MINOT, North Dakota -- The Minot State Beavers shut out visiting Minnesota State Moorhead in the second half and made a late charge before falling 29-17 at home Saturday afternoon for Homecoming.
The Dragons improved to 3-3 on the year and 1-1 in NSIC North Division play, while the Beavers fell to 0-6 overall and 0-2 in North Division matchups.
Dawson Macleary led Minot State's passing attack with 298 yards through the air, tossing one touchdown. Macleary finished completing 24-of-52 passes in the game, with the 52 pass attempts tying an NCAA Division II single-game school record set by Zac Cunha in 2013.
Ali Mohamed led all Beavers rushers with 89 yards and one touchdown in the contest, picking up 4.5 yards per carry. Aaron Wood also added 11 yards on the ground, averaging 5.5 yards per carry.
Macleary's most prolific target in the ballgame was Peyton Lamoureux, who caught six passes for 120 yards and one score.
Roma'n Grissett led the Minot State defensive effort, recording one interception. Knylen Miller-Levi added three tackles, 1.0 TFL, and one interception, and Jonathan Leon had four tackles, 1.0 TFL, one sack, and one forced fumble in the loss.
Minot State's defense held up fairly well against the run, limiting Minnesota State Moorhead to 120 yards on the ground. The Beavers defense disrupted the Minnesota State Moorhead passing game on the way to pulling down two interceptions and breaking up two Dragons passes.
How It Happened
Minnesota State Moorhead took an early 7-0 lead, but Minot State responded with 6:40 remaining in the first quarter with a to cut the deficit to 7-3. The Beavers then got on the scoreboard again, narrowing their deficit to 7-3.
After Minnesota State Moorhead scored to increase its lead to 29-3, scoring with a 58-yard interception return for a touchdown, and a 23-yard return after a blocked punt, before Minot State responded late.
"The difference in the game is a pick-six and a blocked punt for a touchdown," Minot State coach Mike Aldrich said. "And we tried to kick a field goal and our holder dropped it, it was a wet ball; so our special teams stuff was where the difference was made.
Minot State regrouped at halftime, though.
"The big talk at halftime was, we"ve got to calm down, we've got to take our time," Coach Aldrich said. "... If we don't calm down the game's going to get out of hand. We've got to slowly work ourselves back in and get our comfortable calls going and just be able to rebuild our confidence and find success as we go."
The Beavers found success with a touchdown with 3:40 left in the fourth quarter lead to cut the deficit to 29-10. After recovering an onside kick, the Beavers then got on the scoreboard again, narrowing the gap to the final 29-17 margin.
Game Notes
» Minot State tallied 14 points in the fourth quarter, accounting for 82.4% of their total score.
» Minot State converted 5 of 18 third downs while Minnesota State Moorhead was successful on 7 of 17.
» Jordan Will led the Beavers with 10 tackles.
» Minot State won the time of possession battle 31:46 to 28:14.
» Tommy Falk led the Dragons passing attack, completing 14 of his 29 attempts for 138 yards with one interception.
» Luke Imdieke was Minnesota State Moorhead's leading receiver with 48 yards.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
