Delta State was one play away from a national championship last season.

Now, the Statesmen are one win away from getting another chance.

Richard Freelon rushed for three touchdowns — two of them in the fourth quarter — and 130 yards to lead Delta State to a 28-23 win over North Greenville in the NCAA Division II quarterfinals on Saturday in Cleveland.

With the victory, the Statesmen advanced to the semifinals for the second straight year and third time in six seasons. They’ll face Pittsburg State next Saturday, with the location and time to be announced today.

Pittsburg State (11-1) beat Northwest Missouri State 41-16 on Saturday.

Unlike last week’s second-round rout of North Alabama, Delta State (11-2) had to scratch and claw to beat North Greenville (11-3).

The Crusaders took a 17-14 lead on an 18-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, and held that lead through the third quarter.

Early in the fourth, Freelon capped an 11-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run on third-and-goal to give DSU a 21-17 lead. On their next drive, the Statesmen again turned to Freelon to put the game away.

The sophomore running back carried the ball six times on another 11-play drive that ended with his 1-yard TD run. On the play before, Freelon gained three yards to convert a fourth down try inside the 5-yard line.

Freelon’s third touchdown of the day — he also had a 4-yarder in the first quarter — made it 28-17. North Greenville responded with a 36-yard TD pass from Willy Korn to Freddie Martino Jr. to cut it to 28-23, but the 2-point conversion failed with 6:51 to play and the Crusaders never got the ball again.

Delta State ran out the clock with an 11-play, 55-yard drive that melted the last 6 minutes and 42 seconds off the clock. Freelon rushed seven times for 29 yards on the drive, including a 9-yard gain on fourth-and-6 on the final play of the game.

DSU went 2-for-3 on third down on the final drive, and also converted the one fourth-down attempt.

“He had some awesome runs,” Delta State coach Ron Roberts said of Freelon. “He is a powerful back that came up big for us today. We always look for that player who is going to step up big in these types of games and Richard did a great job.”

Korn threw three TD passes for North Greenville.