It simply does not get any better than this.
A stadium packed with nearly 7,000 loyal fans, a finish that will be talked about for years, and a win over a long-time nemesis to cap off homecoming weekend.
When Northern State stopped a two-point attempt with six seconds remaining, it secured the team’s first win over Bemidji State since 2014 and set off a celebration at Dacotah Bank Stadium with a 14-13 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football win on Gypsy Days.
“What a game. This is something nobody will forget who was here,” said Northern coach Mike Schmidt. “Nobody will forget how this went, how it played out.”
How it played out was a dramatic closing sequence in which the Beavers scored a touchdown on fourth down from the NSU 1-yard line with six seconds remaining. Bemidji decided to go for the win instead of settle for the tie and the Wolves snuffed out the final play before it even got going.
“That defensive huddle never flinched. Never flinched,” Schmidt said. “They came to the sideline and knew that we had to get the job done.”
Northern’s Gabe Gutierrez pressured the Bemidji quarterback on the two-point conversion and foiled whatever play the Beavers had planned.
The win was extra special for the Wolves, because their foes from northern Minnesota have had their number for a long time.
“Bemidji kind of felt like the boogie man to me a little bit,” Schmidt said. “The north has been run by Bemidji and Duluth the entire time since the North has existed in the NSIC. Those guys are kind of like the thing out there that you want to try and catch all the time.”
Colton Hackel gave NSU a lead in the opening half on a quarterback keeper, before Bemidji tied the score six minutes into the second half.
The Wolves went back in front when Wyatt Block broke through the line untouched and ran for a 13-yard TD with 14:13 left in the contest, setting up a wild fourth-quarter finish.
After the teams traded possessions, Northern’s Trevor Johnson soared for a one-handed interception to give the Wolves the ball at midfield with five minutes left.
“We practiced cover two all week,” Johnson said. “We knew they were going to come to that corner. … I was waiting on it, honestly.”
However, that momentum was short lived, when Bemidji recorded an interception of its own three plays later. The Beavers then inched toward the NSU end zone, converting one fourth down before eventually getting a first down at the Northern 2-yard line. After three plays netted just one yard, the visitors scored setting up the crucial two-point try.
Northern’s Jake Adams continued his stellar play on defense, racking up 20 tackles, pushing his season total to 70 in the last four games.
“I think it comes down to coaching, all 11 guys on defense and the coaches,” Adams said. “That’s the reason why that number’s there, is because we practice hard, we practice every day.”
Adams now leads the country with 86 total tackles.
The Wolves have won two straight games after starting out the campaign with four straight losses.
“Today, my message to the guys was we’re never going back, we only going forward,” Schmidt said. “We’re only going to play like this moving forward.”
When asked what the difference has been in recent weeks with the team, Johnson responded, “We had a couple of senior meetings, player meetings and we kind of talked about after those losses, what do we want to be remembered by? What do we want our legacy to be as a group and what do we want to leave out there? We all just came together and believed.”
After getting off to a slow start, it certainly appears the Wolves have turned the corner heading into next week’s contest at Minnesota-Duluth.
“We talked last week about learning how to win. This is how you learn how to win,” Schmidt said, “because if you want to be a champion, if you want to win games, you move on, and you go back into your process and you come back even harder and even better.”
Schmidt can sense a lot of changes with his squad in the past couple of weeks and wants to keep trending in the right direction.
“Sure feels like there’s a momentum swing in our football program, but it really feels like there’s a process swing in our program, and mentality swing in our program, and that’s how you win,” Schmidt said. “That’s how you develop a championship culture in a program is you learn how to go back into it and do it even better.”
To see a complete box score, click on the following link:
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