BEMIDJI, Minn. – Bemidji State slowed down Northern State’s high-powered offense to fuel a 24-21 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football victory Saturday afternoon, snapping the Wolves’ three-game winning streak in the process.
Northern, which had scored 110 combined points in its last three games, was held to three touchdowns, including a 35-yard Hail Mary touchdown on the final play of the first half.
“We knew what we were getting into. Our guys were ready,” said NSU coach Mike Schmidt. “We just got beat today. It was a really good football game and we couldn’t find a way to win it.”
Schmidt said the Wolves were prepared for the contest against a long-time nemesis, but maybe were too pumped up entering the game.
“Winning is fragile. We learned that the hard way today. Our guys were ready to play,” Schmidt said. “If anything, we may have played with too much emotion, allowing the emotions to play us. We prepared hard and had a good week of practice.”
It turned out to be a defensive battle most of the afternoon. The Beavers scored first and led until Brock Bagozzi threw a touchdown to Louie Schwabe on the final play of the half.
Northern missed its second field goal of the game to start the third period, and Bemidji later made their field-goal attempt setting up a back-and-forth finish.
The Wolves took their first lead of the game when Trey Birdsong scored on a 3-yard run with about 10 minutes left.
Bemidji regained the lead on a 51-yard quarterback keeper for a touchdown by Conner Carver to make it 17-14. An interception stopped Northern’s next possession, leaving the Beavers with an opportunity to work on the clock.
Faced with a third-and-nine, Bemidji decided to go for broke and fired a 44-yard touchdown pass with 1:47 left that all but secured the victory.
Northern added a late touchdown, but was unable to recover an onside kick in the closing seconds.
“This is so cliche, but we just couldn’t get enough going on offense today,” Schmidt said. “The past few weeks we’ve found a way to make the plays and today we just couldn’t connect on some of our plays down the field.”
The Wolves, which had a huge performance on special teams in a win against Mary last week, struggled in that phase of the game against Bemidji.
“I’m really disappointed in our kicking game. We miss two field goals and make some uncharacteristic mistakes on the punt team and kickoff return team,” Schmidt said. “You can’t do that against a good team in a tight game.”
While the Wolves didn’t give up huge numbers on defense, they also had a tough time stopping the Beavers in the fourth quarter with the game on the line.
“We just didn’t have enough answers on defense. They had a good plan and Carver played excellent,” Schmidt said. “Before they put the dagger in us at the end, they didn’t even have 80 yards passing, but really didn’t need to. We have to be better on first and second down.”
The Wolves return home for three straight games, starting with unbeaten Minnesota-Duluth. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Saturday at Dacotah Bank Stadium.
To see a complete box score, click on the following link:
https://nsuwolves.com/sports/football/stats/2025/bemidji-state/boxscore/13990
