Football sets sights on Battle Axe Trophy Saturday at MSU Moorhead
The Bemidji State University football team travels to Moorhead, Minn., Saturday, Nov. 9 to take part in the 72nd installment of the Battle Axe rivalry game against Minnesota State University Moorhead. The Beavers and Dragons will battle for the second-longest traveling trophy in NCAA Division II.
MSU Moorhead leads the all-time series against Bemidji State, 47-35-3. BSU and MSUM have alternated road wins over the past four seasons. The Dragons won the most recent meeting, 31-26, in Bemidji, Minn. The series first began Sept. 28, 1929 in Moorhead, an 8-6 win by the Dragons.
The Beavers continued their recent dominance over the Huskies of St. Cloud State University with a 38-14 win Saturday, Nov. 2 in Bemidji. After exiting the first quarter with a 3-0 lead, BSU pulled away with two touchdowns in the second quarter before taking a 24-0 lead in the third. BSU’s offense totaled over 500 yards for the first time since Sept. 8, 2018. The “Gang Green” defense forced the Huskies to seven three-and-outs and 10 total punts while allowing its first points to SCSU midway through the third quarter.
Bemidji State has now won five straight games against St. Cloud State to move to 6-3 overall and 4-1 in the NSIC North Division. BSU currently sits second in the division, one game ahead of MSU Moorhead with its overall record and tied with its divisional record.
Junior quarterback Emmett Enright threw for a career-high 435 yards with three touchdowns to lead the BSU offense. He found three different receivers on his touchdown throws with a completion percent of 75. Sophomore wide receiver Brendan Beaulieu was Enright’s top target on a career-day with 11 catches for 177 yards and one touchdown. After entering the season with no receivers with at least 10 catches in a game since 2015, the Beavers have now had three games with a double-digit catch receiver.
Junior wide receiver Malik Williams, who recorded BSU’s other two double-digit catch games this season, followed Beaulieu with five catches for 83 yards against SCSU.
Senior defensive back Davelle Fox recorded a career-high seven tackles to pace the “Gang Green” defense Saturday and added one pass breakup. Sophomore linebackers Zollie Kaplan and Yaquub Mohamed followed with six tackles each, while Kaplan added 1.5 tackles for a loss and Mohamed added 1.0 tackle for a loss. BSU was able to create pressure on the SCSU quarterback to force a completion percent of 35.7 on 42 attempts. Senior defensive lineman Seth Zins was the only Beaver to get to the quarterback with 1.0 sack.
For the first time since 2004, BSU finished with a 100-yard rusher, 100-yard receiver and a 300-yard passer in Makaio Harn (112 rush yards), Brendan Beaulieu (177 receiving yards) and Emmett Enright (435 passing yards).
Enright was also the first Beavers with at least 400 passing yards and 400 individual offensive yards since Jordan Hein in 2016. Beaulieu is the first BSU receiver with over 175 receiving yards since Anthony Schreiber in 2007.
The 2019 senior class earned its 30th win since 2016, the second-most for the program in a four-year span, and needs two more wins for the most in a four-season span in program history.