FARGO — Trey Lance had a hand in five touchdowns in helping North Dakota State roll past Montana State 42-14 at the Fargodome Saturday in the semifinal round of the FCS playoffs.
Lance ran for two touchdowns and passed for three, hitting Christian Watson, Jimmy Kepouros and Dimitri Williams for scoring plays. Lance, the FCS freshman of the year, finished the game with 64 yards rushing and another 223 through the air.
TURNING POINT: Watson scored consecutive touchdowns in the second quarter after the Bobcats had just tied the game at 7-7. Watson blew the game open with back-to-back touchdowns of more than 70 yards to give the Bison a 22-7 lead at the time. They would roll from there.
STAT OF THE GAME: Total offense. North Dakota State racked up 541 yards of total offense and limited Montana State to just 298 yards and 13 first downs. The Bobcats averaged just 3.8 yards per carry.
GAME BALLS: Lance, Watson. Lance was the star for NDSU, executing a tremendous game plan both on the ground and in the air. Watson's two big second-quarter plays swung the momentum, and the Bobcats just couldn't recover.
WHAT’S NEXT: North Dakota State (15-0) heads to Frisco, Texas, for the FCS national championship game. The Bison will play either James Madison or Weber State in seeking their third consecutive national title and eighth in the past nine seasons. Montana State, meanwhile, concludes its 2019 season with an 11-4 record. It was the second consecutive playoff berth for the Bobcats.
