Maverick football continues undefeated streak
In a game of two tales, the Mavs stayed undefeated while Minot State University continued its winless streak.
After the 52-25 road victory, the fifth-ranked Mavericks move to 3-0 while the Beavers — who moved to 3-0 — are still looking for their first victory of the season.
Mankato is now tied for first place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference while Minot stays tied for last with University of Mary.
Minot State is also still looking for their first win against MSU. Ever since the Beavers joined the NSIC, they have lost all six games to Mankato dating back to 2012.
Saturday’s game started off as a shootout for the Mavs. Minot could not find any answers for Mankato’s Shen Butler-Lawson as he saw the endzone three times in the first quarter.
Butler-Lawson’s first touchdown came from a six-yard quick pass from Hayden Ekern. He then ran the ball in twice. The first was a 24-yard rush while the second was a seven-yard rush.
In the second, both teams traded touchdowns. Less than two minutes into the second quarter, Minot State’s Myles West had a 49-yard rushing touchdown. This drive was only three plays long but stretched across 70 yards.
Mankato didn’t answer back until the end of the half. With three minutes remaining, Ekern connected with Isaiah Emaunel for a 25-yard receiving touchdown. This ended the half at 35-13.
Minot only scored twice in the second half as they started the half scoring an eight-yard touchdown. As the clock winded down, they ended the game with a nine-yard rushing touchdown.
In between the Beavers scores, Mankato put up three more touchdowns which gave them the lopsided victory.
“We did enough to win the football game,” head coach Todd Hoffner said in a press release on MSU’s athletics website. “It wasn’t our brightest game of the season but we did enough to put plenty of points on the board.”
As a team, the Mavericks finished with 463 yards of total offense. This included 283 passing yards. The Maverick defense gave up 290 yards, 274 of which came on the ground.
Zack MacIntire recorded five tackles while Khai West, Luke Mulder and Zach Krause all recorded a sack. Mackintire, Arturo Torres, Jacob Daulton and Quintin Hale all recovered a fumble.
Individually throughout the past three games, Butler-Lawson has eight touchdowns which not only leads the team but puts him second in the nation in total scoring and overall touchdowns. He’s also fourth in the nation for rushing yards per game as he averages 156.
Minnesota State returns back to Blakeslee Stadium Saturday to face off against Concordia-St.Paul at 1 p.m.
Header Photo: With seven rushing touchdowns through three games, running back Shen Butler-Lawson is now second in the NSIC, behind only Kyle Walljasper of UMD. (Lilly Anderson/The Reporter)
Write to Luke Jackson at luke.jackson.2@mnsu.edu