The Aggies weren’t fooled one bit, and picked up their sixth shutout of the season.

With a 22-0 home playoff victory, No. 2-seeded Velva (10-0) remained unbeaten Saturday to advance to the state semifinals.

Preparation in facing such a unique offense paid off.

“Our scout offense did a pretty decent job this week of trying to simulate that offense the best we could,” Velva coach Larry Sandy said. “The difficult part about it is that it’s an offense that nobody else runs. Something that you have a tough time simulating in practice and causes you to spend extra time.”

Alex Eisen/MDN Velva senior quarterback Nicholas Effertz (18) runs with the ball Saturday against Beulah in Velva.

Beulah’s distinct offense, which would snap the ball to different players from shotgun, couldn’t get any momentum going on the ground. And, for a majority of the first half, Velva’s offense was stagnant as well.

Both teams were held scoreless after the first quarter, but the Miners suffered a significant injury to sophomore center Korey Rueb in the process.

“I’m not going to go through all our woes at center, but (Rueb) hurt his snap hand last week, so he had a brace on that and was snapping left-handed — I thought he had good snaps — but then he broke that today,” Beulah coach Jim Dooley said. “We are on our fifth or sixth center now and actually the guy that played center (Cade Steffan) was our original center. But, he hadn’t practiced in six weeks.

“He got cleared from a back injury last night. I thought he did a heck of a job. He was dressed for an emergency purposes only, and well, we didn’t have anybody else.”

While Steffan stepped in admirably, Beulah’s offense couldn’t get anything going for seniors Derek Ferebee, Mikey Morris or Aaron Vallejo.

“I’m not saying that is what did it, but it was tough to overcome,” Dooley said about the injury. “I was worried we wouldn’t get a lot of continuity, especially when we have to snap to different people. We do a lot of spinning and turning, and all the crazy stuff that we do.”

Velva broke the scoreless gridlock with 27 seconds left in the first half. Senior quarterback Nicholas Effertz connected on a 5-yard slant route to Hayden Lee for the opening touchdown. The two-point conversion failed to give the Aggies a 6-0 halftime lead.

“Physiologically, it was nice to get those points and go into halftime with as much time as we spent out there on defense,” Sandy said.

Velva scored on its first drive of the second half. Senior Elijah Hackman found a seam from seven yards out. Effertz ran in the extra two points.

“I got the ball up the middle and there wasn’t a hole where the A-gap was supposed to be,” Hackman said. “So, I tried to bounce it out and some kid pushed me out even further and I ran it in.”

A 26-yard touchdown pass from Effertz to senior Hunter Brabandt concluded the scoring with 13 seconds left in the third quarter. Effertz passed to senior Ethan Schepp for the two-point conversion, 22-0.

Needing points in a hurry, Beulah (8-2) didn’t stray away from its run-heavy offense in the fourth quarter. Velva’s defense didn’t budge either to collect the shutout.

“As the game went on, we got better at understanding it and handling it,” Sandy said. “We never gave up the big play. They got some yards on us and that type of offense has a tenacity to do that. But, as long as you can minimize it and not let one break for a 50, 60-yard touchdown, then you give yourself a chance.”

The Aggies will host another undefeated team, No. 3-seeded Langdon Area/Edmore/Munich (10-0), in the state semifinals on Saturday. The Cardinals knocked off defending state champions Ellendale/Edgeley/Kulm Thunder in the quarterfinals, 35-14.

Alex Eisen covers Minot High School, Minot State athletics and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.