COPY OF ARTICLE FROM MINOT DAILY NEWS (link)

Battlin' Bears best Beavers

By MICHAEL LINNELL Sports Editor, mlinnell@minotdailynews.com

MILES CITY, Mont. — For a half, Rocky Mountain College quarterback Drew Hedrick picked apart Minot State University's defense.

The Beavers basically solved the Hedrick question for much of the third quarter, but when the Battlin' Bears needed their fifth-year senior the most, he came through.

Hedrick placed a perfect pass into the hands of Toby Rundles from 31-yards out for a score with 6:45 to play in the fourth quarter to put MSU away as RMC defeated the Beavers for the second straight season, 21-9 in NAIA non conference football Saturday at Denton Field.

“He was very good for his first game,” RMC head coach David Reeves said. “He made good decisions and made some good throws.”

Hedrick was 13-of-24 in the first half for 176 yards and helped RMC to a 14-0 lead.

“We weren't on the same page in the first half offensively,” MSU head coach Paul Rudolph said. “That kept the defense on the field way to much. We started to wear them down in the second half and made some plays.”

The Bears scored the game's opening touchdown on a beautifully orchestrated drive on their first possession. RMC used 19 plays to go 86 yards, chewing up 7:23 of the first quarter in the process to take a 7-0 lead on Cavan Cooney's 2-yard run. The Bears took a 14-0 lead in a much quicker fashion when linebacker Skyler Wipplinger returned an interception 13 yards for a score in the second quarter.

MSU started to figure out the Bears as the game wore on. The Beavers got on the board in the second quarter as freshman Julius Ceasar took in a delayed slant from quarterback Jon Meier 5-yards for his first touchdown on his first collegiate catch.

“It was a great start to what I think is going to be a great career. It was my first college game,” Ceasar said. “It would be even better if we could have won. We started to wear them down and did a better job in the second half, but we have to make more plays throughout the game.”

MSU took over the overall play in the third quarter as the Beavers had 117 yards of total offense in the third quarter compared to just 80 in the first half. Still, MSU could only muster a Nik Levnaich 20-yard field goal and trailed 14-9.

“I thought we did a great job in the second half,” Reeves said. “Obviously, Minot did a good job of adjusting and played a good half. Overall, we played well, we just weren't always put in good positions.”

Rudolph didn't feel his team changed much in the second half, but executed better. Meier threw for 132 yards in the second half after being held to just 70 yards and two interceptions in the first.

“We dropped some balls and and some overthrown balls in the first,” Rudolph said. “We aren't going to ask much of the quarterback and when Jon just settled down and took a breath, he did some good things. When he didn't, he had problems.”

Chris Bieri/MDN Minot State University running back Andre James (5) battles for more yards as the Beavers take on Rocky Mountain College Saturday in Miles City, Mont.