CROOKSTON, Minn. - (Ed Widseth Field) Sophomore quarterback Cory Wardrope (Anchorage, Alaska) recorded a pair of touchdown passes and rushed for two more as the Beavers defeated University of Minnesota, Crookston, 47-9, Saturday at Ed Widseth Field in Crookston, Minn.

The win extends BSU’s streak of victories over Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opponents to 10 while the team retained possession of the Hubcap traveling trophy for the fourth consecutive year.

The Beavers may have only accumulated 280 yards of total offense on the day, but the BSU defense would consistently set its offense up with a short field and Anthony Schreiber (Sr., WR/KR, Berkeley, Ill.) recorded his second return touchdown of the season to spot the Beavers a 7-0 lead just six seconds into the game. The senior wide receiver/kick return specialist fielded the Golden Eagles’ opening kick at his own 10 yard line and returned it 90 yards for a touchdown.

Although UMC would find the end zone midway through the first quarter, they would miss their extra-point attempt and the Beavers would add a Paul Potemra (Fr., K/P, Poolesville, Md.) 37-yard field goal to go up 10-6 and would never trail in the game.

Up 10-9 as the second quarter got underway, BSU snuffed out a seven-pay, five-minute UMC drive to take over on their own 48 yard line after a 22-yard punt into a stiff wind. Wardrope then engineered a nine-play drive of his own scampering four yards to find the end zone to cap the 4:04 possession and put BSU up 17-9 after the Potemra PAT.

The score would ignite the Beavers. During the next 5:37, BSU would explode for 16 points as its defense forced a safety and picked up a fumble.

Following a safety that made it 19-9, BSU fielded the free kick at UMC’s 39 yard line. It took just two play for BSU reach the end zone. Wardrope called his own number rushing for nine yards to begin the drive and would find Schreiber for a 30-yard catch and run on the next to give BSU a 26-9 lead after the Potemra PAT,

The Beavers got the ball back just two plays and 20 seconds later after the Golden Eagles botched a snap to the quarterback in the shotgun position and senior linebacker Jared Dunn (Healdsberg, Calif.) would recover at the four yard line. A BSU penalty would set them back to the nine, but Wardrope found Dan Nagengast (Sr., TE, Plymouth, Minn.) in the end zone for yet another touchdown. Nagangast’s team-leading third TD reception of the season gave the Beavers a 33-9 cushion with just 59 second to play in the half.

That lead would hold up as BSU went into the locker room riding the momentum of a 23-point quarter up 33-9.

Bemidji State would begin the second half just as the first ended. A UMC fumbled snap would be picked up by Matt Heber (Mundelein, Ill.), who was seeing his first action of the season after sitting out with an ankle injury. Heber’s fumble-recovery would set the table for a two-play 33-yard drive that would give BSU a 40-9 lead.

Wardrope would make a 21-yard connecting with George Kadlec (Jr., WR, Chicago, Ill.) and James Moore (So., RB, Houston, Tex.) would finished things off scampering in from 12 yards out.

Before time ran out on the third quarter, Wardrope would complete an 11-play, 49-yard drive with a one-yard run to make the score 47-9.

That is the way the game would stay as both teams would remain scoreless during the final 16:55 of play.

Wardrope finished the game completing six of 12 pass attempts for 120 yards and two touchdowns. He added a pair of touchdowns and 60 yards on the ground. Brandon Miles (So., RB, Kenai, Hawaii) led all BSU ball-carriers racking up 75 yards on 22 carries and caught a pass for a team-high 31 receiving yards in relief.

The BSU defense, which held UMC to just 60 yards on the ground and 242 yards of total offense, was led by senior safety Jeremiah Johnson (Gidden, Iowa). The senior safety totaled 11 tackles (four solo) including a tackle-for-loss. The 11 tackles propelled Johnson past Larry Phillippi (1987-90) and into fourth on BSU’s all-time tackles list with 318 career stops. Robert Molstad (Sr., DL, Champlin, Minn.) added seven tackles (two solo) including his team-leading fourth sack of the season.

The defending NSIC champion Beavers, 3-1 overall and 2-0 in NSIC play, now returns home for a Sept. 29th Homecoming match up with Northern State University. Opening kick is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Chet Anderson Field.

Notes: The Hubcap series is now at 4-0 in favor of BSU...Today’s win gives BSU a series-record ninth straight win...BSU has now won a school record 10 consecutive games versus NSIC competition dating back to 11/5/05 loss to Wayne State College (28-38)...Jeremiah Johnson collected 11 tackles to move into fourth on BSU all-time list (318)...Limiting UMC to just 60 yards on the ground, BSU has now held opponents to less than 90 rushing yards in 14 of its last 18 games...BSU has now forced a turnover in 85 of its last 92 games...BSU head coach Jeff Tesch is 9-1 versus his UMC...Tesch increased his mark as BSU’s all-time winingest coach to 74-48.

-bsu-