Beavers dam up 'Rocker offense in 34-0 shellacking

COPY OF RAPIC CITY JOURNAL SPORTS ARTICLE (link)

By Sean Welsh, Journal Sports Writer

RAPID CITY -- The Minot State Beavers chewed through the South Dakota Tech offensive-front, holding the Hardrockers to negative 15 total yards of offensive en route to a 34-0 Dakota Athletic Conference college football win on a windy Saturday on Dunham Field at O'Harra Stadium.

"We played pretty decent defense," said Minot State head coach Mike Sivertson. "I know their best player wasn't playing, that hurts them. He's a real good running back.

"It worked out for us today. I think our kids played decent (and) we tackled well. We're just trying to do what we need to do to be successful."

Tech freshman running back Jerome Hofferden, who is second in the DAC with 713 rushing yards on the season, did not practice all week and sat out Saturday with a sore knee.

After a quarter of play, it looked like it might be a close ballgame as Minot managed only a 32-yard field goal by Matt Hagen with 10:00 showing on the clock in the first quarter.

Tech could not move the ball offensively but the defense hung tough in the opening stanza, highlighted by a blocked field goal by sophomore defensive back Kyle Kurth.

However, Minot got an interception late in the first quarter by Riley Price, setting up a five-yard touchdown catch by Silas Sneed from quarterback Ryan Jutras that put Minot up 10-0 with 13:47 to go in the second quarter.

Sneed now has seven TD catches on the season.

Minot just gradually widened its lead the rest of the way as Tech struggled to do anything offensively.

The Beavers scored again with 7:00 to go in the second when Manny Gutierrez took off to the right, broke a couple arm tackles and went into the endzone from 23 yards out. Kurth got through the Beaver O-line again to break up the extra point attempt.

Hagen tacked on a 33-yard FG with 1:55 to go to make it 19-0.

Following a Tech punt, Minot was looking to score before halftime but Kurth stepped up with an interception on the Tech 5 to end the threat.

The INT was Kurth's sixth of the season, tops in the DAC.

In the second half, Minot took advantage of a fumble recovery when Jutras scored on a one-yard run on fourth down with 10:00 left in the third.

Price got another pick on the Minot 44 with about 9:00 left in the third quarter and, following another Beaver drive, Andre James scored on a 22-yard run. The PAT made it 32-0 with 5:20 left in the third.

"We did enough good things," Sivertson added. "We did enough things as a team, that's always our goal."

Tech faced a third-and-two to open the fourth quarter and Lukas Munsell ran it up the gut but got stopped. The ensuing punt was disastrous for Tech.

Tech punter Tyrell Anderson was in the backfield on the Tech 15, waiting for the snap, which flew over his head to the 5. Anderson did the smart thing, picking up the ball and running it into the Tech endzone for a safety, providing for the final score of 34-0.

Tech managed its only first down with 5:46 left in the game when Jason Luze found an open receiver on second down.

Minot ended up with 312 rushing yards on 61 carries for the ball game, led by Gutierrez's 153 yards on 26 carries. James added 94 yards on 19 attempts and Jutras, who was making his first start at quarterback, had 64 yards rushing and 59 passing.

"Well, it was one of the things we wanted to do," Sivertson said of the solid running game. "We started a different quarterback (Jutras) today, so we wanted to help make sure we got off to a good start.

"You can run the ball so you don't have to put as much pressure on him and you play good defense, and obviously with the wind today it was going to be a factor. Play good field position. We're fortunate those things worked out for us and helped us get off to a good start."

The 'Rockers had five pass completions for 32 yards and 25 rushing attempts for minus-47 yards.

Tech (1-7, 1-4 DAC) heads to Dickinson State and Minot State (4-4, 3-2) plays at Valley City State on Saturday.

Minot State 3 16 13 2-34

South Dakota Tech 0 0 0 0- 0

MSU-Matt Hagen 32 FG

MSU-Silas Sneed 5 pass from Ryan Jutras (Hagen kick)

MSU-Manny Gutierrez 23 run (run failed)

MSU-Hagen 33 FG

MSU-Jutras 1 run (kick failed)

MSU-Andre James 22 run (Michael Fox kick)

MSU-Safety

MSU Tech

First Downs 24 1

Rushes-yards 61-312 25-(-47)

Passing yards 59 32

Comp-att-int 8-18-1 5-18-1

Punts 5-30.6 8-25.6

Return Yards 7-61 7-46

Fumbles-lost 2-1 4-3

Penalties-yards 9-106 9-42

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-MSU: Gutierrez 26-153, James 19-94, Jutras 14-64, Brandon Fjeld 1-1, Team 1-0. Tech: Justin Jacob 7-11, Lukas Munsell 3-9, Justin Arellano 3-3, Brad Zemke 4-(-5), Frank Vanskike III 1-(-10), Jarrod Luze 6-(-26), Jordan Anderson 1-(-29).

PASSING-MSU: Jutras 8-18-59-1. Tech: Luze 4-9-29-1, Arellano 1-6-3-1, Vanskike 0-3-0-1.

RECEIVING-MSU: Sneed 3-23, Kurt Bowen 2-16, Joshua Kringen 1-12, Ronnie Patrick 1-5, Kevin Hanson 1-1. Tech: Munsell 4-22, Grant Neff 1-10.

Contact Welsh at 394-8440 or at sean.welsh@rapidcityjournal.com