MINOT, N.D.- The Minot State football team (0-4) will head back to the First Western Bank Field at Herb Parker Stadium this Saturday (Oct. 1st) in the annual "Battle of the Beavers." The Bemidji State Beavers will head into town for a showdown slated at 1 p.m. 

Last Outing: The comeback effort for the Beavers first win of the season came up just short on the raod at Southwest Minnesota State, as the Beavers battled back to tie the game at 20 apiece before falling 27-20 in overtime. MSU had undoubtly their best offensive performance of the year putting up 267 yards, 169 passing and 98 rushing. The Beavers impressed by going two for four on fourth downs.

The Mustangs got on the board first which was followed by a 47 yard field goal by sophomore Dillon Fedor started the scoring getting the Beavers on the board with three points. SMSU got another touchdown to put them up 14-3 to go into halftime. The second half proved to be a different story for the Beavers as junior Ali Mohamed rushed his first touchdown of the year to bring the score to 14-10. The 'Stangs responded with two field goals to open the fourth quarter to push their lead tor 20-10 with five minutes left. Sophomore Dawson Macleary found the endzone with 1:52 left thanks to a 10 yard catch by sophomore Nathan Young to bring the score within a field goal. Fedor landed a 29 yard field goal with six seconds left to tie the game and send it to overtime, but unfortunately the offensive string couldn't continue into overtime as MSU was shutout in overtime.

Macleary finished the game with one of his best games of the year gaining 169 yards with one touchdown and going 18 for 32 on the day. Mohamed had by far his best day of the year as he had his first touchdown of the year while gaining 78 yards. Young had the lone touchdown catch on the day for the Beavers, while also leading MSU with 60 yards. Sophomore Erik Palmquist led the Beavers with seven receptions while gaining 51 yards. On the defensive side sophomore Carson Cayko finished with the most tackles on the day with nine total tackles while also getting the only interception which he was able to return for 12 yards. Sophomore Isaiah Bigby was right behind Cayko with eight total tackles while combining with senior Logan Krueger for a tackle for loss. Junior Knylen Miller-Levi and senior Jordan Sanford each followed with seven tackles on the day. Fedor went two for three on field goals on the day while going two for two on point after attempts. 

Series: The MSU Beavers will be looking for their first victory against a tough BSU Beavers team as Bemidji State owns a 21-1 record against Minot State. The last outing came last year at Bemidji State for their homecoming game where BSU took the 49-35 victory while Minot State showed more of their offensive prowess. The Beavers have squared off against each other since 1999 with the lone Minot State victory coming back on Sept. 7th, 2002 when Minot State traveled to Bemidji and snuck away with a 35-28 win. 

The Opponent: The Bemidji State Beavers are riding their first win streak of the season after starting the season 0-2. Both of those two losses came by a combined four points in a 37-34 loss to Minnesota State-Mankato followed by a 30-29 hearbreaking loss to 19th ranked Augustana. BSU has since bounced back with two big wins in a 34-24 victory over Winona State followed by a 48-22 win at Upper Iowa. The Beavers have themselves quite the prolific offense having already secured 1819 yards on the season with 20 touchdowns with 1366 coming through the air and 535 on the ground. BSU has gone three for four on the season in field goals and have gone six for ten on fourth down conversions.

Junior Brandon Alt has been the go-to QB for the Beavers going 98 for 168 so far on the year with 1353 yards and nine interceptions with 13 touchdowns. Junior Jalen Frye leads the rushing attack with 233 yards and one touchdown, followed by junior Sage Booker who has 140 yards with two touchdowns. In the receiving category senior Brendan Beaulieu has the most targets in 29 and have made 487 yards and six touchdowns, followed by senior Dhel Duncan-Busby with 21 receptions for 327 yards and three touchdowns. Two Beavers have over 20 tackles on the defensive side as junior Max Buduris leads with 24 tackles, followed closely by junior Spencer Wehr with 22 tackles. The BSU Beavers have made 26 tackles for loss and 10 sacks with both categoris led by senior Zollie Kaplan with five tackles for loss and three sacks respectively. BSU has made three interceptions while forcing two fumbles and 16 pass breakups. 

The Beavers: Following one of the best performances of the year for MSU the Beavers have accumulated 805 yards with four touchdowns with 178 rushing yards and 627 passing yards. Ali Mohamed is looking back to form now putting up 196 yards and a touchdown to lead the rushing attack for MSU. Dawson Macleary has now upped his yardage on the year to 587 with three touchdowns but only four interceptions. Senior Peyton Lamoureux leads the Beavers with 165 yards on 11 receptions. Two other Beavers have gained over 100 yards receiving in Nathan Young who has 160 yards on 15 receptions and one touchdown, while sophomore Erik Palmquist who has made 12 receptions for 124 yards and two touchdowns. 

Four different Beavers have made 20 or more tackles on the day, led by Isaiah Bigby with 29, followed closely behind by Carson Cayko with 28, and then sophomore Kyle VanBerkom with 21 and Knylen Miller-Levi with 20, respectively. The Beavers have been led by senior Caleb Ness with two tackles for loss While Ness and sophomore Jonathan Leon have each made a sack on the year. The Beavers have three interceptions on the year with Bigby, Cayko, and Miller-Levi each getting one. The Beavers have also made seven pass breakups while making three forced fumbles, and one safety. Fedor has gone three for four on field goals on the year with the longest being 47 yards. 

Looking Ahead: The Beavers will head back on the road following the "Battle of the Beavers" as MSU heads south to Moorhead, Minn. to face off against the Minnesota State-Moorhead Dragons (1-3). Kickoff is set noon on Saturday Oct. 8th at Sheels Field at Nemzek Stadium.