BEMIDJI, Minn. – Bemidji State, ranked No. 6 in this week's NCAA region rankings, scored 34 straight points in the second and third quarters and used six touchdowns passes by Brandon Alt to earn a 48-14 victory over Southwest Minnesota State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football on Saturday afternoon at Chet Anderson Stadium.
Alt, who last week also threw six touchdowns in a victory at Minnesota Duluth, closed the day completing 21 of 30 passes for 305 yards and one interception. BSU entered the game with the seventh ranked passing offense in Division II.
BSU (7-2) finished the game with 523 total yards, the highest total allowed by SMSU this season. BSU has now defeated SMSU in 16 of the last 17 meetings since the 1998 season.
SMSU (2-7), which dropped its fourth straight game, ended the afternoon with 265 yards of offense.
Jesse Sherwood had a strong day rushing the ball for the Mustangs with 155 yards and one touchdown on 20 carries.
Paddy Devlin caught a career-high five passes for 46 yards and one touchdown.
Andrew Haidet completed 9 of 20 passes for 94 yards, while
Steven Nava was 5 of 13 for 35 yards and one touchdown pass.
Onte Burns and
Gage Roberson each recorded nine tackles for the Mustang defense.
Marshawn Reese had seven tackles and had an interception.
BSU opened the game's scoring moving 75 yards on 10 plays to take a 7-0 lead on its first drive of the game. Despite facing fourth-and-20, Alt completed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Brendan Beaulieu for the game's first touchdown at the 10:30 mark of the first quarter.
The Beavers came right back on their second drive of the game as Alt capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Manuele to build a 14-0 advantage with 4:58 left in the first quarter.
SMSU answered with an impressive seven-plus minute drive to cut the deficit in half early in the second quarter. Sherwood had the bulk of the carries on the drive and eventually capped the drive with a 1-yard run to make the score 14-7 with 12:36 left in the half.
BSU would quickly respond and added to the lead with Alt connecting on a 16-yard touchdown pass to Dhel Duncan-Busby with 10:56 left in the half to make the score 20-7.
SMSU would go three-and-out on its ensuing drive and was forced to punt deep in its own end. Following a 32-yard punt by
Carter Dicker and 14-yard return by Jake Hill, the Beavers scored just one play later as Alt found Malik Williams open for a 33-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 27-7 midway through the second quarter.
SMSU had one chance late in the half to cut into the deficit with a first-down at the BSU 16-yard line, but a holding penalty and sack ended the half with the Mustangs trailing by 20 points.
The Mustangs would punt on their first drive of the second half and the Beavers would counter with another scoring drive. Alt would toss another touchdown pass, this time a 19-yard strike to Beaulieu, to close off a four-play, 61-yard drive and give BSU a 34-7 lead.
BSU would move the lead to 48-7 after three quarters of play before SMSU was able to reach the end zone for the second time on the afternoon. Taking advantage of two BSU personal fouls, the Mustangs moved 75 yards on seven plays with Nava capping the drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Devlin.
Southwest Minnesota State concludes its home season next Saturday, Nov. 6, taking on Minnesota State (5-4) with kickoff slated for 1 p.m. at the Schwan Regional Event Center.
