Box Score Halfback Kyle Steffes rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns to help No. 17-ranked North Dakota State defeat Northeastern 23-10 Saturday, Sept. 16, before a crowd of 16,134 at the Fargodome and spoil the return of former Bison head coach Rocky Hager.
North Dakota State (2-0) is scheduled to play Ball State University (1-2) of the Mid-American Conference at 5:30 p.m. (CST) Saturday, Sept. 23. The Cardinals lost 38-28 at Purdue University on Saturday. Northeastern (1-2) opens Atlantic 10 action at No. 15 James Madison (1-1) next weekend.
The Bison, who had 15 days off after winning their season opener, shook off a sluggish start and three fumbles to score 20 unanswered points. True freshman Shawn Bibeau kicked three field goals for NDSU. The Bison had 358 yards of total offense including 221 rushing and held the ball for 33-minutes, 42-seconds.
Hager, the third-year Northeastern coach who guided NDSU from 1987-96, received a standing ovation when introduced before the game. He's the all-time winningest coach at NDSU with 91 victories.
Current NDSU head coach Craig Bohl improved to 25-10 in three-plus seasons with the school and moved to No. 6 on the list by passing former coaches Darrell Mudra (1963-65), Jim Wacker (1976-78) and Earle Solomonson (1985-86), who each had 24 victories.
Northeastern scored first on a 31-yard field goal by Matt Johnson midway through the first quarter. It was set up when Steffes fumbled on NDSU's first offensive play, and Jason Vega recovered at the Bison 48.
The Bison took command with two short touchdown runs by Steffes in the second quarter, both of them capping hard-fought 11-play drives. It was 14-3 at halftime.
Bibeau booted a pair of field goals in the third quarter, from 25 and 32 yards, to give the Bison a 20-3 lead.
The Bison defense limited Northeastern to 169 yards of total offense including only 45 yards rushing. Junior middle linebacker Joe Mays led NDSU with 11 tackles, his fourth career double-figure tackle effort. Sophomore outside linebacker Ramon Humber added a career best 10 tackles.
The Huskies drove 80 yards in eight plays early in the fourth quarter, capped by a 26-yard pass from Anthony Orio to Kendrick Ballantyne, to make it 20-10. Orio completed 16 of 19 passes for 117 yards.
The Bison countered with an 15-play, 72-yard march that took 8 minutes off the clock and ended with Bibeau's 26-yard field goal.
Steffes, a senior from Dickinson, N.D., moved up two slots among all-time rushers at NDSU and has 2,964 yards in 31 career games. He passed both Chad Stark (2,837/1983-86) and Jeff Bentrim (2,945/1983-86) to move into fifth place.
Steffes is bidding to become the fifth Bison runner to rush for 3,000 yards in a career. He has 14 career 100-yard rushing games including the 29 carry effort against Northeastern.
