MAYVILLE – Jalen Pfeifer passed for three touchdowns and ran for another Saturday afternoon, leading the Valley City State football team to a 36-14 victory at Mayville State.

Pfeifer ran for a 21-yard touchdown on the game's opening drive and the Vikings never trailed, building a 14-0 lead after the first quarter and a 23-7 halftime lead en route to the conference victory.

VCSU is now 5-4 overall and 4-2 in the North Star Athletic Association. With one game remaining, Valley City State still has a chance to earn a share of the NSAA conference title. VCSU and Waldorf University are both 4-2 in conference play, which is one game back of conference leader Dickinson State (5-1 NSAA). In the final week of conference play on Nov. 3, Dickinson State will host Dakota State, VCSU travels to Presentation College, and Waldorf hosts Mayville State.

The Vikings finished with 431 yards of total offense on Saturday, including 223 on the ground and 208 through the air. Pfeifer was a two-way threat throughout the game, racking up a career-high 140 rushing yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. He had gains of 31 yards and 21 yards on the opening drive as VCSU went 68 yards in five plays for the first touchdown. Raymonte Maynard added 46 yards on the ground, and Joshua McKnight had 35 yards and a touchdown.

Pfeifer also passed for 180 yards and three touchdowns, completing 12 out of 23 attempts. Marc Wagner, Kellen Kessler and Tyler Ukestad all caught touchdowns in the victory. Jake Peterson caught a team-high 4 passes for 62 yards, while Wagner finished with three catches for 49 yards and a TD.

Valley City State's defense had nine tackles for loss Saturday and limited Mayville State to 330 yards of offense. Hunter Slemmons and Darius Graves each recorded sacks, and Andrew Hanretty had his team-leading fourth interception of the season. Tyler Masat tallied a team-high 10 tackles. Aaron Martin racked up eight tackles, and both Gavin Kolden and Austin Erickson had seven tackles. VCSU's nine tackles for loss came from nine different players.

Up next: Valley City State (5-4, 4-2 NSAA) closes out the 2018 season on Saturday, Nov. 3, with a 7 p.m. game at Presentation College.