GAME NOTES

MINOT STATE 2-DEEP                WINONA STATE 2-DEEP

MINOT, N.D. – They weathered the winter, fine-tuned their skills in the spring, and spent the last month preparing for this day: Kick-off to the 2022 season.

The Minot State football team hits the turf at First Western Bank Field at Herb Parker Stadium at 1 p.m. this Saturday, Sept. 3, to start the new campaign by hosting Winona State.

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"Always that first game is a long time coming when the last time we played was November," said sixth-year Minot State head coach Mike Aldrich. "We have to wait 'til August to get here, and then there's a lot of practice and football between, but it's never the same as competing against someone else, so I think there's a lot of anticipation, a lot of excitement to start the season and get going."

Anticipation for a big season for the Beavers, who return a ton of experienced players, many at key positions.

OFFENSE
Two of those key positions are offensive leaders in junior running back Ali Mohamed, who led the NSIC in rushing last fall and was named a Don Hansen All-American, and sophomore quarterback Dawson Macleary.

Mohamed ran for 1,159 yards and nine touchdowns last fall and enters this season needing 391 yards to break the NCAA Division II-era career rushing record at Minot State.

"We'll go as Ali goes," Aldrich said. "He's a special football player and he's proven that his first two seasons for us.

"The great thing with Ali is he's hungry; there's more he wants to do; he wants to contribute more."

As does Macleary who was called on because of an injury last fall and started seven games as a redshirt freshman for the Beavers, completing 135-of-257 passes for 1,697 yards and eight touchdowns.

With a year of experience under his belt, the sophomore from Wyoming is now prepared to lead the way as Minot State's No. 1 signal-caller.

"I think the biggest strength for Dawson this year will be, you now have the offseason where he was the No. 1 quarterback," Aldrich said.

His experience and time as the starter led to the emergence of a strong receiving core who have had time to work with Macleary, a core led by top targets from a season ago in senior Peyton Lamoureux, who had 39 catches for 703 yards and six TDs, and sophomore Nathan Young, who added 40 catches for 485 yards and two scores.

DEFENSE
Experience will be key on defense for the Beavers who get a new look leadership-wise with the addition of Lee Pronschinske as the new defensive coordinator.

Fresh off winning an FCS National Championship in January as an assistant coach at North Dakota State, Pronschinske takes over a defense led by First Team All-NSIC cornerback Knylen Miller-Levi, and 2019 All-NSIC Honorable Mention defensive back Isaiah Bigby.

Miller-Levi had 43 tackles, two interceptions, and turned in highlight-reel plays last season that included catching a pass on a fake punt for a touchdown that was named the No. 2 Play-of-the-Day on ESPN.

"At the end of the year he really started to make a name for himself making plays all over the place," Aldrich said.

As for Bigby, he led the team in tackles with 66 in 2019 and had 22 tackles before an injury sidelined him last fall. He is projected to move to linebacker where he joins sophomore Carson Cayko, who had 35 tackles, including 7 ½ for a loss last season.

"He's big, he's physical, he's fast, he's strong; I think we probably underutilized him last year," Aldrich said of Cayko.

Adding to the depth and experience will be senior defensive linemen Logan Krueger, who led the Beavers with four sacks last season, Caleb Ness, who had 48 tackles, and Pat Hardy, who added 12 tackles.

They'll be helped out by returning junior lineman Lafayette Bade (27 tackles), and sophomores DJ Schneibel (17 tackles), Emmett Espino (23 tackles, 1 sack), and Pelenatino Vito (12 tackles, 2 sacks) on the D-line.

"We're really deep and big," Aldrich said. "That's good because we don't want those guys playing every play, we want those guys being fresh."

WINONA STATE
The Beavers take on a Winona State team that will have a new look under first-year head coach Brian Bergstrom – who went to the same high school as Coach Aldrich in Burnsville, Minn. – taking over the Warrior program in December.

The Warriors new coach will have some fairly new faces leading the way on offense as well as quarterback Trevor Paulsen played in four games last fall, but only threw one pass – a four-yard completion.

He's joined in the backfield by Ty Gavin who in four games ran the ball 17 times for 134 yards and three scores.

But what experience Winona State lacks on offense, it makes up for on defense – Bergstrom's specialty as well – as senior linebacker and leading tackler Clay Schueffner (92 tackles) is back, as well as senior defensive end Carter Duxbury, who led the team in sacks (11), and sophomore cornerback Aarion Lacy, who led the team in interceptions (3).

Of course, being the first game of the season Coach Aldrich says his team is less focused on who Winona State starts and what they can do, and more on the Beavers themselves.

"You really have to look at Game One as being about yourself and that really has to be the point," he said. "How mature can we be, how prepared, and all those kind of things.

"And be as prepared for the unexpected as possible."