College Football: Beavers hang tough with nationally-ranked Mavericks

Minot State’s run-first mentality found its rhythm in its second game of the season, rushing for 352 yards and 61 carries, allowing the Beavers to control time of possession and keep them within striking distance of a top 25 upset.

In the end, the Beavers surrendered a pair of big play touchdowns through the air in the second half and fell to eighth-ranked Minnesota State, 34-16, in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opener for both teams on Saturday, Sept. 6. The Mavericks struck for touchdown passes of 71 and 28 yards in the second half, both to TreShawn Watson to pull away late.

The Beavers (0-2 overall, 0-1 NSIC) never led, but were within one possession at halftime and with 10:35 remaining in the third quarter. Devan Daniels led the Beavers with 157 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries and Evan Lovett also went over the 100-yard mark, carrying the ball 22 times for 102 yards. Minot State averaged 5.5 yards per carry.

“I will say we played with much better effort collectively than a week ago and played a more physical brand of football,” MSU coach Ian Shields said in a press release. “There were some heroic efforts out there (Saturday) on both sides of the ball, and certainly some positives to build on moving forward.”

The Mavericks (2-0, 1-0) struck first with a 1-yard touchdown run by Sam Backer with 8:09 remaining in the opening quarter to give the home team a 7-0 lead. The teams exchanged field goals in the second quarter and Minot State had a golden opportunity to even up the score heading into halftime, but a back-breaking turnover at the goal line with 1:18 remaining allowed Minnesota State to maintain its 10-3 lead before kicking another field goal on the first possession of the second half to go up by two possessions.

The Beavers found the end zone for the first time on a 25-yard score from Daniels to pull Minot State within 13-10 with 10:35 left in the third. The Mavericks took control from there, scoring 21 unanswered points. Backer added his second rushing touchdown and quarterback Mitchell Thompson found Watson twice on deep balls as the Mavericks grabbed a 34-10 lead seconds into the fourth quarter.

Thompson completed 6 of 7 passes for 142 yards. Watson hauled in four passes for 113 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Carson Chrisman completed two passes on five attempts for the Beavers, totaling 40 yards. He also tossed an interception.

Wilfredo Diaz picked off Thompson for Minot State’s lone takeaway of the contest.

The Beavers head home for the first time this season for homecoming and hall of fame weekend against Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday, Aug. 13, at 2 p.m. The festivities begin at 10:30 a.m. with the parade and tailgating begins at 11:30 a.m.

The Minot State Athletic Hall of Fame class of 2025 will be inducted during a ceremony at the Sleep Inn & Suites at 5 p.m. This year’s class features Caroline Folven, Jeffrey Nelson, Tyler Rudolph, Mike Hultz and the 1994 MSU football team.

Prep Volleyball: South Prairie-Max, Surrey claim weekend tournament titles

A pair of local volleyball teams won hardware over the weekend after participating in the first batch of in-season tournaments this season.

South Prairie-Max went a perfect 6-0 at the Coal Country Tournament in Beulah, defeating Dickinson Trinity, 29-27, 25-17, in the gold bracket championship game. The Royals won Pool C without dropping a set, knocking off Shiloh Christian, Ray and Berthold. South Prairie-Max opened the gold bracket with a victory over New England before earning a spot in the finals with a semifinal win over Flasher, winning in a third-set tiebreaker, 19-25, 25-21, 15-10.

Kenmare-Bowbells claimed fifth place in the gold bracket. Bishop Ryan defeated tournament host Beulah in the championship match in the silver bracket.

Surrey was in Bottineau for the Bottineau Tournament over the weekend and toppled North Star, 25-9, 25-19, for the title. The Mustangs avenged a loss to North Star during pool play. Surrey defeated TGU in pool play to advance to the championship bracket, knocking off Velva to reach the title match.

The final tournament featuring local teams was the Volley in the Valley Tournament held at Central Cass High School. Des Lacs-Burlington and Our Redeemer’s Christian School were among those in the 20-team field.

DL-B went 1-2 in Pool B, defeating Tri-State and falling to Kindred and Thompson. Our Redeemer’s finished 2-1 in Pool C with victories over Sargent County and Larimore. The Knights’ only loss of pool play came against Linton-HMB, who won the group and advanced to the gold bracket.

Our Redeemer’s took part in the silver bracket of the tournament, advancing to the championship match before falling to Kindred, 26-24, 25-21.

Thompson won the gold bracket, defeating Linton-HMB, 18-25, 25-17, 15-12.

Boys Soccer: Magicians move into second place with win over Jamestown

Minot High had a week to stew over its tie last weekend to Mandan-St. Mary’s, and the Magicians responded with a 2-0 victory over Jamestown at Duane Carlson Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 6, to move into sole possession of second place in the West Region standings.

Tayson Solper scored right before the intermission, giving the Magicians a 1-0 lead in the 38th minute. Dylan Oswalt was credited with the assist. Solper leads Minot with seven goals this season and Oswalt’s nine points is most on the team.

The Magicians (5-1-1 overall, 5-1-1 West Region) doubled their advantage in the 59th minute when Ethan Hansen buried a feed from Grayson Steele into the back of the net past Jamestown goalkeeper Evan Harty in the 59th minute for his first goal of the season.

Minot recorded just five shots on net, but capitalized on its chances. The Blue Jays (2-5-1, 2-5-0) held a 7-5 advantage in shots on goal. Minot’s Ian Stewart finished with seven saves for his four shutout of the season. Harty recorded three saves.

The Magicians travel to Bismarck High to face the Demons on Tuesday, Sept. 9, at 7:30 p.m.

Girls Swim/Dive: Majettes place 2nd at Capital City Invite

Minot High jumped in the pool at a competitive event for the first time this season and came away with a second-place finish at the Capital City Invite on Saturday, Sept. 6, at the Bismarck State College Aquatic Center.

The Majettes amassed a team score of 331 points, falling just short of Bismarck Century, which won the event with 336 points. Fargo Shanley (380), Bismarck Legacy (272) and West Fargo Sheyenne (262) rounded out the top five. Minot North also took part in the event, placing 10th among 11 teams with 93 points.

Sam VonBokern won a pair of events for the Majettes, claiming the 100-yard butterfly in 59.96 seconds and the 200 individual medley in 2:14.48. VonBokern won the butterfly event by more than 5 seconds over Legacy’s Lilyana Hochhalter (1:05.10).

Minot scored a pair of runner-up finishes as well. Kirby Quam took second in the 200 freestyle in 2:07.88, behind Shanley’s Isla Rogne (2:03.74). The Majettes’ 400 freestyle relay took silver in 3:49.54. Legacy won the event in 3:47.36. The Sabers won two of the three relay events.

Despite finishing ninth, Bismarck High led all West Region teams with three first-place finishers. Ellie DeForest won the 1-meter diving event with a score of 396.3 points. Madeline VerDouw won both the 500 freestyle (5:32.49) and the 100 breaststroke (1:09.22).

Zoe Bahr had the best individual performance for the Sentinels, placing third in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:16.52.

The Majettes host a dual against Williston on Tuesday, Sept. 9, at 5 p.m.

Boys Tennis: Minot wins 3 of 4 matches against EDC opponents

Minot High took a break from its West Region opponents to travel to Fargo for a weekend’s worth of contests against the East Region, including matches against Valley City, Fargo Shanley, Wahpeton and Fargo Davies.

The Magicians came away with a 3-1 record, knocking off Valley City, 8-1, Fargo Shanley, 3-2, and Wahpeton, 5-4. Fargo Davies got the better of the Magicians, handing them an 8-1 defeat.

Minot opened with Valley City and won five of six singles matches before sweeping the three doubles matches. Nolan Moore didn’t drop a game against Quin Kruger and Aiden Bye lost just two games in his victory over Gray Kasowski. Tyson Barden won a three-set match against Connor Leibersbach, 6-2, 4-6, 10-2.

In doubles, Connor Ressler and Henrik Evanoff at No. 2 and Barden and Bye at No. 3 both narrowly escaped with three-set victories. Ressler and Evanoff bested Kruger and Noah Talp, 6-1, 2-6, 10-3, and Barden-Bye knocked off Colin Hoff and Matthew Hulm, 6-2, 4-6, 10-8.

Shanley and Wahpeton provided more of a challenge for the Magicians. Moore and Ressler won their singles matches, but Shanley’s Jonah Reindl kept his time in it with a victory over Barden at No. 3 singles. But Oliver Thompson and Evanoff clinched the victory at No. 1 doubles, beating Jack Blistad and Cory Grossman, 6-0, 6-3.

Minot (8-1) knocked off Wahpeton on the strength of its singles play, winning four of the six matches. Thompson, Ressler, Evanoff and Barden all posted victories, Barden winning a tight battle against Davon Carter, 6-1, 4-6, 10-5. Evanoff and Owen Sundahl had Minot’s lone win at No. 3 doubles. Wahpeton claimed the other two in three sets after dropping the opening set In both matches.

Ressler had the lone victory against Davies at No. 2 singles, beating Breckum Metcalf, 6-3, 7-6 (1).

The Magicians return to conference play on Tuesday, Sept. 9, when they travel to play Williston at 4 p.m.

Prep Volleyball: Sentinels drop region matchup at Dickinson

Minot North appeared in control after taking the opening set against Dickinson, but the Mavericks responded by winning the next three and knocking off the Sentinels in four sets, 19-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-20, on Saturday, Sept. 6, for their first region win of the season.

Dickinson’s Jenna Nelson finished with a match-high 24 kills, 15 more than anyone on the court. Aven Kelly recorded nine kills to lead Minot North (5-4 overall, 1-2 West Region). Kelly also had six blocks, nearly matching the entire output for the Mavericks (2-6, 1-1). The Sentinels had 13 blocks as a team.

Kate Weishaar led Minot North’s defensive effort with 23 digs.

The Sentinels finished with eight aces, led by Elli Laskowski, who had three.

Minot North plays at Bismarck High on Tuesday, Sept. 9, at 7 p.m.

College Soccer: Minot State held scoreless in loss to Golden Bears

Minot State is still seeking its first win of the season after falling 1-0 at Concordia-St. Paul on Sunday, Sept. 7. The Beavers have scored just one goal in two matches so far this season after opening the year with a 4-1 loss to Regis University.

Belle Abruzzo scored the only goal of the game in the 42nd minute, with Nicole Moore earning the assist on the game-winner. The Golden Bears (2-0-0) fired 17 shots in total, nine of them making it on net. Abruzzo led all players with three shots on net. The Beavers (0-2-0) managed just seven shots, with three on target.

Rebecca Sargent made eight saves for Minot State to keep the match within reach. Sydney Potter earned the win in goal for C-SP, stopping all three shots she faced.

The Golden Bears held a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks.

The Beavers travel to Montana to take on Montana State University-Billings on Saturday, Sept. 13, at 8 p.m.

NAHL: Tauros, Bobcats split ‘War in Watford’

Both the Minot Minotauros and the Bismarck Bobcats won a battle, but no one won the war over the weekend during a pair of exhibition matches in the annual “War in Watford” played at Rough Rider Arena in Watford City. The Bobcats took the opener, 4-2, on Friday, Sept. 5, before the Minotauros returned the favor the following night, posting a 5-3 win to split the series.

In the opener, the Bobcats broke open a 1-1 game with a pair of goals in the second period scored by Nate Garski and Dennis Lominac. The Tauros had pulled even in the final moments of the opening frame when Brady Zugec lit the lamp with just 18 seconds remaining, but Minot would never lead.

Philip Wiklund scored the lone power-play goal with 6:20 remaining in regulation to close the gap, but Bismarck’s Mark Evans sealed his team’s victory with a goal with 2:25 left

Nils Roberts Maurins went the distance in net for the Tauros, recording 25 saves. Magnus Loponen and Brian Cooke split time between the pipes for the Bobcats. Loponen played the first 30 minutes and Cooke closed out the final 30 minutes. The Tauros put 24 shots on net.

On Saturday, Wiklund picked up right where he left off, giving the Tauros their first lead of the series with 10:19 remaining in the opening period. Wiklund was just getting started, adding a power-play goal in the third and finishing off the hat trick with what would eventually be the game-winning goal with 13:21 remaining.

Tied 1-1 heading into the third period, Minot scored four goals, staving off a late charge by the Bobcats to hold on for the victory. The Tauros led 4-1 with 10 minutes left in regulation before back-to-back goals from Haydon Eckart and Mark Evens trimmed Minot’s lead down to 4-3 with 3:34 to go. But an empty-net goal by Blake Graff with 17 seconds left sealed it.

Bismarck outshot the Tauros 33-24 in the contest, including a 19-8 margin in the final stanza, but Luke Quinn and Will Mizenko combined for 30 saves.

Patrick Muller played all but 1:55 for the Bobcats, finishing with 20 saves.

The Tauros play another pair of exhibition games on Friday, Sept. 12, and Saturday, Sept. 13, at 4 p.m. at Maya Arena’s West Rink against an opponent to be determined.