MINOT, N.D. – A return to the friendly confines of First Western Bank Field at Herb Parker Stadium might just be the remedy that gets the Beavers rolling for the second half of this season.

The Minot State football team starts its final home-stand hosting Concordia, St. Paul this Saturday at 1 p.m., the first of two straight at home, and the chance to play in front of Beaver Nation is something that can fuel a young team.

"Hopefully for us when we get back home, we have an atmosphere here," Minot State coach Ian Shields said. "Hopefully people get excited and come out and support us; the student body, the faculty, everyone in the city of Minot; that would be great because these guys could use the support."

Support for a team working hard to learn a new system under first-year head coach, Shields, and overcome injuries which have also slowed down the Beavers (0-6 overall, 0-6 NSIC).

A foe fighting similar woes in the Golden Bears (2-4, 1-4) is headed to town and Minot State has the opportunity to take advantage and get win No. 1, but Coach Shields knows his team needs to elevate its own play to be successful.

"It's a challenge when you're building a program," he said, "you're just looking to embrace the process of winning. We've got to turn the scoreboard off; we've got to get better at playing football and that's the challenge. We just have to go to the next play, the next snap and just execute our fundamentals."

Two Beavers who've done well at that are junior defensive back Isaiah Bigby and junior linebacker Carson Cayko as they are third and eighth in tackles in the NSIC with 45 and 40, respectively.

While they lead the way on defense, the Beaver offense has been banged up with numerous injuries sideline starters in the backfield, but redshirt freshman Dondrae Fair looks to step up and lead the way in his second career start, while true freshman Myles West continues to power the ground game as he's rushed for 343 yards and 2 touchdowns starting all six Beavers games to date.

And offense will be a key for the Beavers as Coach Shields said: "we have to limit the lost yardage plays.

"And certainly, the turnover battle has been an issue," he added.

So, the Beavers making positive yardage and holding on to the ball will be key against a stout and athletic Golden Bears defense led by junior defensive back Cyrus McClure, who is 12th in the NSIC with 39 tackles this season.

"Concordia is a talented group, they have good athletes, they're well coached, they have good schemes; I think defensively they run around really well so I think defensively they're going to be a challenge for us," Shields said.

McClure is one of two team leaders who transferred from Northern Iowa, an NCAA Division I FCS school, and is joined by junior running back Jaylin Richardson who is third in the NSIC in rushing yards per game averaging 97.3 ypg.

He leads a Concordia, St. Paul ground game that is also third in the league averaging 182.7 yards per contest, just a few yards better than Minot State, which is fourth in the NSIC at 178.0 ypg.

Saturday's home contest will be Education Day and all faculty, students, and staff showing a valid school ID get into the game free.

The first of two straight at home, the Beavers will host Minnesota Duluth in his home finale next weekend, on Oct. 21, at 1 p.m.