RCTC holds on for victory with last-second defensive stand against North Dakota State College of Science
Oct. 8—WAHPETON, N.D. — The Rochester Community and Technical College defense made a game-saving play in the final seconds as the Yellowjackets defeated North Dakota State College of Science in junior college football on Saturday.
NDSCS scored a touchdown with just six seconds to play to pull within 28-27 of RCTC. The hosts then went for the 2-point conversion and the win, but the Yellowjackets stopped the pass play to seal the victory.
Both teams are nationally ranked and now 5-2 overall and 4-1 in division play. NDSCS is ranked No. 2 among NJCAA Division III teams and RCTC is ranked fourth.
Devin Watson threw four touchdown passes to account for all of the RCTC TDs. Watson threw a 24-yard TD pass to Jairrus Nicholson with just 2:48 left and then a 2-point conversion pass to Graham Nielsen as the Yellowjackets rallied from a 21-20 deficit to take a 28-20 lead.
Watson had thrown a 27-yard TD pass to Nicholson to start the scoring in the first quarter. Watson added touchdown passes of 52 yards to Jakson Hart in the first quarter and 12 yards to Brady Rodgers in the third quarter.
Watson finished 16-for-31 for 247 yards. Hart had four catches for 106 yards and Nicholson had six catches for 77 yards.
Raphael Manning had 51 yards rushing on 10 carries for RCTC while Micha Hobin added 31 on nine attempts. RCTC finished with 306 yards of offense, 247 passing and 59 rushing.
NDSCS had 390 total yards, 206 passing and 184 rushing.
RCTC linebacker Martell Williams had 16 tackles and an interception. Williams had 4.5 tackles for loss. Mario Mendoza had seven tackles and Darrell Bracey had an interception.
The Yellowjackets wrap up their regular season when they host Minnesota North College-Vermilion at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14.
RCTC/NDSCS boxscore
