VERMILLION, S.D. (KCAU) – It nearly slipped away for South Dakota football after losing a 21-point lead from the third quarter, but kicker Will Leyland saved the day with a 41-yard field goal as time expired for a 34-31 win over Youngstown State and a perfect mark against this season against FCS opponents for the Coyotes.

Leyland drilled his first 41-yard field goal for the game’s first points before giving the game its last score in the final ticks. Both were career-long distances for the Pennsylvania native, earning him Missouri Valley Conference Special Teams Player of the Week.

That clean effort carried into the offense. Quarterback Aidan Bouman threw for a career-high 369 yards with 3 touchdowns while the line allowed zero sacks and just one tackle-for-loss. It marks USD’s second ranked win in three weeks, leaving the Coyotes and South Dakota State as the lone unbeatens in the conference. But the ‘Yotes say the only game that matters is the next one.

“Our football team continues to get better in a lot of areas and I think we showed that against a really good Youngstown team,” South Dakota head coach Bob Nielson said. “That’s been something that we’ve got to stress is that we’ve got to be a team that continues to find ways to win and we did that on Saturday. We need to keep doing that. The only way that you can be where you wanna be is to keep focused on every week, every game and find a way to keep winning.”

USD takes its 3-0 conference mark on the road to Indiana State on Saturday. Kickoff in Terre Haute, Indiana set for noon.