But Minot State’s final scrimmage of the spring showed flashes of entertainment nonetheless Wednesday at the MSU air-supported Dome.

The Beavers played a full four quarters with a running clock, spotted their defense 29 points at the start and forced the offense to score 30 points if it wanted to win the scrimmage.

Junior kicker Jose Luis Moreno kicked the scrimmage-winning field goal as time expired, giving the offense a 30-29 victory.

The first half was offensively dominated, as four different MSU quarterbacks led scoring drives.

Garrick Hodge/MDN MSU quarterback Ben Bolinske scrambles outside the pocket.

“Obviously, I was frustrated with how we played defensively in the first half,” MSU coach Mike Aldrich said. “I was tempered, because it’s still our team, and it was good to see our offense make some plays.”

MSU veered away from the run game as much as possible due to running back depth issues, but when the Beavers did run the ball, good things happened.

Hayden Van Winkle, the lone running back available, made several highlight reel runs, shaking off would-be tacklers and picking up 51 rushing yards on 11 carries and scored once.

“Our run game was really good,” Aldrich said. “Hayden Van Winkle worked some voodoo witch magic over there on the sidelines, I don’t quite know what was happening over there. But it was really fun to watch.”

But the biggest offensive playmaker in the scrimmage was redshirt freshman wideout Demond Short. Short caught five passes for 64 yards and one touchdown and took four carries for 30 rushing yards. At the end of the practice, Short was named the most improved offensive player of the spring.

Garrick Hodge/MDN MSU wideout Connor Beeston (84) makes a catch on the final drive of the spring scrimmage Wednesday.

“What he can do is carry the ball a few times for us,” Aldrich said. “He’s got great hands and he’s a great route runner. He’s not the biggest guy in the world, but he plays big.”

MSU’s defense pitched a shutout in the second half, minus the final drive of regulation. “I don’t want to say we quit in the first half, but we went pretty soft,” Aldrich said. “We were at least able to answer in the second half. It was kind of a dramatic ending there with that field goal, but that’s alright.”

MSU ended the scrimmage on a two-minute drill with Kylar Sharp at quarterback. With 20 seconds remaining, Sharp unloaded on a deep ball down the sideline and found sophomore wideout Connor Beeston for a big gain to set up Luis Moreno’s field goal.

“It was a weird two-minute drill because we had a running clock,” Aldrich said. “I’m not sure if we managed it really well. But it was a great catch down on the sideline.”

MSU opens the season on Aug. 30 against Minnesota Duluth at Herb Parker Stadium.

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