By:
Staff Writer - AP
Published: 12/2/2007 at 4:43:17 PM
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -Quarterback Chad Cavender directed a 99-yard scoring drive in the closing minutes Sunday to rally Sioux Falls to an 11-10 win over Missouri Valley in the weather-delayed semifinals of the NAIA playoffs.
Top-ranked and defending national champion Sioux Falls (13-0) advances to meet No. 2 Carroll (14-0) in the NAIA championship game on Dec. 15 in Savannah, Tenn. Carroll, whose four-year championship reign ended last season, defeated St. Francis, Ind., 23-7 on Saturday.
Sioux Falls, which has won 27 straight, beat St. Francis 23-19 in last year's title game.
Missouri Valley (10-3) scored first on quarterback Chris White's 3-yard run in the first quarter, but Sioux Falls got a safety and a field goal to make it 7-5 at halftime.
The Cougars extended the lead to 10-5 on Joe Park's field goal before Cavender went to work.
Battling the weather and a defense that had not given up a first down in the second half, Cavender converted two third downs and ran 14 yards on fourth-and-12 from the Missouri Valley 20. After an incomplete pass, Cavender found Josiah Fenceroy alone in the end zone.
Missouri Valley missed a 52-yard field goal as time expired.
The game was delayed by a winter storm that struck the area on Saturday, and the bitter cold stuck around. Temperatures were near 10 degrees and wind chills as low as minus-10.
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