BEMIDJI STATE SHUTS OUT MINNESOTA CROOKSTON FOOTBALL FOR THE SECOND-STRAIGHT SEASON

For the second-straight year, the University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Football team was shut out by the Bemidji State Beavers 69-0 in an NSIC game played at Chet Anderson Stadium in Bemidji.
UMC started the game well. On their opening drive facing 3rddown and five Jalin Scott (Jr., Houston, TX) connected with former junior college teammate Jonattan Mudd (Jr., Gardena, CA) for 29 yards down to the Bemidji State 43-yard line. Another completion between the two set up 3rddown and two from the Beavers’ 35-yard line, but Scott was dropped for a 6-yard loss forcing the Golden Eagles to punt on their opening drive.
Bemidji State wasted no time on their opening drive going 80 yards in just four plays Jalen Frye (R-Fr., Mahtomedi) rushed for 57-yards to march the ball down to the UMC 15-yard line before later closing out the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run giving the Beavers a 7-0 lead after the extra point was kicked by Isaac Aanerud (Sr., Otsego).
Minnesota Crookston’s Elijah Todd (Jr., Toledo, OH) fumbled a handoff on the Golden Eagles’ first play of the second drive setting Bemidji State up at the UMC 20-yard line. After gaining a first down on a Minnesota-Crookston encroachment penalty, Bemidji State’s Jared Henning (Jr., Jackson, WI) connected with his fullback Matt Gross (Jr., Napoleon, ND) for a 3-yard touchdown giving the Beavers a 14-0 lead after the PAT.
The Golden Eagles reached the red zone for the first time on their next drive getting down to the Bemidji State 5-yard line. On 1stand goal from the 5-yard line, Jalin Scott threw an incompletion. The next play, Rod Stewart (Sr., Fort Worth, TX) was dropped on an end-around for an 8-yard loss back to the BSU 13-yard line. Jalin Scott dropped back to throw on third-down and fired a pass towards the front pylon on the UMC sideline. The pass deflected off the shoulder pads of Michael Junker (Jr., Hastings) who then picked off the interception and ran 103-yards the other way for a Beavers Touchdown giving Bemidji State a 21-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter, Bemidji State added to their lead when Jarred Henning found Landon Jones on the far sideline in the end zone from 15-yards away for a 28-0 lead.
Minnesota Crookston’s struggles to keep the football continued in the second quarter. Right after the Beavers’ took a four-touchdown lead, Jalin Scott threw his very next pass into the waiting arms of Michael Junker for his second interception. Junker took the interception back to the end zone for what appeared to be his second touchdown of the half, but the return was negated by an unnecessary roughness penalty, but the Beavers still took possession at the Minnesota Crookston 24-yard line. UMC’s defense managed to hold the Beavers to a field goal try which Isaac Aanerud converted from 45-yards away to give the host’s a 31-0 lead.
Minnesota Crookston picked up two first downs on their next possession with a 17-yard run from Elijah Todd and another 17-yard Todd run two plays later, but Todd fumbled later in the drive and the Beavers recovered the football on their own BSU 47-yard line. Bemidji State responded on their next drive with another field goal by Aanerud, this one good from 35-yards out giving the Beavers a 34-0 lead.
Bemidji State added one more touchdown just before halftime when backup quarterback Alec Ogden (Fr., Marshall, WI) found Mannie Kugmeh (Soph., Hopkins) for an 8-yard touchdown reception giving Bemidji State a 41-0 lead at halftime.
Minnesota Crookston’s offense was unable to sustain any drives in the second half while the Beavers continued to pull away. Bemidji State scored their first touchdown of the second half when Jared Henning tossed to Cole Schmitz for an easy two-yard touchdown reception giving BSU a 48-0 lead. Bemidji State added another touchdown on their next drive marching 72 yards in eight plays capped off by a 1-yard run from Sage Booker (Fr., Minneapolis) giving the Beavers a 55-0 lead.  
With the game comfortably in hand at the start of the fourth quarter, Bemidji State’s Alec Ogden added another touchdown to his stat-line while giving the hosts a 62-0 lead on a 2-yard pass to Bryce Duffy (Fr., DeForest, WI). Later in the quarter, Ogden added a third touchdown pass to his debut performance connecting with Cody King (R-Soph., New London) for one last score to close out the 69-0 victory. “Things just didn’t go our way. It’s back to the drawing board. Our focus just wasn’t there today. We knew we were playing a good opponent here and hopefully, we weren’t looking ahead to Minot State.” Minnesota Crookston was hampered by seven turnovers in the game and Dufner made clear that those miscues make it difficult to compete. “I don’t think Alabama would have won today with that. We’ve got to take care of the ball. If you don’t win the turnover battle, it’s going to be tough to win.”
The Golden Eagles fall to 0-3 on the season and will travel to Minot next Saturday to take on the Minot State Beavers at 2 p.m. with the Riverview Health Pregame Show beginning at 1:20 p.m. on KROX. Bemidji State improves to 3-0 and will take on undefeated Minnesota Duluth next Saturday in Duluth.

1st Quarter
10:02 – BSU – Jalen Frye 8 yard run  (Isaac Aanerud kick)
7:44 – BSU – Jared Henning 3 yard pass to Matt Gross (Aanerud kick)
3:39 – BSU – Michael Junker 103 yard interception return (Aanerud kick)

2nd Quarter
13:47 – BSU – Jared Henning 15 yard pass to Landon Jones (Aanerud kick)
12:09 – BSU – Isaac Aanerud 45 yard field goal
4:40 – BSU – Isaac Aanerud 35 yard field goal
1:06 – BSU – Alec Ogden 8 yard pass to Mannie Kugmeh (Mason Hoffer kick)

3rd Quarter
9:26 – BSU – Jared Henning 2 yard pass to Cole Schmitz (Hoffer kick)
3:45 – BSU – Sage Booker 1 yard run (Hoffer kick)

4th Quarter
12:56 – BSU – Alec Ogden 2 yard pass to Bryce Duffy (Hoffer kick)
2:38 – BSU – Alec Ogden 11 yard pass to Cody King (Hoffer kick)