Box Score FARGO, N.D.--Brandon Summers threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Dominique Barnes with 22 seconds left Saturday to lift Youngstown State to a 39-35 victory over North Dakota State before 14,301 in the Fargodome.
The Penguins, who rallied from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter, drove 70 yards in 14 plays for the winning score. Summers and Barnes also hooked up for a 6 yard TD pass in the second quarter. YSU outscore the Bison 18-7 in the fourth quarter.
Summers completed 23 of 34 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns. The Penguins (6-5 4-4 Missouri Valley Football Conference) also scored on a 79-yard blocked field goal return by Lenny Wicks in the second quarter.
The game was tied 21-all at halftime, but North Dakota State the only touchdown of the third quarter when Jose Mohler found tight end Matt Veldman over the middle for a 27-yard scoring strike to put the Bison ahead 28-21.
After a Stephen Blose connected on a 28 yard field goal closed the gap to 28-24 with 14:23 in the fourth quarter, North Dakota State responded with a long drive. Pat Paschall scored from 3 yards out to cap a 14-play, 78-yard drive that extended the Bison lead to 35-24 with 7:59 remaining.
Summers led the Penguins on a pair of scoring drives in the final five minutes both covering over 70 yards. Summers hit Aaron Pitts on a 4-yard scoring toss and then found Kevin Smith for the two-point conversion to make it 35-32 with 5:13 left.
The Youngstown State defense came up with a key third down stop and then burned nearly four minutes in covering 70 yards in 14 plays.
Paschall, who came in as the leading rusher in the Football Championship Subdivision, led North Dakota State with 140 yards on the ground and three touchdowns. He rushed for over 100 yards in all 10 games this season and 14 times in his career.
Paschall finished the season with 1,397 yards and 16 TDs on 207 carries. He moved up three spots on the NDSU all-time charts into 8th position and finished his career with 2,528 yards on 399 carries and 23 touchdowns in 29 career games. Paschall passed Doug Lloyd (2,410 yards, 1985-88), Kevin Feeney (2,473 yards, 1995-98) and former teammate Tyler Roehl (2,512 yards, 2004-08) against Youngstown State.
Mohler completed 16 of 23 passes for 238 yards, two interceptions and two touchdowns for the Bison (3-8, 2-6). Mohler also rushed seven times for 56 yards. Veldman caught four passes for 65 yards, while Warren Holloway made three receptions for 88 yards including his first collegiate TD with 46 seconds left before halftime.
North Dakota State held a 470-356 advantage in total offense, but the Penguins had 148 yards in the fourth quarter. Smith rushed 25 times for 101 yards, while Donald Jones had 10 catches for 98 yards.