WINONA, Minn. (Maxwell Field) - Bemidji State University senior wide receiver Anthony Schreiber (Berkeley, Ill.) caught nine passes for a season-high 119 yards and a touchdown but it was not enough to keep pace with a potent Winona State University offense that piled up 470 yards to defeat the Beavers 35-24 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference competition Saturday at Maxwell Field in Winona Minn.

The WSU offensive unit scored on its first four possessions of the game and racked up 297 yards of total offense during the first half to put the Beavers down 32-14 after the first 30 minutes Despite putting up 321 yards of its own and holding the Warriors to just three points in the second half, BSU was unable to recover.

Winona State quarterback Drew Aber led the Warriors passing for 302 yards while the WSU running attack became just the second opponent of 2007 to scamper for more than 100 yards versus BSU third-ranked rushing defense, gaining 168 yards on the ground.

The Warriors set the tone early capitalizing on a 41-yard opening kick return by driving the remaining 49 yards on four plays to go up 7-0 just 90 seconds into the game. Alex Weise, who paced the WSU ground-gainers with 117 rushing yards on 34 carries, finished the drive with a 14-yard dash into the end zone.

The Beavers would answer with a scoring drive of their own to reel in the Warriors and tie the game at 7-7. BSU quarterback Cory Wardope (So., QB, Anchorage, Alaska) was 4-of-5 through the air on the 12-play, 69-yard drive. Erick Newman (Jr., RB, Naperville, Ill.) got the Beavers on the board, scoring his team-leading sixth rushing touchdown of the season over the left side of the BSU offensive line from four yards out.

After a 31-yard kick return to the Winona State 32-yard line, the Warriors assembled a sustained, 10-play, 67-yard drive to break the tie, 13-7. Weise ran for 23 yards on the possession and scored the second of his two rushing touchdowns of the day with 4:47 to go in the first quarter. The point after attempt failed.

The ensuing BSU drive would stall out when WSU recovered a loose ball on the Beavers’ 49-yardline. WSU capitalized on the first of BSU’s two turnovers getting in the end zone for the third time of the day on an Aber five-yard touchdown run. The following point after attempt failed to stretch the WSU lead to 19-7.

Schreiber worked his way into the BSU all-time receiving annals on the next BSU drive catching two passes for 42 yards. The second reception of the day, a 36-yard touchdown strike form Wardrope to make the score 19-14, etched his name as BSU’s all-time receptions leader surpassing Jason Leden and Ryan Welle with 169 in his career.

The Beavers would run just 10 plays for 15 yards on their final three possessions of the first half while Winona State found the end zone on two if its last three possessions to take a 32-14 lead into the halftime break.

Bemidji State came out of locker room and marched 68 yards during the first 5:05 of the second half and used a Paul Potemra (Fr., K/P, Poolesville, Md.) 24-yard field to trim the WSU lead to 32-17.

Winona State would bounce back with a field goal, its only score of the final 30:16, to push the WSU lead to 35-17.

Wardrope moved the BSU offense and the chains down the field going 3-of-4 in the air of 53 yards and scrambling for eight of his team-high 50 rushing yards before hitting Adam Berg (Fr, WR, Cambridge, Minn.) from 12 yards out for the freshman’s first career touchdown reception with 3:22 left on the clock, to keep the Warriors within reach.

BSU’s Jared Dunn (Sr., LB, Healdsburg, Calif.) kept the BSU hopes alive intercepting an Aber pass on the doorstep and after a return of 22 yards, flipped the ball to Willy Plancher (Sr., CB, Naples, Fla.) who ran it down to the WSU 26-yardline. But the Beavers were unable to convert. A bad snap on a 37-yard field-goal attempt by Potemra halted the comeback.

Wardrope was 16-of-25 for 202 yards and two touchdowns before leaving the game late the fourth after being pounded to the turf by the WSU defense. Jeremiah Johnson (Sr., S, Glidden, Iowa) and Jake Anderson (So., LB, Karlstad, N.D.) led the BSU defensive unit. Johnson posted his fourth double-digit tackle performance of the season with ten as he jumped over Eric Zajkowski and moved into third place on BSU’s all-time tackles list with 354 career stops. Anderson turned in a career performance recording nine tackles.

In addition to Aber and Weise, Tyree Burkes hauled in 10 passes for a game-high 133 yards and Scott Peters netted seven receptions for 77 yards with both Winona State wide outs getting into the end zone. Tyler Purkett led the Warrior defense with seven tackles while Ryan Rothwell accounted for WSU’s first-half fumble recovery and Craig Martindale picked off a Derek Edholm (Fr, QB, Anoka, Minn.) pass attempt with seconds to play.

The WSU win was the 10 in the last 11 years for WSU over Bemidji State, pushed its lead in the all-time series to 42-27-1 and helped the Warriors to improve to 7-1 on the season and 6-0 in NSIC play to hold onto the top spot in the conference standings with three weeks to go in the 2007 regular season..

The 4-4 Beavers, 3-3 in league play, finish the two-game road swing next week with a trip to Marshall, Minn. to battle Southwest Minnesota State University in a NSIC match up. Opening kick is slated for 1 p.m. at SMSU’s Mattke Field.


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