After a four-year absence, Delta State is headed back to the NCAA’s final four.

Delta State scored 28 unanswered points Saturday, half of it on a pair of touchdowns by Trevar Deed, to beat Albany State 28-7 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II playoffs.

The victory sends the Statesmen (10-3) to the semifinals for the first time since 2006. They’ll face Shepherd University (11-2), a 49-14 winner over Mercyhurst on Saturday, next Sunday. The semifinal will be televised by CBS College Sports and have either a 1 or 5 p.m. kickoff. The site has yet to be determined.

“I’m so proud of the effort our guys gave today to make the adjustments needed to come away with the win,” Delta State coach Ron Roberts said. “Offensively, we made the plays in the second half to take control of the game and our defense held a very good ASU offense to very little as the afternoon drew out.”

Albany State scored first Saturday, taking a 7-0 lead on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Stan Jennings to Ronnie Childs on the game’s opening possession.

From there, it was all Delta State.

The Statesmen tied it late in the first quarter on a 12-yard TD pass from Micah Davis to L.J. Castille, then took the lead for good on Deed’s 4-yard TD run early in the third quarter.

Deed scored again on a 6-yard pass from Davis with 5:12 left in the third, and a 12-yard run by Brandon Lucas with 8:03 remaining in the fourth iced it.

Delta State’s defense forced six turnovers and sacked Jennings three times in a sloppy game by both sides. In one messy stretch of the fourth quarter, the teams combined for four turnovers in a span of eight plays. DSU committed three turnovers in the game.

Davis completed 20 of 27 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns, while Lucas rushed for 80 yards and a score on only nine attempts. Deed had 74 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns.

For Albany State (11-1), Jennings was 12-of-27 passing for 181 yards, with one TD and two interceptions. Childs caught five passes for 119 yards.