No. 4 MHS committed three costly turnovers en route to a 38-7 defeat to No. 2 Century at the MDU Resources Community Bowl in Bismarck. The Magi allowed their highest point total this season (38) and were held to a season-low seven points.

“The turnovers were big, we were pretty poor at the beginning,” MHS coach Barry Holmen said. “I did like how we responded and got back in the game at 14-7, but we were really disheartened with our third quarter. I think we’re just capable of playing so much better and we have played so much better. We think we can fix some things and we’ll go back to work Monday.”

Century opened the game by driving the length of the field and capped off the drive with a five-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jakob Olson to running back Casey Foss.

The touchdown ended a shutout streak of eight quarters for MHS.

Garrick Hodge/MDN MHS quarterback Creighton Rudolph (17) looks downfield during a high school football game.

Some bad luck struck the Magi on their first play from scrimmage, as quarterback Creighton Rudolph had a pass bounce off Peyton Lamoureux and into the arms of a Century defender.

On the next Century possession, running back David Jackson scampered 18 yards for a touchdown to increase the lead to 14-0. Rudolph threw his second interception on the Magi’s next drive, but the MHS defense picked up its quarterback and made a stop.

“Sometimes it’s okay to just throw the ball out of bounds,” Holmen said. “We had some bad luck early with two picks. But the ball was thrown to open receivers so the ball was being thrown in the right place. We had a tough start, pretty good second quarter but a disappointing second half. We’ll work on all of that.”

In the second quarter, Minot responded with its first touchdown of the game off a Rudolph connection to Lofton Klabunde from 23 yards out to make it a 14-7 game. The MHS touchdown broke a Century shutout streak of 11 quarters.

In the closing seconds before halftime, the Magi made a goal line stand to force Century’s Austin Underhill to kick a 26-yard field goal to take a 17-7 lead at halftime.

The second half started in disastrous fashion for MHS, as Rudolph fumbled the ball on a Century sack, giving the Patriots the ball at the MHS 5-yard line. Olson scored the third Century touchdown of the night on a 1-yard QB sneak to put the Patriots up 24-7.

MHS couldn’t get any rhythm on its next drive and was forced into a three-and-out. Century wasted no time in taking advantage of a short field, as running back Grant Anderson took the first play of the drive 22 yards for a touchdown and 31-7 lead.

Century delivered the dagger on a 33-yard blitz beater from Olson to Cauy Kling, increasing the lead to 38-7.

MHS (3-3, 2-2 WDA) is back in action at 7 p.m. Friday against Mandan at Duane Carlson Stadium in Minot.

“We’re going to learn from this tape,” Holmen said. “When things get tough, you find out a lot about your kids. We’re going to see some body language we won’t like and we’ll challenge our kids in that regard.

“Bottom line is, you lose sometimes, and we’re going to learn from that. I truly believe we can be a relevant team in the playoffs, but two wins doesn’t get you there. We have to earn the right to be in there first and then I won’t count us out.”

Garrick Hodge covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @Garrick_Hodge.