Northern State scored a special teams touchdown, receiving a special run from Hank Kraft, and turned in another special effort on defense Saturday night at Dacotah Bank Stadium.

The Wolves moved their record to 5-1 on the season following a 16-9 win over Bemidji State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football action.

“We’re now 12-3 in our last 15 one-score games,” said Northern coach Mike Schmidt. “We just seem to find a way to win.”

On this occasion one of the ways came on a blocked punt return for the game’s first touchdown.

With the Beavers punting out of their own end zone, Northern’s Jackson Waitkus got his hand on the ball, and Kale Johnson scooped it up and ran it in six yards for a score with 8:33 left in the first half.

“I had no idea I was going to score there,” Johnson said. “I saw Jackson get through. I saw the sideways bounce, and if I had any decent bounce I was going to try to pick it up and score. That’s what you’re out there for.”

The game turned into a defensive battle and NSU was up to the task, keeping Bemidji off the board until the closing minutes of the contest when the visitors scored a touchdown, recovered an onside kick and then added a field goal.

“I’m just so proud of our team for digging deep and for having the identity that we’ve got here,” Schmidt said. “They did a great job in their preparation.”

That preparation started long before the contest started, according to linebacker Javonee Szymanski.

“We prepare for this before the season. You know who you’re going into the season with,” Szymanski said. “We knew we were going to war this game, it was going to be a blood path in the middle. Going in we knew exactly what we needed to do.”

Included in the defensive effort was a sack by Gabe Gutierrez, who became NSU’s new all-time leader in career sacks with the play. He now has 18 career sacks, breaking the previous record of 17 set by Bryar Johnson in 2008.

“We’ve known Gabe was a special player and this year he’s doing it with a lot of attention, number one, from other team’s offenses and number two we’re rushing three guys a majority of the time,” Schmidt said. “And if we’re not rushing that, he’s the one that we’re trying to move with it. So really selfless on Gabe’s part, and yet still is able to make things happen.”

Northern was clinging to a nine-point lead when Kraft took a direct snap in the wildcat formation and bolted his way for a 52-yard touchdown with 9:07 left in the third quarter.

Kraft finished with 192 yards rushing and another 14 yards in receptions.

“He’s just a really really special player and really fun to watch,” Schmidt said.

However, the NSU offense still had trouble finding success in the air, passing for just 52 yards on 7-of-19 attempts.

“It’s frustrating,” said quarterback Ty Englehart. “It’s not fun looking at those numbers, but at the end of the day you just have to keep working, put your head down, just trust in the plan, trust in what you’re doing, and I know that we’re going to make the plays when we need to.”

Schmidt has faith in what the offense is capable of doing.

“I believe in those guys and believe in what we’re doing there 100 percent,” Schmidt said.

The Wolves have won five of six games with a proven formula.

“We’ve got a really good defense,” Schmidt said, “and running the ball and playing a good defense is a really good recipe to win football games.”

Northern will now hit the road for a pair of games at Minnesota Duluth next week and then at Minnesota State, Moorhead with a bye week in between. The Wolves then return home for a game against Augustana before heading to Minot State.

“We knew that this was the stretch,” Schmidt said of the demanding games ahead. “This is what I’ve been challenging these guys for was to get this spot and I’m glad we’ve gone through some of these tight games. … We’ve earned the right to have a big game next week.”

While the Wolves have gotten off to a stellar start to the season, Schmidt sees his team in an underdog role heading into the group of pivotal upcoming games.

“We haven’t done anything, yet. This doesn’t matter,” Schmidt said. “Being 5-1 doesn’t matter if you go 6-5. It just doesn’t matter.”

The Wolves would now like to finish what they started.

“There’s levels to program building and how you have to get to a spot. We’ve done a good job of getting a spot to this, but we’ve been here before,” Schmidt said. “We haven’t been 5-1, but we’ve been in a position where we’ve won games against good teams. We’re trying to be a playoff team. We’re trying to be a conference championship team.”

To see a complete box score, click on the following link:

https://nsuwolves.com/sports/football/stats/2026/bemidji-state/boxscore/14644