Photo by Jake McNeill: Southwest Minnesota State wide receiver Peter Osman hurdles a tackler after making a catch in the fourth quarter of the Mustangs' 34-14 loss to No. 11 Bemidji State on Saturday afternoon.

MARSHALL – No. 11 Bemidji State played spoiler for the Southwest Minnesota State football team’s home opener on Saturday afternoon, taking an early lead and never letting go in a 34-14 win over the Mustangs in the Ag Bowl.

“We played hard. Not always at our best football on both sides… I think we competed. When you could have folded in against a good team, we continued to compete, but we still at times had consistency of play- you and I talked about this, until you reach that level, you’re going to spot people points up front,” SMSU head coach Scott Underwood said. “Defensively, we weren’t near as tenacious as we need to be at times, but yeah, things we can improve on.”

SMSU scored its first points of the game just over five minutes into the second quarter. Trailing 14-0, the Mustangs were feeling gutsy and went for it on fourth twice during the drive. On the first play of the quarter, Marcus Martin ran for nine yards on a fourth-and-4 from the Bemidji State 37-yard line. Facing fourth-and-13 from the 16-yard line one set of downs later, the Mustangs went for it again with Martin targeting Colin Maher on a deep ball. The ball landed incomplete but the Beavers were called for pass interference, keeping the Mustang drive alive.

Brye Hardel capped off the drive with a two-yard reception in the endzone, cutting the Mustang deficit down to 7 points.

Pete Osman had a career day for the Mustangs, catching seven passes for 96 yards. On the other end of those passes, Martin threw for 273 yards on 42 attempts. He was also sacked four times in the game while the offensive line was called for three holding penalties in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve just got to continue to teach him how you can help out our o-line. When you do some things, you put them in adverse situations, so when guys slip away, they have to reach out and grab them or let them go and it’s going to be a sack,” Underwood said..

The first quarter was all Bemidji as the Beavers staked a 14-0 lead. The Mustangs went 3-and-out on their first possession and, after the punt, Bemidji State marched down the field from their own 44 yard line before punching in a 2-yard run for a 7-0 lead.

Jelani Jefferson was all over the field for the Mustangs, finishing with a career-high 11 tackles. Of those tackles, 10 came in the first half. Thomas Mergen also contributed another nine while Gideon Ervasti and Jordan Ellis each finished with seven.

The Beavers forced another SMSU 3-and-out after the punt and, once again, Bemidji State punched a two-yard run, this time by Sage Booker, into the endzone to double the lead. Booker finished the game with seven carries for 51 yard as the Beavers outrushed SMSU 153 to 59.

“They’re an experienced up-front crew, big and physical. When you add the secondary ability… they’re crafty,” Underwood said. “You can’t just line up and throw the ball against them because their front four can get some pressure on you and they’re going to bring pressure from other edges. They’ve got a full package of good defensive players, and when you do that, it gives you the ability to force people to do some things you don’t want to do. We didn’t want to get in a throwing war until the end, when you’re behind, but then their front four tee off and roll a couple in but I thought our guys competed up front in the offensive line and I’m proud of what they did to give three early and really kind of buckled in to give Marcus some time to throw the ball downfield.”

Donald Austin scored in the fourth quarter on a 24-yard reception. The reception was a short out route from the backfield toward the sideline but he fought his way through a host of tacklers before beating the safety into the endzone to make the score 27-14. Austin had 34 receiving yards and 37 rush yards on the day.

Bemidji quarterback and reigning NSIC offensive player of the year Brandon Alt threw for 238 yards on 26 attempts on the day.

With time running out to make a comeback effort, the SMSU put together a drive to move from their own 18-yard line to the 43. Nathan Stearns and Rashaan Palmer made big catches for 16 and 15 yards respectively but the drive stalled out near midfield. The Mustangs opted to go for it on fourth-and-1 by faking an end around run and going for the pass. Osman was open and had nothing but green between him and the first, but Bemidji State’s Cade Barrett got a good jump and tipped the ball away, effectively sealing the game.

SMSU had won its season opener in Bemidji State 28-23 in its previous game on Aug. 31

The Beavers scored one more touchdown after the stop, a 1-yard run by Jarrett Gronski, to make the score 34-14.

The Mustangs (1-1) will go on the road to face Wayne State on Saturday at 6 p.m.