HEROES' DAY PROGRAM

Sioux Falls 2-Deep Roster            Minot State 2-Deep Roster

MINOT, N.D. – It's time to kick-off college football in Minot and the Beavers are set to put on a show this Saturday as Minot State hosts the University of Sioux Falls Cougars at 1 p.m. at Herb Park Stadium.

The game will be Heroes' Day with free admission to active military, veterans and their families, along with first responders and their families, and will be the first home game for the Beavers since Nov. 16, 2019, which just adds to the afternoon's excitement.

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Both teams enter the game looking for their first win of the young 2021 season as Minot State lost 49-0 at Augustana last Saturday, while Sioux Falls played a week ago Thursday, falling at home to visiting Bemidji State, 24-16.

While all 11 games on the slate are NSIC contests, neither team has played a division game, with Minot State in the North Division and the Cougars in the South Division.

LAST TIME OUT (USF): The Cougars (0-1 overall) opened the season on Thursday, Sept. 2, hosting the Bemidji State Beavers and were led by redshirt-freshman quarterback Adam Mullen (6-foot, 195 pounds) who completed 15-of-26 passes for 159 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing for six yards on four carries, and a touchdown. Mullen led Sioux Falls to 16 straight points in a second-half comeback after Bemidji State jumped in front 24-0.

"He settled in and he got comfortable and was able to be very effective for them," Minot State coach Mike Aldrich said of Mullen. "I think the biggest thing is, as much as he's been effective, he's still only played one college game so we want to make sure we give him as many different looks as possible and work very hard to not let him get in a rhythm and get comfortable."

Helping Mullen get comfortable in his first collegiate game was backfield partner Thuro Reisdorfer, a 206-pound, 6-1 redshirt-junior who rumbled for 150 yards on 22 carries for the Cougars.

"He's a tough running back who wants to get vertical and is not afraid to put his shoulder down over people," Aldrich said. "He doesn't go down on first contact, he's going to run through the pile."

LAST TIME OUT (MSU): After a solid first quarter that had Minot State battling toe-to-toe with the NCAA Division II playoff qualifying Augustana Vikings, things changed on two 49-yard pass plays in the second quarter.

In the scoreless opening quarter, the Beavers defense flexed its muscle by allowing just three first downs to Augustana, while linebacker Caden Shannon (6-foot, 185-pound junior) recovered a fumble and defensive back Roma'n Grissett (5-10, 170, junior) picked off a pass.

A 7-0 game in the second quarter, a 49-yard pass play on back-to-back drives fueled Augustana's offensive fire as they scored twice more for a 21-0 halftime lead then never relinquished the game's momentum.

"The first quarter I thought we played really well, defensively we did some really good things, created turnovers … we played the style of defense we want and had success with it; obviously the two takeaways were big," Aldrich said. "Now we've got to be able to do that for four quarters and not just for one.

"I think what broke the game open was a couple big, explosive plays that we did really well at the point of attack and then the ball popped to the outside, then our second level wasn't where they were supposed to be to mitigate those issues," Aldrich added.

Sophomore wide receiver Cory Carignan (5-10, 170 pounds) led the Beavers offensive hauling seven passes for 108 yards on the day for Minot State, while Shannon recovered a fumble, Grissett made his first collegiate interception, redshirt-freshman defensive back Kyle VanBerkom (6-3, 170 pounds) had eight tackles, and sophomore defensive back Isaiah Bigby (5-11, 195 pounds) added seven tackles to lead the defense.

FACING THE COUGARS: Sioux Falls is 7-1 all-time against Minot State with the Beavers lone win a crunch-time victory way back in 1994, a 20-13 win over the Cougars in the NAIA Playoffs. Since joining the NCAA Division II ranks, the Cougars are 7-0 against Minot State with the last meeting a USF win for their homecoming game back in 2018 in South Dakota.

SCOUTING SIOUX FALLS: After a slow start, Mullen finished 15-of-26 passing for 159 yards with one touchdown pass and another rushing in his collegiate debut. Fellow USF newcomer, 6-1, 215-pound redshirt-senior Dominic Pegley proved to be Mullen's favorite topic as he caught eight passes for 72 yards, including that one TD. On the ground, Reisdorfer rushed for 100-plus yards for the sixth time in his collegiate career, finishing with 150 yards on 22 carries without a carry for a loss. Reisdorfer, currently is second in the NSIC in rushing this season and was third in the NSIC in rushing in 2019 averaging 95.8 yards per game for USF.

Defensively, 6-3, 230-pound redshirt-sophomore linebacker Cody Jantzen led the Cougars with nine tackles Thursday against Bemidji State, while Noah Schmitt, a 6-0, 200-pound redshirt-freshman defensive back, added seven tackles, including one for a loss. Defensive linemen David Martinez (6-4, 290, senior) and Joey Wehrkamp (6-2, 250, redshirt-senior) each added one sack for Sioux Falls.

COACH ALDRICH'S KEYS TO THE GAME: "I think the biggest keys are, offensively is establishing our run game, getting that going and getting that consistent," the Beavers head coach said. "Being able to ride the back of (running back) Ali (Mohamed, 5-10, 185, redshirt-sophomore), and (quarterback) Ben (Bolinske 6-0, 185 redshirt-senior) as well. … Can we get that run game going, get our offensive line confident moving forward instead of backwards.

"And then defensively, can we play four quarters, can we create those takeaways over the course of a game, and limit the explosive plays."

LOOKING AHEAD: Following Saturday's home opener, the Beavers hit the road for their first evening game of the season, playing at Wayne State on Sept. 18, at 6 p.m.
Minot State then returns home on Saturday, Sept. 25, to host third-ranked Minnesota State, Mankato, at 6 p.m. at Herb Parker Stadium. The game against the Mavericks will be YMCA Youth Football Night and tickets are available by clicking HERE.