MANKATO, MN. – Approaching the quarter-point of season, there is a lot of buzz going around the Minot State football team. To be around campus last weekend was to enjoy all the Homecoming festivities. That was amplified from the scenes at Herb Parker Stadium, where head coach Ian Shields called it the biggest win in program history in a long time. The Beavers edged out the Northern State Wolves by a final of 17-14 on the gridiron that sent them to a 3-0 record back on Saturday. Even with many games left to be played in a long grueling 2024 campaign, Minot State is turning heads with their best start to a season since 2002.

"It was a special victory here at home…obviously a lot of pageantry involved with Homecoming, it was nice to validate some of the progress we've made as a program in front of all our supporters," coach Shields remarked as he gave a big shoutout to all the fans and alumni that were in attendance for the special weekend. The win was huge, but how the Beavers did it was a true testament to their preparation not only for Homecoming but could also keep them battle tested for the next one on the road. "We anticipated a hard-fought game…we knew it was going to be a four-quarter game to be expected but it was good for us to find a way to win in the fourth quarter." Shields also made note of the keys to victory including effort and winning the turnover battle against Northern, which will be of much higher emphasis this time around.

Heading into this week, a unique challenge awaits the Beavers: the No. 8 Minnesota State – Mankato Mavericks. It will be Minot State's first real test of the season coming on the road with a noon kickoff at Blakeslee Stadium in Minnesota on Saturday. The Beavers are 0-6 versus the Mavericks all time, where they look to achieve a Top 25 win for the first time since they took down No. 16 South Dakota School of Mines 30-7 on November 7, 2010, and 20^th-ranked Black Hills State 17-14 on October 23, 2010. Right now, both the Beavers and Mavericks sit at 3-0 overall with a 2-0 conference record, as each will play for the right to remain at the top of the order in the NSIC standings.

Minot State is feeling the high of a Homecoming win over Northern State, and that should reenergize them for a tough contest coming up against Mankato. The Mavericks are also feeling good after a 35-28 win over the Wayne State College Wildcats, where all three of their games have come close on the scoreboard. They are the opposite of what Northern State presents, and coach Shields made that clear in practice this week.

"They are the traditional power in this conference…if they are not winning the conference championship, they are in the playoffs and competing. That is where the bar is set in this conference, it's in Mankato." However, the formula does not change for the Beavers despite what lies ahead, and it starts once again with how they dictate their own terms of play. "We are going to go and play Minot State Beaver football. We are going to do our thing, we are going to play hard and do the things that win and not beat ourselves," Shields said.

Minnesota State is loaded with talent across the board. Offensively, they are backed by all kinds of attacks on the ground and through the air. The running backs start with Sam Backer and Tony Anger. Through two games, Backer has 285 net yards and 95 yards per game. Anger has provided a change of pace, with 152 total yards and marking just over 50 per contest. Even with an excellent run game, the quarterback can do it himself when he needs to. Hayden Ekern is QB1 with 739 passing yards, along with five of 58 completions ending in touchdown passes and two being picked off. He has been as advertised with a 138.10 quarterback rating.

On the defensive side, Antonio Alzheimer is the tackling machine. He has 18 to open the season, but the game wrecker might just be Cody Brown. His 3.5 TFL and 2.5 sacks leads both categories on the Mavericks. If the Beavers and the "Minot Moving Company" offensive line are going to have any success, they are going to have to watch out for that guy.

Minot State can go toe-to-toe with Mankato in the ground game, as part of their identity. Evan Lovett has returned to form and is everything he was and then some since coming off his injury riddled 2023. With 299 yards on the ground and just about 100 yards per game, he shows no signs of slowing down and breaking through at least one big run per game.

After a fantastic game last week, the Raetzman brothers are making a name for themselves on this Beaver defense. Cody Raetzman paces them with 14 tackles, as eight of them are solo. Connor Raetzman, along with Julian Kameristy, are tied for the team lead in sacks with 1.5. Kameristy has also been a disruption in the backfield with 4 TFL to this point.

The Beaver defense continues to perform at a high level, as they have amassed an average of 10 points against on a per game basis. They are going to have to continue that effort heading into Mankato.

The message is the same for the Beavers if they want to start fast and avoid major mistakes. "We just have to be ourselves; we don't have to go out there and have an out-of-body experience and try to be superheroes out there. We just need to play good football. We have to take care of the ball, we have got to play well, tackle well, block well, it just comes down to fundamental football. We do that to the best of our ability, and we got a fighting chance," coach Shields finished as he marches his troops down to Blakeslee Stadium in Mankato, Minnesota.