Rodrigo Casteneda booted a field goal to give Rochester a 3-0 lead and the Spartans responded with a 13 yard TD run by KJ Cooper and an extra point kick by Jaydon Manteufel to take a 7-3 lead after the first quarter.

A 38 yard field goal by Manteufel with 3:50 left in the first half gave M State a 10-3 advantage and a 50 yard pass from Cooper to Marquan Tucker, followed by another Manteufel PAT kick gave the Spartans a 17-3 halftime lead.

The third quarter belonged to Rochester as they scored 23 straight points to open up a 26-17 lead.  After M State fumbled the football, Yellowjackets quarterback Devin Watson scored on a one yard run and Casteneda tacked on the extra-point to cut the Spartans lead to 17-10.  Watson then hit Caleb Waldrom with a 6 yard TD pass and Casteneda tied the game at 17-17 with the PAT kick.  Watson connected with Jaylen Gardner on a 3 yard scoring toss and Casteneda booted the extra point for a 24-17 Rochester lead.  A bad snap by M State led to a safety and a 26-17 Rochester lead after three quarters.

A blocked punt by Dylan Tatum gave the Spartans possession of the football at the Rochester 10 yard line early in the fourth quarter and Cooper connected with Tucker on the first play from scrimmage for a 10 yard TD.  The point after kick by Manteufel brought M State to within two points at 26-24.  A Rochester field goal made it 29-24, however, with 1:30 left on the clock it was a 13 yard pass from Cooper to Tucker that put the Spartans ahead 30-29.  M State went for the two-point conversion with Cooper hooking up with Ian Stanton to make it a 32-29 lead.

Rashad Madden had 27 rushing yards on 12 carries.  Nafis Smith ran the ball for 25 yards on 7 carries, while catching 2 passes for 65 yards, Ian Stanton was on the receiving end of 3 passes for 27 yards and JC Johnson had 2 catches for 41 yards.

Defensively, Antron Williams had 7 solo tackles, including one tackle for loss.  Sam Tagg had 5 solo tackles and one assisted tackle, and Keondre Hodges had 6 solo tackles while registering the only sack of the day.  Taufa’asau Siaki was also in on six tackles (4 solo, 2 assisted).

Rochester featured a balanced offensive attack with 199 passing yards and 176 rushing yards.  They were led by quarterback Devin Watson (14 completions, 29 attempts, 199 yards, 1TD, 10 carries, 18 yards, 1TD), running back Micha Hobin (13 carries, 81 yards) and receivers Jairrus Nicholson (3 receptions, 51 yards) and Will Dayton (3 catches, 42 yards).  Defensively, Jahquii Roberts had an interception and Martel Williams (10 solo tackles, 4 assisted tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 2 sacks) and Keshawn Johnson (9 solo tackles, 2 assisted tackles, 1 sack) led the team in tackles.

M State (3-2) will host Minnesota North-Mesabi Range in their homecoming game on Saturday at 2:30pm.