No. 15-ranked Bemidji State used key defensive stops and held Wayne State to just 48 yards rushing as the Beavers defeated the Wildcats 33-23 Saturday in the annual Hall of Fame Game played at Bob Cunningham Field in Wayne.
The visiting Beavers struck early, scoring on their first two possessions of the game to take a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter, thanks to Brandon Alt touchdown passes of 35 yards to Sage Booker and one yard to Dhel Duncan-Busby.
Wayne State got on the board with field goals of 36 and 27 in the second quarter by Boston Hensley to make it 14-6 at the half, and hit another in the third to get the Wildcats within five at 14-9.
Bemidji State responded with two touchdowns of their own to take a 27-9 lead and put the game out of reach, handing coach Logan Masters his first home loss. He is now 9-1 in games played at Bob Cunningham Field.
Bemidji State ended the game with a 462-458 edge in total offense over the Wildcats. The Beavers had 117 yards rushing and 345 passing while WSC was limited to 48 yards on the ground and 410 passing.
Bohn completed 24-of-60 passes for a career-high 410 yards and one TD with two interceptions. The ‘Cats had three wide receivers with over 100 yards, led by Schmaderer’s 155 yards on six catches and TD. Trevor Marshall followed with seven receptions and 104 yards while sophomore Kendrick Watkins-Hogue added six catches for 104 yards. Latravious Boyd was the top Wildcat rusher with 30 yards on 11 carries.
Defensively, junior linebacker Alex Schall had a game-high 11 tackles with junior linebacker Dexter Larsen adding seven. Jacob Byrd added six tackles with a forced fumble and 37-yard fumble recovery.
The Wildcats (5=2, 4-2 NSIC) hit the road next Saturday for an NSIC contest in Aberdeen, S.D., against Northern State, with kickoff set for 6 p.m.
