Minot State rushed for 274 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday afternoon against the fifth-ranked Minnesota State-Mankato Mavericks. Unfortunately for the Beavers, they also lost four fumbles on the afternoon on their way to a 52-25 loss.

“I was proud of our effort, and by and large, proud of the execution,” said Minot State head coach Ian Shields. “We’ve got to some takeaways defensively. We didn’t get any and we turned it over offensively, and really in large part, that’s the big difference in the football game is the takeaway battle.”

Evan Lovett eclipsed the century mark on the afternoon, pacing the Beavers with 101 yards and one touchdown. He averaged 10.1 yards per carry. Not to be outdone, teammate Myles West added 88 yards and one touchdown, averaging 12.6 yards a carry.

Mankato jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, but Erik Palmquist and the Minot State offense answered back with a 13-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 7-7 early in the first quarter.

Then the fumbles started, and Mankato made the Beavers pay.

The Mavericks turned three first-quarter turnovers into three touchdowns to jump out to a 28-7 lead. By half-time the Beavers trailed 35-13, and while Minot State slowed down Mankato’s offense a bit in the second half, the Beavers were still outscored in the second half.

Nonetheless, there were bright spots for Minot State.

They outrushed the Mavericks by 94 yards, holding the visitors to 180 yards on the ground. Minot State also went three-for-three in the red zone, and Carson Cako posted a monster performance on defense, recording eight tackles, three for a loss, and one sack. Isaac Bigley led the Beavers with 11 tackles.

As prolific as the Beaver rushing attack was, their passing game was equally woeful, gaining just 16 yards through the air. As a result, the Mavericks outgained the home team 453-290.

Hayden Ekern led Mankato’s passing attack, completing 15 of 26 attempts for 225 yards and two touchdowns. Shen Butler Lawson, Jr. was the Mavericks’ leading rusher, going for 95 yards. He had two rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown on the day.

The loss drops Minot State to 0-3 both overall and in the NSIC. Next Saturday, the Beavers hit the road again, this time heading to the University of Sioux Falls on Saturday, Sept. 23. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.

Score by quarters:

MSU-Mankato 28 7 7 10-52

Minot State 7 6 6 6-25