The Mustangs won their Great West Conference opener, defeating South Dakota State 24-16 Saturday night at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium in Brookings, N.D.
Cal Poly led from start to finish, jumping out to a quick 14-0 lead over the Jackrabbits within the first seven minutes of the game.
Senior quarterback Anthony Garnett scored the first two touchdowns of the game on a pair of 1-yard sneaks.
Garnett added to his touchdown tally early in the third quarter with a 3-yard scoring run to put the Mustangs up 24-13.
Nick Coromelas connected on a 37-yard field goal for Cal Poly early in the second quarter to account for the remainder of the Mustangs points.
The Jackrabbits scored on field goals by Parker Douglas from distances of 21, 52 and 32 yards. South Dakota State’s only touchdown of the night came on a 33-yard run by Cory Koenig in the first quarter.
Despite a huge advantage in time of possession (38:37 to 21:23) and more total yards, the Jackrabbits couldn’t put the ball in the end zone enough to beat the Mustangs.
Garnett finished the game nine of 15 passing for 182 yards and 63 rushing yards on 17 carries. Redshirt freshman James Noble carried the ball eight times for 53 yards.
Jason Holmes and Jonah Russell each caught three passes for the Mustangs.
Koenig is just the fourth running back in the past three seasons to rush for over 100 yards against a tough Mustangs defense. Koenig had 126 yards on 24 carries.
Kyle Shotwell led the Mustang defense in tackles for a second consecutive week, finishing with 10 tackles and one sack. Strong safety Aaron Williams and linebacker Jason Relyea each had nine tackles and Chris Gocong had eight and one sack.
Next up for Cal Poly is a visit to Northern Colorado at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The game will be televised on Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain as well as Fox Sports Net West 2 (Charter Cable Channel 38).