Caden Walters threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Clint Sigg with three seconds to play, and host Sioux Falls opened its football season with a 27-24 victory over Concordia (St. Paul) on Thursday night.
Sigg's TD capped a 60-yard drive in only 23 seconds for Sioux Falls, which got a 33-yard kickoff return from Nate Johnson after Jonas Schenderlein's 35-yard field goal with 32 seconds left gave Concordia a 24-20 lead.
Walters completed passes of 11 yards to Johnson and 23 yards to Sigg before the winning pass.
Dom McKinzy threw for 236 yards and three TD passes for Concordia, including two to Shaq Johnson.
Minnesota State Mankato 49, Southwest Minnesota State 13: Nate Gunn ran for 119 yards and two touchdowns, Ryan Schlichte completed 11 of 15 passes for 201 yards and two more scores and the host Mavericks began a season of high expectations by beating the Mustangs.
The Mavericks are No.1 in the d2football.com preseason poll. Thursday, they scored the first 21 points and rolled from there, finishing with 518 yards of offense and improving to 17-0 all-time against the Mustangs.
St. Cloud State 14, Mary 13: John Solberg caught 12 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns, the final one a 15-yarder from Dwayne Lawhorn with 1:07 to play, and Adam Stage's extra point was enough to give the host Huskies a victory over the Marauders.
Winona State 41, Wayne State (Neb.) 28: Owen Burke threw for 248 yards and threw TDs, two to Jake Balliu, and the Warriors, ranked 17th in Division II, held off the host Wildcats.
