed it.
“I think that Oahe Days is such a good event, it brings everybody down here, and I used to participate in the cardboard boat race myself, I always had a ton of fun building the boats and it’s super fun. We thought it was something that had been missing,” Blake Severyn with the Independent Insurance Agents of South Dakota, told the Capital Journal.
The Soggy Bottom Race serves nonprofits in the area as well, with entry fees going to a different organization each year, this year supporting Soterra. Boats are judged both on the skill of their crews in navigating the river as they race to the other shore and also on their craftsmanship, with each cardboard boat boasting a unique and fun design.
Of course, half the fun is wondering which of the colorful cardboard crafts will actually prove seaworthy.
“Some of them won’t make it more than six feet and some of them will make it all the way,” Severyn said.
The spirit fueling Oahe Days, from its concerts to its competitions, is one of local pride.
“This is our event, it is the event of the summer in Pierre, it kicks off summer officially and it’s what people look forward to year after year,” Sterling said.
Iain Woessner is the editor of the Capital Journal in Pierre, South Dakota. Iain can be reached by calling 605-307-5502, ext. 5012, or emailing Iain.woessner@capjournal.com.
The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at June 22, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from June 22 drawing
17-19-21-45-48, Powerball: 13, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from June 22 drawing
12-13-35-41-52, Star Ball: 05, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from June 22 drawing
07-08-20-24-42, Bonus: 05
Check Millionaire for Life 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.
- Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.
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.
At the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation’s 13th annual Prime Time Gala on Saturday, June 20, 2026, the point of the evening was never far from view: beef, music, scholarships and fundraising all tied back to getting high-quality protein to South Dakotans who need it.
Held at the Sioux Falls Convention Center and Denny Sanford PREMIER Center complex, the Prime Time Gala again brought together cattle producers, agricultural businesses, community supporters and Feeding South Dakota for an upscale dinner, auction program and country concert. The evening opened with a prayer from Ray Larson before moving into the program, awards and live auction.
“Success boils down to one thing, and that’s to all of you who are with us tonight,” foundation leadership told the crowd, framing the event as a collective effort by ranchers, cattle feeders, donors, volunteers and businesses across the state.
Viewpoints
VIEWPOINT | Don’t blame voters for lack of trust in South Dakota politics: Look in mirror
Too much of today’s political conversation revolves around personalities, endorsements and internal political scorekeeping. We argue about who is conservative enough, who is endorsed by the right people, who is supported by the right organizations and who belongs to the right political tribe. While politicians and activists debate those questions, many ordinary voters are simply asking who is focused on solving problems and improving their communities.
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