Football | 10/26/2016 3:44:00 PM

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The Minnesota State University Moorhead football team returns home to face Minot State on Saturday at 1 p.m. It is the Dragons' second-to-last home game of 2016.

The game will be broadcast on WDAY'Z Xtra and also online with Dragon broadcasters Steve d'Eustachio and Larry Scott on the call. Live video, stats and audio can be heard at msumdragons.com.  

A win over Minot would…
—be the Dragons' fourth straight victory over Minot
—give the Dragons a 3-2 mark against NSIC North foes this season
—give MSUM a 4-1 record at home this season
—be the best nine-game start (5-4) in the Steve Laqua coaching era

Series History
MSUM and Minot State will meet for a 12th time with MSUM holding a 7-4 series lead. The Dragons have won three straight meetings dating back to 2013.
 
Previous meetings:
2015: MSUM 30, Minot State 20 (in Minot, N.D.)
2014: MSUM 52, Minot State 7 (in Moorhead, Minn.)
2013: MSUM 31, Minot State 30 (in Minot)
2012: Minot State 31, MSUM 10 (in Moorhead)
1976: MSUM 28, Minot State 14 (in Moorhead)

The Head Coaches
Steve Laqua is in his sixth season as MSUM's head coach with a record of 21-42 at the school, Tyler Hughes is in his third season as Minot State's head coach with a record of 4-26.

About MSUM
MSUM evened its mark at 4-4 with a 47-16 rout of Mary on Oct. 22 in Bismarck, N.D.  The Dragons scored on seven of their 10 offensive possessions and rushed for a season-high 320 yards and six touchdowns in the win. The 47 points were a season-high for MSUM.

Sophomore running back Austin Stone leads MSUM with 691 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. Junior quarterback Demetrius Carr has thrown for 1,560 yards and 17 touchdowns while rushing for 263 yards and four scores. Junior Damon Gibson is having a big season with 62 catches for 1,055 yards and 11 touchdowns; he is the fourth Dragon receiver to surpass 1,000 yards for a season.  Senior receiver Cory Ambrose has six touchdown receptions.

Sophomore defensive back Michael Strand has 59 tackles and a team-high three interceptions while junior linebacker Abe Roehrich has 57.  Senior defensive end Ryan Dahleen has 4.5 sacks and a team-best 8.5 tackles for loss.  MSUM scores 32.4 points per game and allows 28.2.

About Minot State
The Beavers picked up their second win of the season on Oct. 22 with a 38-30 home win over Minnesota Crookston. Minot State rallied from a 20-7 first-half deficit to earn the win. Freshman running back Ben Zahniser rushed for 264 yards and four touchdowns to lead Minot. Minot's two wins this season are against Wayne State and Minnesota Crookston.

The Beavers average 18.6 points and 334.6 yards per game of total offense. Zahniser has rushed for 427 yards and six scores to lead the ground game while sophomore quarterback Isaiah Weed has thrown for 1,262 yards and five touchdowns along with nine interceptions.  Akkil Walker has 31 catches for 521 yards and three scores.

Minot's defense surrenders 35.8 points and 449.9 yards of total offense per game. Donnell Vercher has 73 tackles and two interceptions while Trevin Swensen has 68 tackles. Dalton Houghton has three sacks while Vercher and Michael Jenkins share the team lead with two interceptions.

More about the Dragons
Gibson Ranks Among the Elite
Junior receiver Damon Gibson is having a dominant year statistically with 62 catches for 1,055 yards and 11 touchdowns.  He ranks second in Division II in receiving yards (1,055), third in receiving yards per game (131.9), third in receptions per game and seventh in receiving touchdowns (11). Gibson leads the NSIC in receptions per game and receiving yards per game. He has seven 100-yard receiving games this season. Gibson hauled in four touchdown passes in the rout of Minnesota Crookston. That tied a record set three times previously by Rick Manke (1972), Chad Davison (2003) and Bruce Green (2006).  Gibson is the Dragons' first 1,000-yard receiver since Adam Jiskra accomplished the feat in 2014.

Gaining on the Ground
MSUM rushed for a season-high 320 yards and six touchdowns in the win over Mary. Four different players scored rushing touchdowns, led by Carr and freshman Denver Colgrove with two each. Stone and freshman Zach Sweep also scored for MSUM. It was MSUM's first time surpassing 300 yards rushing since rushing for 396 yards against Minnesota Crookston in the season finale in 2015.

Stone Steps Up
After not playing for the past two seasons, sophomore running back Austin Stone has made a big return to the field in 2016. Stone rushed for a career-high 145 yards and two scores in the loss to St. Cloud State. It was his second 100-yard rushing game of the season. Stone ranks seventh in the NSIC at 86.4 rushing yards per game and is on pace to be MSUM's first 1,000-yard rusher since Zayne Medhaug rushed for 1,127 yards in 2014.

Defense Delivers
MSUM's defense has been an improved unit in 2016, as the statistics indicate. MSUM is ranked fourth in the NSIC in total defense (392.2), third in pass defense efficiency (119.7), fifth in sacks (22), fourth in opponents third-down conversion percentage (37.7) and fourth in overall turnovers forced (18).

Ambrose Ascends
Senior receiver Cory Ambrose has been one of MSUM's most productive receivers since breaking into the lineup in 2013. With his six catches against St. Cloud State, Ambrose has moved into third in MSUM history with 153 receptions, trailing only Jabari Taylor (214) and Adam Jiskra (201). He also has 25 career touchdown receptions.

Carr Climbs Career Ladder
Carr has moved into the top five in a pair of categories for MSUM. He is third all-time in passing yards at 4,679 and is now third all-time in total offense at 5,708.  Carr is the fourth player in school history to surpass 5,000 yards of total offense for his career. Carr threw for a season-high 387 yards against St. Cloud State and has fired 17 touchdowns compared to five interceptions this season.

Week 9 Under Laqua
The Dragons are 2-3 in Week 9 games under Laqua. In 2011, they lost to Mary, 52-13 and in 2012, lost to Minot State, 31-10 in a home game. MSUM beat Minot State 31-30 in 2013 and 52-7 in 2014. In 2015 MSUM lost at St. Cloud State, 59-21.

Home Grown
With a heavy emphasis on recruiting in the Minnesota-North Dakota area, it's not a surprise the Dragons' 2016 roster features so many players from those two states. A total of 67 players -- or two-thirds total --  hail from either Minnesota (42) or North Dakota (25).

Back to Back?
MSUM's 6-5 record in 2015 marked the Dragons' first winning season since 2006 and the first in Laqua's coaching tenure. The Dragons will aim for back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the 1995 (6-3-1) and 1996 (7-3) campaigns.

Team captains
Senior linebacker Aaron Bohl, senior offensive lineman Jack Bixler, senior wide receiver Cory Ambrose and junior linebacker Abe Roehrich will serve as MSUM's captains in 2016. Bohl is a captain for a third straight year.