Aberdeen, SD – The Mayville State Comets had quite a fight on their hands in a high-scoring affair down in Aberdeen, SD against Presentation College this Saturday afternoon in another North Star Athletic Association battle. MSU kept fighting until the end, but were unable to stop the Saints strong passing game and ground attack.

PC was the first to get on the board after stopping an early Comet drive that had 2 first downs until a fumble recovered by the Saints stopped the momentum. PC was able to take it to the MSU 28 and connected on a 45-yard field goal to go up 3-0 in the first six minutes of action. The Comets were able to string together a nice mix of plays, first connecting on a 29-yard pass from Creighton Pfau to Adrian Carillo, and a 17-yard run from Preston Hamlette. Pfau kept it on the next two plays to earn a first down and goal and kept it on a QB keeper to climb ahead 7-3 with the PAT from Maxwell Scott. 

The Saints answered right back with a drive that ended on a 43-yard pass from Austin Eggl to Maurice Whiters, making the score 10-7 with 3:43 to go in the first quarter. The teams traded possessions until the Saints got the ball to the MSU 15-yard line to begin the second quarter, this time scoring from there on a pass from Eggl to Dylan Paulsen in the first few ticks. Pfau and company answered it back right away for the Comets, doing so on just a few plays. After a holding penalty, the Comets were on their own 10-yard line and gained 4 yards on a QB keeper. Pfau kept it again on 2nd and 6 and went the distance for 86 total yards on the drive for another Comet score, making it 16-14. 

Presentation would come back once again with Austin Eggl looking to Dylan Paulsen often, connecting in the end to him to go 11 plays on 68 yards total in the drive, and go up 23 to 14 over the Comets. After a Comets 3-and-out session, they put together another drive of 60 yards to climb their lead to 30-14. With 4:37 to play in the first half, the Comets still had some time to score and make something happen in their favor.  They did just that and assembled a nice 10 play, 70-yard drive for another score, with 4 first downs in that series.  Creighton Pfau got quite the handful of rushing yards in that one, collecting the final 12 of it for his third score of the day to bring the Comets within 9 at the half, 21 to 30.

The teams traded possessions in the first seven minutes of second half play, until the Saints were able to score again after a 24-yard run from Nathan Jones and a pass to Maurice Whiters for 20, which brought the Saints down to the 1 for a Jones scamper in the end zone, making it 37-21.  The Comets unfortunately turned the ball over on a 3rd and 3 play, which setup the Saints on the MSU 21 and allowed them to score yet again on a field goal to jump out to a 19 point lead.  

MSU tried to get a drive going as the third quarter winded down, getting four first downs until it was ended with a PC interception by Aaron Butler. Possessions would be traded once again for a while, giving the Comets special teams a chance to make something happen. With the Saints punting, Michael Kolness from the Comets blocked the punt and found his way into the end zone with the ball after making the disruption. The 2 point conversion pass from Pfau to Darrel Wilson drew the Comets to within 11, with a 40-29 Saints lead and 8:04 to play in the game.  

The Saints would eat up about 7 minutes of time and score once again on a 75-yard drive, making it 47 to 29 with just 1:02 left to play. The Comets would keep on fighting, putting together a final drive of 77 yards of their own. Pfau started the drive on a connection to Carillo for 11 yards, then to Jacob Hanson on 2 successive catches for 20 yards and 42 yards, bringing it to the 4-yard line, catching the Saints on their heels. Pfau was able to scamper it down to the 1, and then into the end zone on the following play with just one second left in the game, making it 47-37.  An onside kick was unable to make anything else happen for the Comets on the final play of the game. On a bright note, that final drive helped lift Creighton Pfau's total passing yardage on the season past the 1,200 yard mark to 1,221. Creighton Pfau also surpassed Jake McLain in career passing yards throughout today's game with 3,483 yards to move to the all-time leader in passing yards for the Comets. 

Despite the loss, Coach Sean Thom was pleased with the direction his team is heading, proven by the fight-to-the-end attitude they had in the second half. "I'm proud of the way the kids fought and competed throughout the game, especially in the second half. Turnovers were too much to overcome today, but this group took a step forward as a team."

As a team, the Comets had 248 rushing yards and 171 in the air, for 419 yards total on the day for offense.  PC's strong passing game of 324 yards and 163 on the ground were a bit too much to handle for the Comets.  Creighton Pfau was 11 for 21 on the day with 171 yards and 2 interceptions.  He led the team in Rushing with 22 carries for 183 yards.  Preston Hamlette had 11 carries for 52 yards for the Comets. PC's Austin Eggl was 26 of 44 for 324 yards in passing, while Nathan Jones collected 123 yards on 21 carries for the Saints. 

In receiving, Jacob Hanson led the Comets with 3 catches for 78 yards, while Adrian Carillo had 51 yards on 3 receptions.  The Saints were led by Maurice Whiters with 103 yards on 4 grabs, plus Dylan Paulsen with 90 yards on 10 catches. 

On Defense for the Comets, Brandon Thomas and Ricky Flowers, Jr had 9 total tackles each, followed by Tyler Gay with 8 total on the day.  Tyler Gay also had 3 unassisted sacks. 

The loss moves the Comets record to 0-3 in the NSAA, and 1-5 overall.  Their next game will take them out west to Dickinson State for a 2 p.m. conference game on Saturday, October 13th.