BEMIDJI, Minn. – No. 23 ranked Bemidji State used a pair of big plays in the second half to extend a 14-0 halftime lead in earning a 33-0 victory over Southwest Minnesota State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football at Chet Anderson Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
 
BSU, now 2-1 overall, 1-1 NSIC, earns its sixth straight win over SMSU and has now won 19 of the last 20 meetings since 1998. SMSU drops to 0-2 overall, 0-2 NSIC.
 
BSU, which suffered a last-second road loss to Minnesota State last Saturday, limited SMSU to 137 yards of offense, 10 first downs and forced three turnovers. The Mustangs finished 3 for 11 on third-down conversions and 0 for 2 on fourth-down tries.
 
Mustang starting quarterback Wyatt Oak completed 3 of 5 pass attempts for 15 yards before leaving the game early in the second quarter with an injury. Kendon Krogman came on in relief and completed 4 of 15 for 26 yards and one interception.
 
Jacob Honstetter led the SMSU rushing attack with 56 yards on 17 carries.
 
BSU quarterback Sam McGath passed for 271 yards, while completing 18 of 26 passes with two touchdowns and one interception.
 
BSU opened the game's scoring on its second drive of the game with Jayden Washington capping a 54-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run with 4:08 left in the opening quarter.
 
SMSU had a great chance to score and tie the game midway through the first half with Josiah Hedensten recording a strip-sack of McGath with teammate Carter Schmitz recovering the ball and returning the ball to the BSU 41-yard line. SMSU however, was not able to take advantage, forcing to punt moments later.
 
The BSU lead moved to 14-0 with 5:31 remaining in the second quarter behind a Jarrett Gronski 9-yard touchdown run.
 
BSU held a 14-0 lead at halftime, but used a muffed SMSU punt early in the third quarter to score a touchdown on a short field and later used a 64-yard touchdown pass on third-and-long to push the lead to 26-0 after three quarters.
 
The SMSU defense forced a pair of turnovers with Parker Knutson recording his first career interception to close out the first half. Hedensten racked up a game-high 10 tackles to pace the Mustangs, while Gideon Ervasti and Thomas Mergen each closed with five tackles.
 
SMSU returns home next Saturday, Sept. 21, facing Concordia-St. Paul with kickoff slated for 1 p.m.