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BEMIDJI, Minn. - The historic 'Beavers v. Dragons' Axe returned to the hand of the Bemidji State Beavers on Saturday as they routed the Minnesota State University Dragons 38-13 in NSIC action. The Dragons are now 1-3 overall and 0-3 in league play.

Despite the time of possession being nearly even, the Beavers defense kept the Dragons offense in check as MSUM turned the ball over seven times, five punts, one fumble and once on downs. MSUM had a slight advantage in time of possession with the offense on the field for 30:43 to BSU's 29:17.

It was the Beavers' running game that gave the home team the edge as they had 250 yards on 39 carries to the Dragons' 11 yards on 33 carries. Three of BSU's five touch downs were ran in, including a 27-yard run by Dustin Kroeplin at 12:41 in the second quarter after both teams had traded field goals in the first. This gave BSU the 10-3 lead.

The Beavers increased their lead to 14 just under two minutes later as BSU's Derek Edholm connected with Andrew Schultz from five yards out, after recovering a Dragons fumble the ball on the MSUM 15 yard-line.

The Dragons ran the clock out in the second quarter to end with no time on the clock and Jimmie Mattson hitting a 47-yard field goal to cut the lead to 11.

BSU came out with more motivation in the second half as they scored back-to-back running touchdowns late in the third. The first came at 5:13 as Justin Lee scored a touchdown on a 25-yard run. Lance Rongstad followed with a 52-yard run into the end zone with nine seconds left in the third.

Derek Edholm found Nate Solors in the end zone with 4:23 left in the game for his second touchdown pass of the day. This put the Beavers up 38-6, but did not damper the Dragon's offense as an eight play, 35-yard drive ended with Matt Taffe running in from two-yards out to put the Dragons' score in double-digits. Mattson completed the drive with an extra point kick, moving to the games final score.

Despite the loss and few yards on the ground, MSUM led in passing as freshman quarterback Zach Fry threw for 265 yards going 20-for-28 and sophomore Bryson Pluta completed two of his seven attempts for 24 yards.

Nick Scharpf led the Dragons with seven catches for 75 yards, but Joe Johnson led the team in yards with 77 on six catches.

BSU's Kroeplin led both teams in rushing totaling 98 yards on 14 rushes, while Rongstad had 83 yards on six carries.

MSUM will step on Alex Nemzek Field next Saturday in the team's homecoming football game against the University of Minnesota, Crookston at 1 p.m. Tailgating will precede the event, beginning at 11 a.m.

For more information on Dragons Homecoming CLICK HERE.