MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Minnesota State University Moorhead football team built a 21-10 halftime lead and went on to defeat Minot State, 42-24 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Saturday at Scheels Field at Nemzek Stadium in Moorhead, Minn. MSUM junior Damon Gibson also set a new single-season school for receiving yards in the win and now has 1,184 for the year.

MSUM is now 5-4 overall and 3-2 in the NSIC North while Minot State fell to 2-7 overall and 1-4 in the league.

Gibson had his eighth 100-yard receiving game of the season and finished with seven catches for 129 yards and a score. He broke the previous record of 1,147 yards set by Jabari Taylor in 2007.

"It's a great individual mark for Damon," MSUM head coach Steve Laqua said. "It's a tribute to his teammates, it's also a tribute to him to be able to accomplish that with two games left in the season."

Junior quarterback Demetrius Carr had an outstanding game, completing 15-of-23 passes for 277 yards and five touchdowns. Junior receiver Hunter Brazen had four catches for 114 yards and two scores while senior receiver Cory Ambrose and redshirt freshman tight end Conner Hanf caught scores. Sophomore running back Austin Stone rushed for 97 yards and a score on just 12 carries.

"We had good balance again in distributing the football," Laqua said. "We had a lot of guys rushing it and catching it. We played a very clean game, with one penalty and no turnovers."

The defense finished with four sacks and an interception. Junior defensive end Drew Lingle had 1.5 sacks while junior defensive tackle Jake Busse and senior defensive end Ryan Dahleen had sacks. Sophomore Michael Strand had seven tackles, including one for loss. Sophomore cornerback Jerry Raye had an interception.

Minot State scored first but MSUM answered with a 10-play, 70-yard drive and scored when Hanf hauled in a 3-yard pass from Carr with 8:13 left in the first to tie the game at 7-7.

MSUM took the lead with a nine-play, 69-yard drive capped off by a 20-yard scoring pass from Carr to Ambrose. With Joe Tjosvold's extra point, MSUM led 14-7 with 11:08 left in the second quarter.

Minot State cut the lead to 14-10 with a field goal but the Dragons answered late in the half as Gibson caught a 37-yard pass from Carr to make it 21-10. Gibson surpassed the single-season record with a 15-yard catch with less than two minutes remaining in the half.

The lead grew to 28-10 in the third when Braaten caught a 5-yard pass from Carr with 7:54 left in the third. Minot State answered with a touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter to make it 28-17, but two touchdowns by the Dragons — one on a 74-yard pass from Carr to Braaten and another on a 37-yard scoring run by Stone — pushed the lead to 42-17 with 8:17 left.

Minot State added a touchdown with 4:08 left to get within 42-24 but got no closer.

MSUM will face Bemidji State at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5 in Bemidji, Minn., in the Battle for the Axe.
 
"We've got a lot of young players who have matured and started to play at a high level," Laqua said. "I'm pleased with the progress as a whole our team has made. We're excited to go into the last two weeks."

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: Today's 42-24 win, coupled with last week's 47-16 win at the University of Mary, marks the first time that the Dragons scored 40-plus points with wins in back-to-back weeks since posting a 51-28 home win over Wayne State on Oct. 28, 1995, then winning 46-25 at Winona State on Nov. 4.