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Copy of article fromThe Minot Daily News(link)
Maligned by miscues By MICHAEL LINNELL, Sports Editor mlinnell@minotdailynews.com
BSU forced four MSU turnovers and turned those into 21 points as Bemidji defeated Minot 30-9 Saturday at Herb Parker Stadium. Last season, Bemidji used five MSU miscues in its 42-17 win. BSU now owns a 7-1 overall record in eight meetings. “That has been the key for us offensively so far,” BSU head coach Jeff Tesch said of turnovers. “We had three last week, and what, one (Saturday). You don't win many games if you're turning the ball over.” MSU's head coach Mike Sivertson agreed with Tesch. “(Bemidji) is a good football team and you expect them to be competitive,” he said. “You can't do that (turn the ball over.) I thought we did some good things, but that's huge.” Bemidji turned the game around in a six-minute stretch in the first half. BSU led 7-3, but MSU had some momentum and after Matt Weidler recovered a fumble at the MSU 44. One play later, BSU's Willy Plancher picked off MSU's Ryan Jutras. Seven plays later, Bemidji was in the endzone as quarterback Josh Williams hooked up with George Kadlec on a 19-yard pass. “We were fortunate that we had a short field here and there,” Williams, a junior college transfer in his first season, said. “We want to get more consistent and score some more points. But, we are happy with a win.” Minot State again drove into BSU territory on the ensuing drive, but MSU's Kevin Hanson fumbled the ball after a catch and BSU went back to work. This time, Williams found Anthony Schreiber on a crossing route from 19 yards out with just 28 seconds to play in the half. “Josh did some good things out there. He threw the fade route real well this week after missing a couple last week,” Tesch said. “He is learning. What we are looking for is progression from game to game and there was definitely some progression.” The touchdown before the end of the half was a big blow to MSU as it had stayed with BSU much of the half. In fact, MSU failed to convert on a 4th-and-goal from the one midway through the first quarter when Ben Baratto stopped MSU running back Neil Graham on an off-tackle play. “We had some motion going on to try to throw off their defense,” Sivertson said of the fourth down play. “Credit their defense for recognizing the overload.” BSU's best drive was their first as they went 80 yards on 12 plays, culminating in a Eurice Watson 10-yard run. After the first drive, however, BSU only gained 201 yards for the rest of the game. Part of that was short fields and part of that was solid MSU defensive play. “Credit Minot for not hanging their heads,” Tesch said. “We were a little more conservative in the second half, but Minot did a good job of limiting us.” Jutras threw an interception on his first pass attempt, but settled down for much of the first half. He was 4-for-6 on the Beavers' second drive, ending in the goal-line stand for BSU and had 116 yards at half. His favorite target in the first was Josh Kringen, who finished with eight catches for 11 yards, but only 22 in the second half. “We have to get more consistent,” Kringen said. “We have big moments, but we have to be able to string those together better.” But, Jutras was pulled late in the fourth after a shovel pass was picked off by Zach Garrison setting up BSU's final score. His replacement, Jon Meier, had a solid first drive of his college career, capping an 80-yard drive with a 46-yard touchdown strike to Hanson. “It is hard to get a good drive going just to cough it up,” Kringen said. “It's something the players on offense know as a whole.” MSU played with BSU statistics wise as BSU outgained MSU 295-288. Jutras finished with 146 yards passing, while Meier added 65, compared to 140 for Williams. Neither team could muster much running room as Bemidji's Tyler Olson (62 yards) and Minot's Neil Graham (55 yards) led their respective teams. MSU falls to 0-2 on the season while BSU evened its record at 1-1. MSU is back at Herb Parker Stadium Saturday as they face fellow Dakota Athletic Conference foe Black Hills State in a non-conference game starting at 1:20 p.m. | |||||||||||||
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