The Bemidji State football team finished its two-week road trip 0-for-Dakota Saturday afternoon.
The Beavers lost to Northern State 14-0 in Aberdeen, S.D. for its second defeat in a row. It follows last Saturday’s 49-21 loss to U-Mary in Bismarck, N.D.
Bemidji State’s offense never got rolling and turned the ball over four times.
Quarterback Lance Rongstad was 10-for-25 passing for 71 yards and threw two interceptions. He was also BSU’s leading rusher with 48 yards.
Bemidji State had just 11 first downs and 199 yards of total offense in the game.
Evan Nolte kicked field goals of 34 and 31 yards in the second quarter to give the Wolves a 6-0 halftime lead.
Northern State pulled away by taking advantage of Jesse Sundby’s blocked punt in the fourth quarter. Jared Jacobson passed to Chris Morton for a 33-yard touchdown with 6:03 left in the game. Jacobson then hit Jordan Piatz on the two-point conversion for the 14-0 margin.
Jacobson was 7-for-25 passing for 96 yards and rushed for a game-high 91 yards. Northern State rushed for 184 yards in the win and improved to 3-6 overall (2-6 NSIC).
Bemidji State dropped to 6-3 overall (5-3 NSIC) and likely saw any chances of a postseason fade away.
The Beavers entered the weekend in a tie for second place in the NSIC standings and were ranked No. 10 in the NCAA Super Region III standings. BSU could have made a case for a national tournament berth with a win Saturday and a win next Saturday at Chet Anderson Stadium against St. Cloud State, which defeated Minnesota-Duluth 35-7 on Saturday.
Saturday’s loss marked the first time since 2008 BSU was defeated in back-to-back games. It was the first shutout loss since last season’s season opener to Augustana.
Scoring Summary
BSU 0 0 0 0 – 0
NSU 0 6 0 8 – 14
First quarter
No scoring.
Second quarter
NSU- Nolte FG 34, 12:46.
NSU- Nolte FG 31, :00.
Third quarter
No scoring.
Fourth quarter
NSU- Jacobson 33 pass to Morton (Jacobson to Piatz), 6:03.
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Follow Eric Stromgren on Twitter at @estromgren and on Facebook.
