MINOT, N.D. -- Minot State fell 20-7 to Augustana (SD) at home Saturday afternoon.

The Vikings improved to 4-2 on the year and 4-1 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play, while the Beavers fell to 4-3 overall and 3-3 in conference matchups.

Despite the loss, coach Shields noted the effort was there once again even though the outcome did not favor the Beavers. Instead, it was the Augustana Vikings experience that showed out in a battle-tested atmosphere compared to Minot State who dealt with some adversity trying to overcome early penalties.

"We're the least penalized team in the nation coming into today's game with 17 penalties all season. We got called for 8 penalties today. That's out of character for us," Shields said.

 "That's where the bar is set in this conference, when you look at the standard conference championship playoff teams…we played hard, at times played well. We're just inconsistent. We did some things that were uncharacteristic of us all season."

Carson Chrisman paced the Beavers rushing attack by accumulating 71 yards and one touchdown over the course of the game, averaging 5.9 yards per carry. Evan Lovett also added 41 yards on the ground, averaging 4.1 yards per carry.

Jonathan Noriega hauled in two catches for 47 yards.

Cody Raetzman and Logan Rouse tallied 6 tackles each for the Beaver defense. Kevin Speed, Noah Iosefa, and Deshawn Carter all recorded 1 TFL in the loss.

Defensively, Minot State held up well against the Augustana (SD) offensive attack, holding the Vikings to 349 total yards.

The Beavers managed to keep the Augustana offense at bay within a manageable deficit, but ultimately fell short as the Vikings took care of business.

"I'm proud of the fighting, the effort. That's an established program, a veteran team with a lot of talent on the roster, so I thought we did a lot of great things to be proud of," Shields remarked.

To hang with the defending conference champs is tough to do as the Beavers continue to seek improvement throughout the rest of the season.

"We've beaten good teams this year, and so we expect to win. I'm disappointed we lost, there's nobody happy in that locker room right now. But we played it close. We're certainly pleased with the progress we've made as a program; we made tremendous progress. We're not going to allow ourselves to feel good about playing close. We're playing to win," Shields commented.

How It Happened
Minot State responded to an early 17-0 Augustana (SD) lead with a third quarter touchdown to narrow the deficit to 17-7. Minot State didn't score again in the game and Augustana (SD) tacked on three more points to finish off the scoring.
Game Notes
» Augustana (SD) outgained Minot State 349-348 in the contest.
» Minot State tallied 7 points in the third quarter, accounting for 100% of their total score.
» Minot State converted 4 of 14 third downs while Augustana (SD) was successful on 5 of 13.
» Ricco Sastoque punted four times for the Beavers with an average of 45 yards per punt while pinning the Vikings inside their own 20 one time.
» The Beavers didn't allow a sack in the contest.
» Minot State won the time of possession battle 32:20 to 27:40.
» Gunnar Hensley led the Vikings passing attack, completing nine of his 17 attempts for 93 yards.
» Jarod Epperson led the Augustana (SD) rushing attack with 151 yards.

This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.