Alex Eisen/MDN Minot State freshman Isaiah Bigby (7) sprints down the sideline en route to a touchdown after his second interception of the season last week against Southwest Minnesota State at Herb Parker Stadium.

Sundays aren’t just for the pros.

The Minot State football team will throw on the pads Sunday for the first time since joining the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

The conference contest at Winona State was initially scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, but travel concerns caused by the weather pushed the game back 22 hours.

Minot State (2-3) gets an extra day to prep for its toughest challenge since the first week of the season. Winona State (3-2) has dominated the Beavers in the past, winning all three previous meetings by an average margin of five touchdown or 35 points.

“They are going to be a better team than what we have faced in the last four weeks,” Aldrich said. “We have to get our compete level up, ratcheted it to another level. I think that’s good. That’s got to be a part of our progress as well.”

MSU is coming off a second four-point loss this season.

The second defeat hurt a tad more than coming up a play short against Northern State in Week 2, 14-10.

Last week, Southwest Minnesota State broke the Beavers’ hearts on homecoming with a first-half Hail Mary and a game-winning touchdown with 25 seconds remaining to steal a 21-17 victory.

A harsh outcome, as the Beavers keep trying to “learn how to win.”

“On Sunday, it hurt,” Aldrich said. “The pain was still there. But, by 7 p.m. (on Sunday), the 24 hours was over, and we have to move on to Winona. Lots to learn, hurt, but we move forward.”

Remove a couple of clutch plays that have gone against Minot State, and the Beavers could be 4-1 overall right now — near the top of the NSIC North standings.

But, there is no redo button. Life moves on, and more challenging opposition awaits. The easy portion of the Beavers’ schedule has passed. MSU’s final six opponents all have winning records at this point in the season.

Winona State snuck back over the .500 mark with a 28-26 victory last week over Minnesota State Moorhead. After a safety with 2:20 remaining, kicker Paul Ortiz drilled a game-winning 35-yard field goal with 46 seconds left to secure the come from behind win.

Ortiz went 4-for-5 on fields in the contest with the 35-yard attempt being his longest.

The Warriors’ offense leans heavily on running back Sam Santiago-Lloyd. The junior is fifth in the NSIC with 76 yards per game, but has only found the end zone once.

Junior quarterback Owen Burke has thrown for 962 yards on 81-for-145 passing with six touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Winona State uses a more pro-style offense with a bunch of different formations and personnel groupings. Minot State wants to stick to what they do best and not overcomplicate things.

“They are going to throw a lot of different things at you,” Aldrich said. “For us defensively, we have to play the way we do and adjust to what they do. Not over scheme it and try to get better at what we do. That’s what we did in the second half against Southwest.”

MSU’s defense held SMSU in check in the second half until giving up the game-winning touchdown in the final minute. That allowed the Beaver’s offense to overcome a slow start.

“We didn’t have a very good first half; we only had 15 offensive plays,” Aldrich said. “I’m not a huge fan of bend but don’t break defense. I’d rather not bend at all. To be able to get off the field like we did was a positive.”

The highlight-reel play was a 52-yard interception returned for a touchdown by MSU freshman Isaiah Bigby. That was the only turnover the Beavers forced. Aldrich wants more.

“We got to create some negative plays and take advantage of turnovers,” Aldrich said. “Last week, we got one and scored a touchdown off of it. But, we need to generate three. That’s the goal.”

The MSU offense wouldn’t turn down short field position.

Last week, senior wide receiver Lavante Bushnell had his best game so far this season with seven catches for 100 yards and a timely touchdown. No other receiver had more than two catches or 11 yards.

Freshman running back Ali Mohamed got a bulk of the carries and collected 73 yards on 19 attempts. He is currently second in the NSIC with 85.2 yards per game.

As his success continues, more bodies are starting to line up near the line of scrimmage.

“We have to be able to run at anything that anybody throws at us,” Aldrich said. “We have to learn how to perform in those situations.”

This upcoming learning session against Winona State will start at noon on Sunday.

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