FARGO, N.D. - John Crockett and Carson Wentz combined for nearly 300 rushing yards and third-ranked North Dakota State claimed a share of its fourth straight Missouri Valley Football Conference championship with a 38-14 win over 20th-ranked Youngstown State on Saturday, Nov. 22.

North Dakota State (11-1, 7-1 MVFC) scored 28 points off turnovers including a forced fumble and two interceptions by free safety Christian Dudzik, who finished with a team- and season-high eight tackles.

Crockett rushed 28 times for 168 yards and a touchdown and moved into third all-time at NDSU with 3,740 career rushing yards behind Lamar Gordon (4,696) and Kyle Steffes (3,952).  Wentz had a career-high 120 rushing yards on eight carries including a 17-yard TD run.  NDSU rolled up a season-high 353 rushing yards and averaged 7.2 yards per carry.

Wentz was 12 of 19 passing for 126 yards with TD strikes to Zach Vraa from 18 yards and Andrew Bonnet from 9 yards as the Bison opened up a 28-0 lead by halftime.  Adam Keller's 30-yard field goal early in the third quarter capped a 13-play drive to make it 31-0.

Carlton Littlejohn made seven tackles and recovered a fumble for the Bison defense, and Kyle Emanuel added to his impressive resume with a sack, four tackles for loss and six total tackles.  The Bison had seven tackles for loss and held Youngstown State to 2.5 yards per rush.

Freshman quarterback Hunter Wells was 15 of 26 passing for 135 yards and two touchdowns for Youngstown State (7-5, 4-4 MVFC).  He connected with Nate Adams on a 1-yard score in the third quarter and Andrew Williams on a 6-yard TD in the fourth.  Williams made seven catches for 69 yards to lead all receivers.

A crowd of 18,696 was on hand at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome for the final regular-season home game for 16 Bison seniors.  It was NDSU's 20th straight home victory.

North Dakota State will be the Missouri Valley Football Conference automatic qualifier in the 24-team NCAA Division I football championship bracket to be announced on ESPNU at 10 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 23.  The Bison are co-champions with Illinois State.