PITTSBURG, KS – Saturday will mark the first meeting between the Pitt State Gorillas and the Sioux Falls Cougars. Pitt State, now 8-0, is looking to ride to the finish line with an undefeated season, but the Cougars are one of three obstacles remaining.

In NSIC play, the last win for Sioux Falls came against Concordia-St. Paul via a 35-28 road win. Cougars quarterback Camden Dean threw for over 200 yards and two touchdowns in a turnover free performance. Running back Dylan Rudningen also had 92 yards on the ground.

“Dean is very versatile,” said Gorillas head coach Brian Wright.

“We’ll have to be really sharp on defense. Dean throws and runs very well, and they present you just about anything you can do on the offensive side.”

Defensive back Jaylen Fuksa said stopping Dean would be his biggest challenge come Saturday.

“Dean is a very strong rusher,” said Fuksa.

“The offense pretty much runs through him, so we’re looking to keep him in the pocket all day long.”

As for the Sioux Falls defense, Pitt State won’t be seeing anything too unique. Gorillas wide receiver Jake Bogdon said he noticed many similarities to Northwest’s coverage.

“They run similar to what we just saw last week against Northwest,” said Bogdon.

“They play a lot of cover four and some cover one, but nothing we haven’t seen all year, so we’ve really got to focus on the things we’ve been doing well to this point.”

Against Northwest, quarterback Chad Dodson threw for 216 yards with Bogdon as his top target. Both Dodson and Bogdon will look for similar numbers this week come homecoming day.

The Gorillas will take on the Cougars on Saturday at 2 p.m.