The Bemidji State Beavers Football team hosts the WInona State Warriors at Chet Anderson Stadium. Our pregame show starts at 1:30pm on 92.1 The River. Listen in on the Beaver Radio Network (92.1 Bemidji, 107.9 Grand Rapids, 95.3 Thief River Falls, and 94.5 Baudette)
No. 10/7 Beavers pile up nearly 500 yards, defense tallies six sacks in 36-10 win over Winona State
With the game tied at 10 midway through the second quarter, the No. 10/7 Bemidji State University Football team scored the next 26 points on their way to defeating Winona State 36-10 on Saturday afternoon inside Chet Anderson Stadium in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play.
Bemidji State (3-0, 3-0 NSIC) held a 16-10 lead at halftime and then took over in the second half scoring 14 in the third quarter and six more in the fourth to complete the 36-10 victory. The offense piled up 484 yards, with Brandon Alt throwing for 338 yards. He completed 22-36 and added four touchdowns. Sam McGath added a TD pass as well. Dhel Duncan-Busby caught three passes for 86 yards and finding the end zone twice. Brice Peters had four receptions for 58 yards and a score. Joey Baron added a touchdown reception, along with five catches for 57 yards. Kurt Heerdegen added the other touchdown on a three-yard reception. On the ground, Ali Mohamed rushed 12 times for 54 yards. Alt, who had a big 50-yard scamper, tallied 42 yards on the day. Jayden Washington with 35 yards and Jarrett Gronski with 23 yards.
The defense, which now has 14 sacks through three games, outdid their previous high of four over the first two games coming away with six on Saturday. Cade Barrett led the way with two sacks. Caleb Young, Stephen Hoffman, Elijah Brown and Marcus Hansen all had a sack. Hansen had another big game with seven tackles (five solo), along with four tackles for loss. Jarrett Klein led the team with eight tackles (five solo), while Max Buduris tied Hansen with seven tackles. There were a couple of interceptions with Princeten Harris returning his interception 22 yards and Jamel Stone returning his 13 yards.
Early on, the defense had to come up big to slow down Winona State (1-2, 1-1 NSIC) with good field position. Following a bad snap on a punt, the Warriors had it at the BSU 35. The defense allowed just seven yards on three plays to bring up a fourth-and-three. Winona State tried to get the first down on the ground but were stopped a yard short.
Then an interception at midfield had the Warriors in position again. Although Winona State scored a field goal on this drive, the Beaver defense kept them out of the end zone leaving it a 3-0 game at the 6:28 mark of the opening quarter.
After the teams traded possessions, BSU found the end zone towards the end of the quarter. Beginning at the BSU 16, an Alt 21-yard pass to Peters had the ball to the 37. Two plays later, Alt was able to avoid pressure and run for 50 yards all the way to the WSU 5. On the next snap, Alt found Baron for the touchdown and a 7-3 BSU lead.
In the second quarter, a big defensive play for the Beavers helped get back the three points off turnovers in the first quarter. On third-and-11, Winona State’s pass was intercepted by Harris and returned 22 yards to the WSU 46. Alt passes of 15 yards to Jake Hill and 26 more yards to Drayton Lehman moved the ball to the WSU 5. A false start and five-yard loss on a run backed up the offense to the 15 and eventually Bemidji State would connect on a 27-yard field goal to take the 10-3 lead with 12 minutes to play before the half.
Winona State answered back to tie the game at 10, just to watch Bemidji State come right back to take the lead for good. Following a Colton Herman 40-yard return to midfield, the offense was in business. Faced with a third-and-20, Alt found Sage Booker for 10 yards. Then on fourth down, Alt hit Mike Wandmaker for 14 yards and a first down. On the next play, Alt hit Duncan-Busby for the 36-yard touchdown. The extra point was missed leaving it a 16-10 advantage.
Bemidji State started to pull away early in the third quarter. An Alt 29-yard pass to Baron had the ball in the red zone at the WSU 15. On the next snap, the Beavers went quick and Peters was open in the end zone for the 15-yard pass from Alt to push the lead to 23-10.
Later in the quarter, BSU stretched the lead to 20 when Alt found Duncan-Busby again for a 30-yard touchdown. He caught the ball around the 15 and the defender fell on the play allowing Duncan-Busby to go into the end zone untouched.
The only score in the fourth quarter happened when McGath found Heerdegen for the three-yard pass. The extra point was blocked to provide the final score of 36-10.
The red zone dominance continued with BSU going 4-4 and allowing just one trip inside the 20 for Winona State. Of the six sacks, that netted 29 yards lost. The streak moves to 29-straight games for the Beavers throwing for more yards than rushing. BSU threw for 341 yards and rushed for 143. Alt has progressively thrown for more yards each game. After opening with 176, he had 238 last week and 338 today. Alt goes over 9,000 career passing yards sitting at 9,063 after today’s game.
Bemidji State will travel to Bismarck, N.D., next Saturday (Sept. 23) to face UMary with kickoff set for 2 p.m.
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| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | OT | Total | |
| WSU | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| BSU | 7 | 9 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 36 |
First Quarter
06:28 – WSU – Jacob Scott 31 yd field goal06:28 – WSU – Jacob Scott 31 yd field goal
02:19 – BSU – Joey Baron 5 yd pass from Brandon Alt (Marko Jovisic kick) 02:19 – BSU – Joey Baron 5 yd pass from Brandon Alt (Marko Jovisic kick)
Second Quarter
12:04 – BSU – Marko Jovisic 27 yd field goal12:04 – BSU – Marko Jovisic 27 yd field goal
07:54 – WSU – Ty Gavin 40 yd run (Jacob Scott kick)07:54 – WSU – Ty Gavin 40 yd run (Jacob Scott kick)
05:51 – BSU – Dhel Duncan-Busby 36 yd pass from Brandon Alt (PAT failed)05:51 – BSU – Dhel Duncan-Busby 36 yd pass from Brandon Alt (PAT failed)
Third Quarter
12:12 – BSU – Brice Peters 15 yd pass from Brandon Alt (Marko Jovisic kick)12:12 – BSU – Brice Peters 15 yd pass from Brandon Alt (Marko Jovisic kick)
01:14 – BSU – Dhel Duncan-Busby 30 yd pass from Brandon Alt (Marko Jovisic kick)01:14 – BSU – Dhel Duncan-Busby 30 yd pass from Brandon Alt (Marko Jovisic kick)
Fourth Quarter
01:14 – BSU – Kurt Heerdegen 3 yd pass from Sam McGath (PAT Blocked) 01:14 – BSU – Kurt Heerdegen 3 yd pass from Sam McGath (PAT Blocked)
Postgame Interviews and Other Highlights
Brent Bolte Postgame Brent Bolte Postgame
Marcus Hansen Postgame Marcus Hansen Postgame