MINOT, N.D. – After creating shockwaves last week in a dominant win over Southwest Minnesota State, the Minot State Beavers football team did it again. This time, on a special occasion: Homecoming. And, for the first time since 1992, the Beavers defeated the Northern State Wolves. Despite that the Wolves led for most of the contest, it was the Beavers that kept battling and ended up finding the winning touch late.
Minot State put together a 12-play, 42-yard scoring drive, culminating in a 25-yard field goal from Diego Nunez-Smith with 1:46 remaining in the ballgame to give the Beavers a 17-14 win over Northern State on Saturday afternoon at First Western Bank Field at Herb Parker Stadium.
The Beavers improved to 3-0 on the year and 2-0 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play, while the Wolves fell to 0-3 and 0-2 in NSIC play as their rough start extended to week three.
Evan Lovett totaled 123 yards to lead the Beavers' ground attack and added one touchdown in the game, picking up 6.5 yards per carry along the way. His touchdown carry went for 44 yards, which was his longest on the day.
Erik Palmquist had a big play mentality once again as he pulled in one catch for 31 yards.
The Will family tradition continued into 2024, as Josh Will showed out for the Minot State defense by recording a fumble recovery. Cody Raetzman added five tackles and one recovered fumble while his brother Connor Raetzman had six tackles, 1.5 TFL, and 1.5 sacks in the win.
The Beavers won the turnover battle in Saturday's game, forcing two turnovers while avoiding any giveways, with Minot State turning those takeaways into six points.
Minot State's defense held up against Northern State's offense, giving up 243 total yards.
As a result, it becomes the Beavers first 3-0 start to a season since 2002 when they were competing at the NAIA level.
How It Happened
Minot State took a 3-0 lead over Northern State after scoring the game's first points with :03 left in the first quarter. Northern State then scored to take a 7-3 lead before the Beavers put a field goal on the board to cut into the lead and make it a 7-6 game.
Northern State extended its lead to 14-6 before Minot State put a touchdown on the board with :00 remaining in the third quarter to even things up at 14-14, including the two-point conversion. The Beavers then kept the momentum going with a 25-yard field goal from Nunez-Smith to take a 17-14 lead. Neither team scored again the rest of the way.
Game Notes
» Minot State outgained Northern State 288-243, including a 196-159 advantage on the ground.
» Minot State won the turnover battle 2-0 after recovering two fumbles.
» Minot State tallied 11 points in the third quarter, accounting for 64.7% of their total score.
» Minot State converted 5 of 15 third downs while Northern State was successful on 2 of 10.
» Diego Nunez-Smith knocked through three field goals for the Beavers with a long of 38 yards.
» Minot State went 2-for-3 on fourth down, converting on 66.7 percent of attempts.
» Minot State won the time of possession battle 36:25 to 23:35.
» The Beavers ended the game on a strong note, scoring 11 unanswered points to close out the contest.
» Daniel Britt led the Wolves passing attack, completing 12 of his 16 attempts for 84 yards and one touchdown.
» Britt led the Northern State rushing attack with 110 yards and one touchdown.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
