MINOT, North Dakota -- Minot State put together an explosive 353-yard showing on the ground, including 153 yards from Brandon Hines Jr. and four rushing touchdowns, but fell 36-30 to Emporia State Thursday night at home at First Western Bank Field at Herb Parker Stadium.
The Hornets improved to 1-0 on the season while the Beavers dropped to 0-1.
Hines paced the Beavers rushing attack by accumulating 153 yards and three touchdowns over the course of the game, averaging 7.6 yards per carry. Hines also tacked on 62 receiving yards. Matt Shinn added 82 yards and one touchdown on the ground, averaging 5.9 yards per carry. Sam Buckhanan chipped in with 81 yards as well, averaging 6.2 yards per carry, in addition to one receiving touchdown.
Minot State also got a significant contribution from Matyas Bily, who reeled in four catches for 52 yards.
Cole Kegbeh led the Minot State defensive effort, recording one recovered fumble. Diego Betancourt added five tackles, 1.0 TFL, and one interception and Calvin Moore had six tackles and one recovered fumble in the loss.
The Beavers won the turnover battle in Thursday's game, forcing three turnovers while coughing the ball up two times, with Minot State turning those takeaways into 18 points. Minot State also had an outstanding day offensively, racking up 507 total yards, 353 on the ground and 154 through the air, while averaging 6.1 yards per play and out-gaining Emporia State. Minot State converted on 50 percent of third-down attempts on the day.
Minot State's defense held up fairly well against the run, limiting Emporia State to 191 yards on the ground.
Minot State took care of business in the red zone, scoring four times on five trips inside Emporia State's 20-yard line, with all of those scores being touchdowns.
Coach's Comments
"I was really proud of our effort - there's no question about this team, the effort was great."
"We're fortunate we got two guys that I know can play," Coach
Ian Shields said of the team's two quarterbacks, "and we got a couple of guys [that] can play behind them too. We recruited top position guys. Some guys that are football players. They stepped up and made some plays."
"The goal is to win and the goal is to score more points in that position" Shields said regarding next week's game against Wayne State. "It is every week. We're not going to flinch."
How It Happened
Minot State got on the scoreboard first and opened a 6-0 lead with 9:26 left in the first quarter. Emporia State responded and went ahead 7-6 before the Beavers got on the scoreboard again on an 11-yard touchdown run to retake the lead at 12-7.
Emporia State fought back to take a 29-12 lead before Minot State put a touchdown on the board to narrow the gap with 10:41 remaining in the fourth quarter and make it a 29-18 game. The Beavers then scored again, narrowing the gap to 29-24.
Emporia State extended its lead to 36-24 until Minot State got on the scoreboard again to close the gap with 1:25 left in the fourth quarter and make it a 36-30 game. Neither team scored again in the game.
Game Notes
» Minot State out-gained Emporia State 507-428, including a 353-191 advantage on the ground.
» Minot State won the turnover battle 3-2 after intercepting one pass and recovering two fumbles.
» Minot State tallied 18 points in the fourth quarter, accounting for 60% of their total score.
» Minot State converted 8 of 16 third downs while Emporia State was successful on 8 of 17.
» Jabez Tuaoa led the Beavers with eight tackles.
» Logan Matthews punted five times for the Beavers with an average of 45.8 yards per punt while pinning the Hornets inside their own 20 two times.
» Minot State scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
» Minot State forced one red zone turnover in the contest.
» Minot State won the time of possession battle 34:34 to 25:26.
» Ben Harris led the Hornets passing attack, completing 25 of his 41 attempts for 237 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.
» Camden Crooks led the Emporia State rushing attack with 103 yards.
