UMD Crushes Minot State

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

Eleven up. Eleven down. And a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship to boot.

The University of Minnesota Duluth put the finishing touches on its fifth unbeaten, untied regular season in program history by rolling past Minot State University 56-0 Saturday afternoon in Minot, N.D.  The shut out, UMD’s second over the Beavers in as many years pushed the Bulldogs’ overall record to 11-0 and gave them a share of their league-record 19th NSIC title. In addition, UMD all but locked up a spot in the 24-team playoff field, which will be announced Sunday afternoon.

UMD closed out the day with 405 yards of total offense and held the 1-10 Beavers to just 85 overall yards on 45 plays. The Bulldogs got touchdowns from six different players, including sophomore Beau Bofferding, who ran for one score and was on the receiving end of two scoring strikes from sophomore quarterback Drew Bauer. Sophomore running back Caleb Belknap came off the bench to rush for a game-high and career-best 83 yards on 16 carries and registered his first touchdown as a Bulldog. Logan Lauters, one of nine Bulldogs to carry the ball Saturday, ran 14 times for 72 yards. Minot State, meanwhile, was held to a -minus 5 yards on the ground.

Bauer connected on six of 11 passes for 80 yards and one touchdown before being relieved in the second half by junior Eric Kline, who threw for 54 yards while going 4-of-5 and like Bauer, was picked off once. Junior inside linebacker Brent Stiglich paced UMD defensively with six total tackles — two years after he set a career-best in that department with 10 stops against the very same Beavers in Minot.

UMD, winners of 19 consecutive regular season games going back to last year, is now 3-0 lifetime against Minot State and has outscored the Beavers 152-6 in the process.