JAMESTOWN, North Dakota -- Three rushers went over 100 yards Saturday afternoon, led by Brandon Hines Jr.'s new career-high 198 rushing yards, as Minot State secured a 28-20 win on the road over the University of Jamestown Jimmies.
The Beavers improved to 2-5 for the season and 2-4 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play, while the Jimmies fell to 0-7 and 0-6 in conference play.
"It's hard to win a college football game, especially on the road versus a determined squad on their Homecoming," said Minot State head coach Ian Shields. "Jamestown is well coached and they play really hard."
Individually, Hines Jr. led the way for the three rushers who crossed the 100-yard mark, racking up 198 yards and two touchdowns. Jaden Fox followed with 103 yards and Jett Lundeen added 103 yards and two scores.
Hines Jr., now seven games into the season, has proven himself as Minot State's most prolific rusher. Hines Jr. now stands at 981 rushing yards for the season, the second most in Minot State's NCAA era, and needs less than 200 more yards for a single season NCAA era record for the Beavers.
"Offensively, we controlled the line of scrimmage and were very productive," Shields added. "We have to be better at taking care of the football, that just can't happen when we are closing a game out."
The biggest target for the Beavers passing game was Justin Williams, who caught two passes for 31 yards.
Christian Deadmond showed out for the Minot State defense, totaling three tackles, 1.0 TFL, and one sack. Jabez Tuaoa added seven tackles, 2.0 TFL, and two sacks.
"The story of the game is our defense rose up and made some plays down the stretch to close it out," said Shields. "There was certainly some adversity to overcome, but I'm proud of the effort and how our guys competed down the stretch."
The Beavers faced some adversity, especially late in the second half of the match-up, as the Jimmies seemed to edge closer due to some costly MSU penalties. Minot State had a total of 10 penalties throughout the game.
"It's the most penalized we've been in a game all season, that's not us and can't be moving forward," said Shields. "We need to clean things up and play with the discipline we are accustomed to."
But overall, Minot State had an outstanding day on offense, racking up 500 total yards, including a new school-record 466 on the ground and 34 through the air, while averaging 6.8 yards per play and out-gaining the Jimmies. The Beavers ground game also set a new school record with an average of 7.3 yards per carry in the win. The Minot State offense did a good job prolonging drives, converting on 58.8 percent of third-down attempts going 10-for-17 on the day. The Beavers also went 2-for-3 on fourth down.
Some unique plays came at the right time for the Beavers, as coach Shields added that "special teams was a factor as well, the fake punt may have been the biggest play in the game, our coaches did a great job recognizing it and our players did a nice job executing."
Minot State's defense held up against the Jamestown offense, giving up 275 total yards. The Beavers defense disrupted the Jimmies backfield all game, collecting four sacks and nine total tackles for loss.
For the Beavers, their next game isn't until October 24 when they travel down to Sioux Falls. The next week off comes at a much needed time for Minot State.
"The bye week comes at a great time for us, we have a few guys out we need to get back and we need to get healthy for the stretch run," Shields said. "There is a lot of football left to be played and I believe our best ball is in front of us."
How It Happened
Minot State scored first and opened up a 7-0 lead with 9:29 left in the second quarter. Jamestown then closed the margin to 7-6, but the Beavers responded with a touchdown to make their lead 14-6.
Minot State continued to increase the lead, scoring again with 14:54 left in the fourth quarter to go up 21-6. The Beavers continued to expand their lead after closing the gap to 21-13, scoring again to go up 28-13. Jamestown scored again to make it 28-20, and neither teams scored again in the game.
Game Notes
» Hines Jr., Fox, and Lundeen all rushed for over 100 yards for the Beavers.
» Minot State had two players reach the end zone multiple times, as Hines Jr. scored two touchdowns and Lundeen added another two.
» Minot State out-gained 500-275, including a 466-112 advantage on the ground.
» The Beavers scored first with 9:29 left in the second quarter and never trailed the rest of the game on their way to victory.
» Minot State had their highest scoring quarter in the fourth period, when they put up 14 points.
» Minot State converted 10 of 17 third downs while was successful on 4 of 15.
» Marcus Council led the Beavers with eight tackles.
» Minot State went 2-for-3 on fourth down, converting on 66.7 percent of attempts.
» The Beavers did not have any negative plays from scrimmage in the contest.
» The Beavers collected nine tackles for loss and added four sacks.
