The Cougars' 49 points were the most the Mustangs allowed in a game since a 53-3 loss against the University of Saint Francis in the opening round of the 2004 NAIA Championship Series.

The Cougars climbed to 11-0 and claimed the GPAC championship, their eighth in the last nine years, with a perfect 10-0 mark and extended their winning streak to 25 games. The Cougars' only blemish during their GPAC reign came in 2005 when Morningside claimed the crown on the strength of a 27-26 win at Olsen Stadium. The 2005 setback is the Cougars' only loss in their last 84 GPAC contests.

Sioux Falls quarterback Lorenzo Brown accounted for 315 yards total offense and six touchdowns. Brown completed 17 of 26 pass attempts for 260 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 55 yards in 14 carries, including TD runs of one and 16 yards.

Three of Brown's touchdown passes went to Jon Ryan on strikes of 38, four, and 10 yards. Brown's other TD pass was a 38-yarder to Brad Theilen. Ryan, who finished with five catches for 97 yards, became the first receiver to catch three touchdown passes against Morningside in the same game since the University of Nebraska-Omaha's Ed Thompson did it in 1995.

Ryan Lowmiller led the Sioux Falls ground attack with 160 yards in 17 carries, including a touchdown run of 22 yards.

Morningside's Tim Richard passed for 287 yards and a touchdown, but was pressured into throwing four interceptions after he had suffered only five picks in the Mustangs' previous nine games. Sioux Falls sacked Richard four times, including three times in the second half.

Richard finished with 305 yards total offense and figured in two of the Mustangs' touchdowns with a two-yard TD pass to Chad Buchholz and a one-yard touchdown run to spark the hosts to a 14-7 lead in the first quarter.

Morningside's other touchdown came on a two-yard run by Joe Don Hunter that tied the score at 21-21 with 1:28 left in the first half. Hunter finished with 45 yards in 13 carries, while Jake Peterson, the NAIA national rushing leader, had 77 yards in 17 attempts.

Beau Kildow led the Mustangs' receivers with nine catches for 119 yards for the 10th 100-yard game of his career. Joel Nixon caught four passes for 70 yards and Bradley Norwood had three receptions for 68 yards.

Hunter's second quarter touchdown run capped an 11-play, 60-yard drive, but the Cougars answered less than one minute later to take a 28-21 lead into the intermission. Adam Lopez returned the kickoff 36 yards to the Sioux Falls 44-yard line and the Cougars scored four plays later on Brown's 38-yard touchdown pass to Theilen with 49 seconds left in the half.

Sioux Falls took the second half kickoff and staged a four-play, 65-yard touchdown drive capped by a 10-yard scoring pass from Brown to Ryan to gain some breathing room with a 35-21 advantage. The big play of the drive was a 38-yard pass from Brown to Ryan.

The Cougars made it 42-21 with 49 seconds left in the third quarter on a one-yard touchdown run by Brown, who later capped the scoring with a 16-yard TD dash with 7:18 left in the game.

Mike Buckley topped the Mustangs' tackle chart with 10 stops, including six solos, while Riley Tusha had eight solos and a career-high nine tackles.

Ben Rickord had the Mustangs' only defensive takeaway with a third quarter interception when Brown suffered only his second interception of the season.